Impact of irrigated agriculture on groundwater resources in a temperate humid region

2018 ◽  
Vol 613-614 ◽  
pp. 1302-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Tweed ◽  
H. Celle-Jeanton ◽  
L. Cabot ◽  
F. Huneau ◽  
V. De Montety ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Humid Region

Uzbekistan’s Aquatic Environment and Water Management as an Area of Interest for Hydrology and Thematic Tourism

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 642
Author(s):  
Jacek RÓŻKOWSKI ◽  
Mariusz RZĘTAŁA
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Natural Lakes ◽  
Area Of Interest

The functioning of Uzbekistan’s economy is closely linked to the water resources of its huge cross-border rivers: the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, as well as to the groundwater present within their basins. Both natural lakes and artificial reservoirs (e.g. the Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes, the Kayrakkum Reservoir, the Chardarya Reservoir) are present there, which retain significant amounts of water, and large canals with lengths of up to several hundred kilometres which involve complex hydraulic structures are used for irrigation purposes. All these are components of a water management system which needs optimisation; as much as 80% of agricultural land is irrigated, with 70% of the water being lost due to inefficient irrigation systems. The consequence of this allocation of river flows and the overuse of water in irrigation systems has been the disappearance of the Aral Sea (1960 year – 68,900 km2, 2017 year – 8,600 km2) and the inflow of water into the Sarygamysh Lake as well as the reduction of Uzbekistan’s groundwater resources by about 40%. The intensive development of irrigated agriculture is associated with changes in surface and groundwater quality caused, inter alia, by the increased use of chemicals in agriculture and the discharge of collector-drainage waters into river systems as well as their reuse. The extent of environmental degradation in some areas (especially in the Aral Sea region) is unique on a global scale. The origins of Uzbekistan’s other hydrological tourist attractions are related to attempts to ensure the availability of water for both human consumption and industrial use under conditions of water scarcity in the country’s arid and semi-arid climates. Not just the spectacular watercourses and water bodies present there (e.g. rivers, lakes, canals), but also small water retention facilities and minor infrastructure elements (e.g. wells, springs and retention basins, canals, ditches and flow control structures) are of potential tourist importance.

scholarly journals Causes and consequences of long-term groundwater overabstraction in Jordan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Brückner ◽  
Rebecca Bahls ◽  
Mohammad Alqadi ◽  
Falk Lindenmaier ◽  
Ibraheem Hamdan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Contour Lines ◽  
Hydraulic Conditions ◽  
Groundwater Basins

AbstractIn 2017, a comprehensive review of groundwater resources in Jordan was carried out for the first time since 1995. The change in groundwater levels between 1995 and 2017 was found to be dramatic: large declines have been recorded all over the country, reaching more than 100 m in some areas. The most affected areas are those with large-scale groundwater-irrigated agriculture, but areas that are only used for public water supply are also affected. The decrease of groundwater levels and saturated thickness poses a growing threat for drinking water supply and the demand has to be met from increasingly deeper and more remote sources, causing higher costs for drilling and extraction. Groundwater-level contour lines show that groundwater flow direction has completely reversed in some parts of the main aquifer. Consequently, previously established conceptual models, such as the concept of 12 “groundwater basins” often used in Jordan should be revised or replaced. Additionally, hydraulic conditions are changing from confined to unconfined; this is most likely a major driver for geogenic pollution with heavy metals through leakage from the overlying bituminous aquitard. Three exemplary case studies are presented to illustrate and discuss the main causes for the decline of the water tables (agriculture and population growth) and to show how the results of this assessment can be used on a regional scale.

scholarly journals Groundwater-Based Irrigation in the US – Challenges and Progress

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blessing Masasi
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Wastewater Reuse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
The Us ◽  
Agricultural Regions

Even though groundwater-based irrigation has increased agricultural productivity and economic activity in the United States (US), the current rate of groundwater withdrawals from major aquifers could significantly affect the sustainability of agricultural production systems in the near future. In the major agricultural regions, producers are now facing challenges to irrigate to meet full crop water needs. There is an increasing need to strategize irrigation management under various climatic and environmental conditions to optimize water use in agriculture while optimizing crop yields. This study reviews some of the major challenges facing irrigated agriculture in the US and the potential measures to ensure the sustainability of groundwater-based irrigation. Identified challenges included diminishing quantity and quality of groundwater resources, frequent droughts, low adoption rates of precision irrigation technologies, and rising energy requirements for irrigation abstractions. Irrigation efficiency improvements, shifting to high water use efficiency crops, wastewater reuse, groundwater monitoring, availing incentives, and policy changes, were identified as promising water management strategies to ensure irrigation sustainability. The success of these strategies will depend on the uptake and adoption by the producers in the affected agricultural regions.

scholarly journals Peak grain forecasts for the US High Plains amid withering waters

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (42) ◽  
pp. 26145-26150
Author(s):  
Assaad Mrad ◽  
Gabriel G. Katul ◽  
Delphis F. Levia ◽  
Andrew J. Guswa ◽  
Elizabeth W. Boyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
State Level ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Grain Production ◽  
Groundwater Pumping ◽  
The Us ◽  
Recharge Rates

Irrigated agriculture contributes 40% of total global food production. In the US High Plains, which produces more than 50 million tons per year of grain, as much as 90% of irrigation originates from groundwater resources, including the Ogallala aquifer. In parts of the High Plains, groundwater resources are being depleted so rapidly that they are considered nonrenewable, compromising food security. When groundwater becomes scarce, groundwater withdrawals peak, causing a subsequent peak in crop production. Previous descriptions of finite natural resource depletion have utilized the Hubbert curve. By coupling the dynamics of groundwater pumping, recharge, and crop production, Hubbert-like curves emerge, responding to the linked variations in groundwater pumping and grain production. On a state level, this approach predicted when groundwater withdrawal and grain production peaked and the lag between them. The lags increased with the adoption of efficient irrigation practices and higher recharge rates. Results indicate that, in Texas, withdrawals peaked in 1966, followed by a peak in grain production 9 y later. After better irrigation technologies were adopted, the lag increased to 15 y from 1997 to 2012. In Kansas, where these technologies were employed concurrently with the rise of irrigated grain production, this lag was predicted to be 24 y starting in 1994. In Nebraska, grain production is projected to continue rising through 2050 because of high recharge rates. While Texas and Nebraska had equal irrigated output in 1975, by 2050, it is projected that Nebraska will have almost 10 times the groundwater-based production of Texas.

The sustainability of fresh groundwater resources in major deltas around the world

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joeri van Engelen ◽  
Gualbert Oude Essink ◽  
Marc Bierkens
Keyword(s):  
Sea Water ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Variable Density ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Fresh Groundwater ◽  
Precise Knowledge ◽  
The World

<p>Increasing population, growth of cities and intensifying irrigated agriculture in the world’s deltas promote the demand for fresh water resources, accelerating groundwater extraction. This, in turn, leads to sea water intrusion and salt water upconing, which threaten near-future water and food security. Proper water management in deltas requires precise knowledge about the current status of the deltas’ fresh groundwater resources, in the form of a groundwater salinity distribution. However, this knowledge is scarcely present, especially at larger depths. In this research, we applied three-dimensional variable-density groundwater model simulations over the last 125 ka to estimate present-day fresh groundwater volumes for several major deltas around the world. We also compared these to current extraction rates and estimated the time until in-situ fresh groundwater resources are completely exhausted (ignoring local-scale problems), partly leading to groundwater level decline and mostly replacement with river water or saline groundwater. In this presentation we will share our findings, for example which deltas’ groundwater reserves presumably are under stress.</p>

scholarly journals The socioecohydrology of rainwater harvesting in India: understanding water storage and release dynamics across spatial scales

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 2629-2647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly J. Van Meter ◽  
Michael Steiff ◽  
Daniel L. McLaughlin ◽  
Nandita B. Basu
Keyword(s):  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Monsoon Season ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Northeast Monsoon ◽  
Crop Water ◽  
Tank Water

Abstract. Rainwater harvesting (RWH), the small-scale collection and storage of runoff for irrigated agriculture, is recognized as a sustainable strategy for ensuring food security, especially in monsoonal landscapes in the developing world. In south India, these strategies have been used for millennia to mitigate problems of water scarcity. However, in the past 100 years many traditional RWH systems have fallen into disrepair due to increasing dependence on groundwater. This dependence has contributed to accelerated decline in groundwater resources, which has in turn led to increased efforts at the state and national levels to revive older RWH systems. Critical to the success of such efforts is an improved understanding of how these ancient systems function in contemporary landscapes with extensive groundwater pumping and shifted climatic regimes. Knowledge is especially lacking regarding the water-exchange dynamics of these RWH tanks at tank and catchment scales, and how these exchanges regulate tank performance and catchment water balances. Here, we use fine-scale, water-level variation to quantify daily fluxes of groundwater, evapotranspiration (ET), and sluice outflows in four tanks over the 2013 northeast monsoon season in a tank cascade that covers a catchment area of 28 km2. At the tank scale, our results indicate that groundwater recharge and irrigation outflows comprise the largest fractions of the tank water budget, with ET accounting for only 13–22 % of the outflows. At the scale of the cascade, we observe a distinct spatial pattern in groundwater-exchange dynamics, with the frequency and magnitude of groundwater inflows increasing down the cascade of tanks. The significant magnitude of return flows along the tank cascade leads to the most downgradient tank in the cascade having an outflow-to-capacity ratio greater than 2. At the catchment scale, the presence of tanks in the landscape dramatically alters the catchment water balance, with runoff decreasing by nearly 75 %, and recharge increasing by more than 40 %. Finally, while water from the tanks directly satisfies  ∼ 40 % of the crop water requirement across the northeast monsoon season via surface water irrigation, a large fraction of the tank water is "wasted", and more efficient management of sluice outflows could lead to tanks meeting a higher fraction of crop water requirements.

Irrigated agriculture and groundwater resources – towards an integrated vision and sustainable relationship

2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 1165-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Foster ◽  
Héctor Garduño
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Local Implementation ◽  
Groundwater Irrigation ◽  
Land And Water Management ◽  
Integrated Policy ◽  
Management Policies

Globally, irrigated agriculture is the largest abstractor, and predominant consumer, of groundwater resources, with large groundwater-dependent agro-economies now having widely evolved especially in Asia. Such use is also causing resource depletion and degradation in more arid and drought-prone regions. In addition crop cultivation practices on irrigated land exert a major influence on groundwater recharge. The interrelationship is such that cross-sector action is required to agree more sustainable land and water management policies, and this paper presents an integrated vision of the challenges in this regard. It is recognised that ‘institutional arrangements’ are critical to the local implementation of management policies, although the focus here is limited to the conceptual understanding needed for formulation of an integrated policy and some practical interventions required to promote more sustainable groundwater irrigation.

India : underground water resources

1977 ◽  
Vol 278 (962) ◽  
pp. 507-524 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Underground Water ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Geological Formation ◽  
High Yielding Varieties ◽  
Available Resources

Irrigation is important in India where one-third of the land surface is semi-arid and the rainfall is seasonal and erratic. The irrigated area in the country has almost doubled during the last 25 years and now stands at 43 million ha. Groundwater contributes to 40 % of all irrigation. Apart from providing irrigation, groundwater has been contributing to irrigated agriculture in many other ways and has, therefore, become a vital factor in the country’s plans for agricultural development. The total usable groundwater resources of the country are assessed at 350 x 109 m3. The factors contributing to these resources and governing their occurrence and distribution in different parts of the country are described. At present about 35 % of the available resources are utilized. Different types of groundwater structures, typical to India and suited to meet the irrigation needs of small farmers, are being constructed to tap the available resources in various parts of the country. Their design and construction features, determined to a large extent by the local geological formation, are explained. The first large-scale venture in scientific planning and the development of groundwater was undertaken in 1934. A major break-through came in 1965 with the advent of high-yielding varieties of crops. Two important factors, namely the expansion of the rural electrification programme and the development of the cooperative credit structure, have helped in sustaining a high tempo of development since then. The present dimensions and other features of the development programme are indicated. A systematic programme of groundwater investigations is a must for scientific development and management of the resources. It has been greatly intensified during the recent years and investigations include hydrogeological survey, geophysical studies, exploratory drilling, pump tests, and water balance studies including the construction of mathematical models. The approach and methodology adopted to keep down the cost of investigations is described. No amount of groundwater investigation and planning will help in preventing infructuous expenditure, unless there is legislation to control and regulate groundwater development. The steps taken in this direction are mentioned.

scholarly journals Simple and low-cost technology for irrigation from shallow aquifers in the Western Terai, Nepal

2000 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costantino Faillace
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Shallow Aquifer ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
The Past ◽  
Irrigated Area ◽  
Tube Wells ◽  
New Development

The paper briefly outlines the hydrogeological conditions of the Terai area and describes the simple and low -cost drilling technologies used over the past thirty years in developing its groundwater resources for irrigated agriculture. The results herewith presented derive from the author's personal experience of the area and from the review of numerous studies and researches, most of which are reported in the references. The Terai area is a very rich groundwater reservoir, made up of thick alluvial deposits transported in the lowlands by a number of watercourses originating in the northern hilly and mountainous areas. Proceeding from north to south, the alluvial deposits become progressively finer and inter-finger with each other. It is the most productive area of Nepal with rice and wheat as main food grains. The irrigated areas of the Terai Plain can be further expanded using simple and low-cost shallow tube wells drilled manually or by machine, and equipped with centrifugal diesel pumps, rower, and treadle pumps. The results of the 40,000 shallow tube wells drilled in the area have proven that shallow aquifer potential is very high, and this justifies the expansion of the present irrigated area to benefit also poor and marginal farmers. The author stresses that the new development strategy should be based not only on the experience gained from the past thirty years, but also on improved technology and on renewed financial input in the forthcoming projects. For a well-coordinated development of the area, it will be necessary to adopt a model in which the people will be fully involved in the planning as well in the implementation, and also participate in the operation and maintenance of wells and irrigation water systems. The new development strategy should aim at expanding progressively the present irrigated area to cope with the rate of the population growth.

Scrutinizing the simultaneous impact of drought on irrigated agriculture and groundwater resources

2020 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 363-373
Author(s):  
Ahmad Haseeb Payab ◽  
Mohammad Ebrahim Banihabib ◽  
Umut Türker
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Simultaneous Impact
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