scholarly journals Simple hydro-economic tools for supporting small water supply agencies on sustainable irrigation water management

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Alamanos
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Integrated Monitoring ◽  
Full Cost ◽  
Small Water ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Economic Tools

Abstract In the Mediterranean countries, agriculture poses challenges in terms of its production expectations, resources availability, pollution, general management and implementation of economic tools (e.g. full cost of irrigation water, according to the Water Framework Directive). This study attempts to provide useful approaches for small water supply agencies facing multiple management, funding, environmental, and practical issues. A representative case in Central Greece is examined, in order to describe the situation in understandable terms supporting sustainable management. Simple hydro-economic tools were used to address these challenges; water balance, profits from agriculture, water value, water quality, management strategies, and full cost of irrigation water were simulated and incorporated into a Decision Support System (DSS), using Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA), involving experts on water resources management and local policymakers. This is the first hydro-economic study designed for a Greek rural agency, aiming to improve and encourage integrated monitoring and management at multiple levels, communicating more efficient water use approaches to local irrigation management communities.

scholarly journals Deficit Irrigation Strategies for the Western U.S.

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 1813-1825
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Trout ◽  
Terry A. Howell ◽  
Marshall J. English ◽  
Derrel L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Water Allocation ◽  
Deficit Irrigation ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
List Type ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Water Supplies

HighlightsDeficit irrigation may maximize net income when irrigation water supplies are limited or expensive.Water production functions are used with economic parameters to maximize net income with deficit irrigation.Net income may be insensitive to the amount of deficit irrigation if production costs are appropriate for anticipated yield.Deficit irrigation increases risk.Abstract. Competition for, regulation of, and depletion of water supplies in the western U.S. has resulted in reduced water available for irrigating crops. When the water supply is expensive or inadequate to meet full crop water requirements, deficit irrigation (DI) may maximize net income (NI) by reducing use of expensive water or irrigating more land with limited irrigation supplies. Managed DI entails rational planning and strategic water allocation to maximize NI when water supplies are constrained. Biophysical and economic relationships were used to develop NI models for DI and determine water allocation strategies that maximize NI under three types of water supply constraints. The analyses determined that potential benefits of DI are greatest when water is expensive, irrigation efficiency is low, the water supply is flexible, and rainfed production is not economically viable. When production costs are appropriate for anticipated yields, NI is less sensitive to DI planning decisions. Deficit irrigation will become more important as irrigation water supplies continue to decline in the future. Net income analysis can assist growers in making rational DI decisions. Keywords: Deficit irrigation, Economic analysis, Irrigation management, Net income, Optimization, Water productivity.

Limited application of irrigation water does not affect the nutritive characteristics of lucerne

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (10) ◽  
pp. 1635 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Rogers ◽  
A. R. Lawson ◽  
S. Chandra ◽  
K. B. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Crude Protein ◽  
Protein Concentration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Irrigation Season ◽  
Large Scale Field ◽  
Limited Application

Lucerne (Medicago sativa) has not been a significant part of the feedbase of the Murray-Dairy Region of Australia. However, under future climate regimes, which are indicating an overall decline in rainfall as well as water available for irrigation of pastures, lucerne is emerging as a potential forage species because of its adaptability, productivity and resilience. A large-scale field experiment was conducted at Tatura, Victoria, Australia, over four years to determine the dry matter (DM) production and nutritive characteristics of lucerne under a range of limiting and non-limiting irrigation management practices. Nine irrigation treatments were imposed that ranged from full irrigation to no irrigation in either a single, or over consecutive, irrigation seasons. Plots were harvested using plant-based criteria over the irrigation season and DM production and nutritive characteristics were determined. DM production generally increased as the total water supply (irrigation plus rainfall plus changes in soil water) increased, with the fully irrigated treatments producing significantly more DM than the treatments where the irrigation water had been restricted. Mean annual DM digestibility concentration was 66% of DM and was not affected by treatment. Similarly, mean crude protein concentration, which was 22% of DM, was also not affected by treatment. There was no consistent effect of restricted irrigation on the neutral detergent fibre concentration of the lucerne plants. These results suggest that in seasons where irrigation is restricted because of limited water supply, the reduction in lucerne productivity is not associated with a penalty in forage nutritive characteristics, with lucerne able to provide sufficient nutrients to form a large proportion of the total diet for a high-producing dairy cow.

scholarly journals Applying a novel framework for the estimation of the full cost of water in a degraded rural watershed

Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Alamanos ◽  
M. Tsota ◽  
N. Mylopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Full Cost ◽  
Water Value ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Agriculture Water

Abstract Water Resources Management's modern concerns include solutions on water scarcity, water quality problems and the use of economic and decision-support tools. Especially, the agricultural sector in South Europe under the requirements of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC(WFD) remains a challenge. Most scholars so far doubt and criticize the implementation of the full cost of irrigation water, review papers highlight the limited progress, and fewer cases provide guidance on how to address this case. The present study applies a novel methodological framework for the estimation of the full cost of irrigation water, based on hydro-economic concepts such as: water balance, profits from agriculture, water value, water quality, monetary, opportunity and environmental costs. Originally, the method has been applied only once in a rural watershed with surface and groundwater resources. Here, a degraded Greek watershed using only groundwater resources is the study area, and the results of the two cases are compared. The model was also examined under demand management strategies and recommendations to scrutinize the effects and the applicability of the proposed measures in hydrological and economic terms. The findings give useful insights on the future management of achieving economic objectives with environmental constraints and the harmonization of Greek agriculture to the WFD.

scholarly journals Afforestation of Degraded Croplands as a Water-Saving Option in Irrigated Region of the Aral Sea Basin

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1433
Author(s):  
Navneet Kumar ◽  
Asia Khamzina ◽  
Patrick Knöfel ◽  
John P. A. Lamers ◽  
Bernhard Tischbein
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Trade Offs

Climate change is likely to decrease surface water availability in Central Asia, thereby necessitating land use adaptations in irrigated regions. The introduction of trees to marginally productive croplands with shallow groundwater was suggested for irrigation water-saving and improving the land’s productivity. Considering the possible trade-offs with water availability in large-scale afforestation, our study predicted the impacts on water balance components in the lower reaches of the Amudarya River to facilitate afforestation planning using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The land-use scenarios used for modeling analysis considered the afforestation of 62% and 100% of marginally productive croplands under average and low irrigation water supply identified from historical land-use maps. The results indicate a dramatic decrease in the examined water balance components in all afforestation scenarios based largely on the reduced irrigation demand of trees compared to the main crops. Specifically, replacing current crops (mostly cotton) with trees on all marginal land (approximately 663 km2) in the study region with an average water availability would save 1037 mln m3 of gross irrigation input within the study region and lower the annual drainage discharge by 504 mln m3. These effects have a considerable potential to support irrigation water management and enhance drainage functions in adapting to future water supply limitations.

Structuring the water quality policy problem: Applying Q-methodology to explore perspectives in hydrology, government, and community

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Schuyler Houser ◽  
Reza Pramana ◽  
Maurits Ertsen
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Q Methodology ◽  
Knowledge Integration ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Problem Structuring ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
Resource Governance ◽  
Starting Point

<p>Recognizing the interrelatedness of water management and conceptual value of IWRM, many water resource governance systems are shifting from hierarchical arrangements towards more collaborative and participative networks. Increasing calls for participation recognize the value of drawing on social, political-administrative, and other kinds of knowledge in addition to technical water expertise. Participatory mandates, coordination bodies, and science-policy networks have emerged to facilitate knowledge integration, promote adaptive capacity, and align organizations in poly-centric systems.</p><p>Since the maintenance and effectiveness of such arrangements are contingent on trust and alignment rather than command and control, and since diverse stakeholders are engaged to co-produce knowledge, collaborators must grapple with identifying shared goals, developing knowledge management strategies to organize inputs, and attaining early progress to promote ongoing cooperation. But guidance is limited with respect to how such integrative aims are to be accomplished.</p><p>This research explores how systematic (but not necessarily convergent) problem structuring can support the forming, reordering, and cohering of water resource networks, especially when a complex issue – in this case, water quality management – rises to prominence on the policy agenda. In the early stages of a water quality project in the Brantas River Basin, Indonesia, stakeholder discussions suggested divergent conceptualizations of water quality and ideas about what conditions ‘matter’. Thus, instead of taking hydrological data as the starting point, this research first asks: What Brantas River(s) are we talking about, and why? Q-methodology is used to identify alternative perspectives on water quality held by a diverse set of stakeholders, including hydrologists. The analysis explores which aspects of the policy problem are consistent, which are contested, and whether problems indicated by hydrological science overlap, conflict, or cohere with those perceived by other stakeholders.</p><p>The research posits that, if scientists, engineers, decision-makers, community leaders, and other participants can appreciate areas of convergence and divergence regarding the water quality problem itself, they can lay groundwork for knowledge co-production; recognize opportunities for cooperation; better locate science in the problem space; and identify potential early wins to secure commitment. The research also asks to what extent consensus in problem structuring is necessary, or whether it is sufficient to identify strategies that are acceptable to different ontological viewpoints.</p>

Soil moisture assessment based on Sentinel 1/2 and in-situ data: The vineyard case study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Paula Mendes ◽  
Ana Paula Falcão ◽  
Magda Matias ◽  
Rui Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Winter Period ◽  
Classification Algorithms ◽  
Precipitation Regime ◽  
Terrain Attributes ◽  
Sentinel 2

<p>Vineyards are crops whose production has a major economic impact in the Portuguese economy (~750 million euros) being exported worldwide. As the climate models project a larger variability in precipitation regime, the water requirements of vineyards can change and drip irrigation can be responsible for salt accumulation in the root zone, especially when late autumn and winter precipitation is not enough to leach salts from the soil upper horizons, turning the soil unsuitable for grape production.</p><p>The aim of this work is to present a methodology to map surface soil moisture content (SMC) in a vineyard, (40 hectares) based on the application of two classification algorithms to satellite imagery (Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2). Two vineyard plots were considered and three field campaigns (December 2017, January 2018 and May 2018) were conducted to measure soil moisture contents (SMC). A geostatistical method was used to estimate the SM class probabilities according to a threshold value, enlarging the training set (i.e., SMC data of the two plots) for the classification algorithms. Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images and terrain attributes fed the classification algorithms. Both methods, Random Forest and Logistic Regression, classified the highest SMC areas, with probabilities above 14%, located close to a stream at the lower altitudes.</p><p>RF performed very well in classifying the topsoil zones with lower SMC during the autumn-winter period (F-measure=0.82).</p><p>This delineation allows the prevention of the occurrence of areas affected by salinization, indicating which areas will need irrigation management strategies to control the salinity, especially under climate change, and the expected increase in droughts.</p>

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