Energy analysis of irrigation delivery systems: monitoring and evaluation of proposed measures for improving energy efficiency

In Spain, the Ministry of Industry is implementing actions for analyzing the energy efficiency of Water User Associations (WUAs) by using energy indicators and proposing measures to improve the use of energy. The main objective of this work was to develop tools to improve energy efficiency in WUAs. These tools were validated by utilizing them in the energy analysis of 15 WUAs located in Castilla-La Mancha Region (Spain) during the 2007 irrigation season. These tools were also utilized for the proposal of measures to improve the use of energy. The proposed measures were monitored and evaluated in 7 of the 15 WUAs during the 2008 irrigation season. The developed tools were integrated into a Decision Support System for performing energy analysis and for proposing measures of energy efficiency improvement. In most of the study cases, an improvement of the energy efficiency after the implementation of the proposed measures was detected, with an average energy saving of the 10.2%.     

Implementing irrigation: Water balances and irrigation quality in the Lerma basin (Spain)

The growing necessity to develop more productive agriculture has encouraged the expansion of new irrigated lands. However, water use in agriculture may affect the natural regimes of water systems. This study aims to analyze, for the first time, water use and its dynamics during the creation of a newly irrigated land. Water use was studied through the development of water balances and subsequent application of quality indices for irrigation in two unirrigated years (2004–2005) and three years of gradual implementation of irrigation (2006, 2007 and 2008) in the Lerma basin (752 ha, Spain). Increases in evapotranspiration, drainage and water content in the aquifer were verified during the gradual transformation into irrigated land. Water balances closed adequately, giving consistency to the results and enabling the application of quality indices for irrigation. Irrigation quality analysis showed a use of available water resources equal to 84%. However, the estimated irrigation efficiency presented lower values, mainly due to irrigation drainage (15%) and combined losses by both evaporation and wind drift of sprinkler irrigation systems (13%). The results indicate that the use of water in the Lerma basin is at the same management level of other modern irrigation systems in the Ebro basin, although there is still margin for improvement in irrigation management, such as reducing the irrigation drainage fraction and the evaporation and wind drift losses of sprinkler irrigation systems.     

Evaluation of water-use in traditional irrigation: An application to the Lemos Valley irrigation district,northwest of Spain

The approval of the National Irrigation Plan (NIP) in Spain in 2001 accelerated the improvement and modernisation of the irrigated areas. The first step towards the implementation of performance of the actions envisaged in the plan is to analyse water-use in traditional irrigation. Moreover, the social impacts of irrigation on rural areas must be evaluated, and the common irrigation practices must be determined. This paper presents the results of a study conducted in the Lemos Valley irrigation district (NW of Spain). Irrigation evaluations were conducted in nine trial sites, representing the existing soil types. A sample of irrigation users were interviewed to gather information about water-use, land tenure and irrigation socioeconomics. This irrigation district is characterised by low water-use efficiency, significant losses in the distribution network, fragmented land ownership and a poor use of the available infrastructure. Yet, water availability and an important distribution network render the modernisation of this traditional irrigated land a challenging task that must be faced.     

Modernization and optimization of irrigation systems to increase water productivity

Population increase and the improvement of living standards brought about by development will result in a sharp increase in food demand during the next decades. Most of this increase will be met by the products of irrigated agriculture. At the same time, the water input per unit irrigated area will have to be reduced in response to water scarcity and environmental concerns. Water productivity is projected to increase through gains in crop yield and reductions in irrigation water. In order to meet these projections, irrigation systems will have to be modernized and optimised. Water productivity can be defined in a number of ways, although it always represents the output of a given activity (in economic terms, if possible) divided by some expression of water input. Five expressions for this indicator were identified, using different approaches to water input. A hydrological analysis of water productivity poses a number of questions on the choice of the water input expression. In fact, when adopting a basin-wide perspective, irrigation return flows often can not be considered as net water losses. A number of irrigation modernization and optimization measures are discussed in the paper. Particular attention was paid to the improvement of irrigation management, which shows much better economic return than the improvement of the irrigation structures. The hydrological effects of these improvements may be deceiving, since they will be accompanied by larger crop evapotranspiration and even increased cropping intensity. As a consequence, less water will be available for alternative uses.     

套播夏玉米全程免耕对水分利用效率的影响

节水耕作措施在旱作农田中研究的相对较多 ,而在灌溉农田上则较少研究。本文重点探索在灌溉农田上 ,节水耕作措施 (免耕 )与高效节水管灌技术相结合 ,充分发挥耕作措施与灌溉技术的节水潜力和优势 ,提高农田水分利用效率。试验结果表明 :同常规耕作相比 ,玉米全程免耕下棵间蒸发的无效耗水可降低 2 7.6% ;农田水分利用效率提高幅度达 18.9% ;同时 ,免耕措施具有明显的省工和节能效果 ,耕作成本可降低 52 .9%～ 74.3%。     

灌区节水改造存在问题及改进措施

水是重要的资源之一，我国是缺水大国，而农业是用水大户。分析了灌区节水改造存在的问题，提出了改进措施，以期提高水资源利用率、提高灌溉效果，为农业的发展作贡献。      

美国德克萨斯州高地平原区地下水灌溉管理方法研究

德克萨斯州高地平原区是美国灌溉和旱地作物的生产基地,其灌溉水源主要来源于奥加拉拉(Ogallala)地下水含水层。然而,自从1950年灌溉农业发展以来,由于对奥加拉拉含水层地下水的过度开采,使得区域地下水位严重下降,有些地区地下水位下降超过50 m。为了保护地下水资源和实现地下水可持续利用,2000年以来美国德克萨斯州高平原地区在节水压采方面开展了一系列工作,取得了较好的成效。采取的主要措施包括:用德克萨斯州高地平原蒸腾蒸发网络(The Texas High Plains Evapotranspiration Network, TXHPET)进行灌溉及地下水管理,改变作物品种,改进灌溉技术,改变种植结构,保护性耕作方法,加强降雨管理,将小部分灌溉农田转为旱作农田等。该区域1958年的灌溉面积为183万hm~2,1974年灌溉面积达到峰值,为242万hm~2;1989年灌溉面积降为159万hm~2,由于喷灌技术的推广应用,2000年灌溉面积恢复到187万hm~2。1958年大多数灌区为地面灌溉,仅有11%的灌溉面积为喷灌。1974年之后,灌溉总面积在减少,主要灌溉方式转为喷灌,中心支轴式喷灌面积稳步增长。自1989年之后,喷灌在该区域快速发展,2000年喷灌面积已占该区域灌溉面积的72%。早期的喷灌系统在较高压力下运行,自20世纪80年代,低压喷灌系统已全面使用。我国华北地区长期超量开采地下水与美国德克萨斯州高原区地下水超采情况及问题相似。兹系统介绍了美国德克萨斯州高地平原区在地下水超采情况下采取的综合措施拟为我国地下水超采地区的地下水管理工作提供技术与经验参考。     

Beyond irrigation efficiency

Parameters for accounting for water balance on irrigation projects have evolved over the past century. Development of the classic term irrigation efficiency is summarized along with recent modifications such as effective irrigation efficiency. The need for terms that describe measurable water balance components of irrigated agriculture is very important, as demands and competition for available renewable water supplies continue to increase with increasing populations. Examples of irrigation efficiency studies conducted during the past few decades are summarized along with related irrigation terminology. Traditional irrigation efficiency terminology has served a valid purpose for nearly a century in assisting engineers to design better irrigation systems and assisting specialists to develop improved irrigation management practices. It still has utility for engineers designing components of irrigation systems. However, newer irrigation-related terminology better describes the performance and productivity of irrigated agriculture. On a river-basin level, improved terminology is needed to adequately describe how well water resources are used within the basin. Brief suggestions for improving irrigation water management are presented.     

Introduction of Irrigation Service Fee (ISF) in Indonesia: Institutional development in action for resources management

The inability to properly maintain irrigation systems over time forced the Government of Indonesia (GOI) to seek cost recovery from water users through introduction of an irrigation service fee. The plan is to introduce this fee in all of the technical irrigation systems of Indonesia, covering about 4 million hectares, over a 12 year period. Design and Introduction of this service fee in 4 pilot areas of the 4 major rice producing provinces (West, Central and East Java, and South Sulawesi) during 1989–1991 has shown that users are willing to pay. Results of first ISF collection from over 11,000 farmers in Central and East Java in pilot systems was an encouraging 95%. However that acceptance to pay by users depends on their structured and systematic involvement in defining systems needs. They need to understand a differentiation in payment if service levels are different. They appreciate use of collected funds in the system where collected. They understand the organization of water users associations but this requires their active role in fee determination and collection. They understand the establishment of federations of these associations. ISF requires also active involvement of Local Government officials as facilitators and intermediaries between service receivers (the water users) and service providers (personnel of the Public Works irrigation department) in the introduction period. This article describes the experience of the first 21 months of the ISF project, the concept developed, the principles used as basis for ISF, the introduction at the field level, issues related to acceptance by users and by the institutions involved, and the first results.Abbreviations/Acronyms DGWRD Directorate General of Water Resources Development (Ministry of Public Works) - EOM Efficient Operation and Maintenance - Gabungan group of WUAs - IPAIR Indonesian abbreviation for ISF - ISF Irrigation Service Fee - Juru gate keeper - PBB land tax on irrigated lands - PPL agricultural field extension agent - P3A Indonesian abbreviation for Water Users Associations - PU Indonesian abbreviation for Public Works - SM Special Maintenance - WUA Water Users Associations     

Evaluating irrigation performance in a Mediterranean environment

Characterizing water use and management in irrigated agriculture is a prerequisite for conserving agricultural water. We carried out a detailed analysis of irrigation performance by documenting the water use of about 840 parcels in an irrigation scheme (Genil–Cabra irrigation scheme; GCIS) located in Andalusia, southern Spain, from 1996 to 2000. Performance indicators based on the water balance detected two water-management strategies, depending on the crop: (1) cotton, garlic, maize and sugar beet had average ratios of measured irrigation supply to the simulated optimum demand (ARIS) ranging between 0.73 and 0.91 and (2) winter cereals, sunflower and olive had a much lower average ARIS (with a 4-year average of 0.28–0.39). We found a large variability in water usage among the management units in all cases. For instance, in cotton, even though the average ARIS was around 0.8, about 50% of the fields were not irrigated adequately (41% with deficit, 9% with excess). Water productivity (WP) in the GCIS was highest for the horticultural crops (garlic, olive; from 1.13 €/m³ to 6.52 €/m³) while it varied among the field crops, being lowest in maize (4-year average of 0.28 €/m³) and highest in sugar beet (4-year average of 1.04 €/m³). Large year-to-year variations in WP were observed in all crops, particularly in sunflower and garlic due either to fluctuating prices for garlic or to the effects of the 1998/1999 drought for sunflower. In fact, WP was lowest in all crops in that year, because seasonal irrigation depths were much higher than in the other 3 years. The combination of ARIS and other performance indicators allowed for determining performance levels and improvement measures. It was found that if more irrigation water is used in the GCIS, garlic and olive will be the crops that profit most from the additional supply. However, it was concluded that, given the wide range in water use and management encountered at the parcel level, improvement policies at the scheme level should always consider individual performance when designing measures for water conservation in irrigated agriculture.     

皂河灌区农民用水者协会水价探讨

如何实现灌区的经济自立，水价改革首当其冲，皂灌灌区用自己的探索，走出了一条切实可行的水价核定、征收、使用和管理的新路子。皂河灌用用水者协会参与灌溉管理后用水协会会员水价由水利工程水价、供水公司供水水价和用水者协会供水价构成，并建立健全了收费组织，完善收费计量方式，合理分配使用消费，减少水价管理中的危害性、随意性和不合理现象，以促进灌区的经济自立和可持续发展。     

Structured analysis of seepage losses in irrigation supply channels for cost-effective investments: case studies from the southern Murray-Darling Basin of Australia

Much of inland Australia has been in perpetual drought since 1997 except during 2010 when above average rainfall occurred. It has been the worst drought since 1788 when European settlement began. Water scarcity poses a serious threat to the sustainability of the irrigated agriculture in major irrigation systems across the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). There is a need for water-saving measures and a structured approach to assess water loss in earthen supply channels. This paper presents such an approach to assess and reduce seepage losses for improving irrigation efficiencies. Main elements of this approach are the following: field measurements, hydrologic modelling, potential options for seepage reduction, economic analysis and financing water-saving investments. Using data from two irrigation systems in the southern MDB, a case is made for reducing seepage water losses in irrigation supply channels in a cost-effective manner using low-cost technologies. Increasing the level of security for investments in water-saving programs provides incentives to key stakeholders to achieve water-saving targets. Considering the value of water recovered from reducing seepage loss at irrigation system level, this study demonstrates how reducing just one component (seepage) from the total water losses in irrigation systems can help improve water supplies as well as the environmental flows. Potential options for financing infrastructure improvement for saving irrigation water are proposed and discussed.     

An economic perspective on the potential gains from improvements in irrigation water management

In recent years, several researchers have introduced new terms describing irrigation efficiency to enhance the information available when evaluating water policy alternatives. Some of the definitions expand the physical boundary considered when evaluating water use, while others account for the changes in water quality that occur as drainage water is reused in an irrigated area. While the concepts of basin, global, and effective efficiency have enhanced our understanding of water use in agriculture, public officials may derive incorrect policy implications when reviewing empirical estimates of those measures, particularly if information describing the economic impacts of water use and allocation decisions is not available. For example, some authors suggest that when estimates of basin-wide efficiency approach 100%, there is little opportunity to save water by improving water management and achieving higher levels of classical, farm-level efficiencies in upstream portions of an irrigated region. However, there may be significant opportunities to increase the net values generated with limited water resources by improving the distribution of water among farmers and reducing the negative, off-farm effects of irrigation and drainage activities. Economic analysis is helpful in identifying those opportunities and in designing policies that encourage farmers and water agency personnel to improve water management practices in ways that enhance social net benefits.     

灌溉效率与增长潜力

正确分析灌溉效率增长潜力是水资源科学管理、节水农业健康发展的基础,目前存在着是否“真实节水”的争论。本文分析了农田和流域尺度上的节水内涵,解释了工程节水倾向的经济原因,并在已有研究基础上估计了农田和流域尺度上灌溉效率增长潜力。真实节水技术对于解决资源型缺水比工程型节水技术可能更为重要,但节水外部效应和补偿机制缺失,未来依然会以工程型节水技术为主导。到2020年,灌溉效率能再提高10-15%就是极为不错的政策目标。今后需要加强节水的技术和经济评价,构建综合性节水技术推广的政策体系。     

Development and Application of Simplified Asset Management Procedures for Transferred Irrigation Systems

This paper describes the practice of assetmanagement and its application toirrigation system maintenance. It thenpresents the application of a simplifiedasset management procedure for transferredirrigation systems in Albania. In thisapplication, the procedure was introducedto assess, monitor, and regulate, overtime, the condition of government-ownedirrigation infrastructure; management,operation and maintenance of which has beentransferred to Water Users Associations andFederations of Water Users Associations. The paper describes the procedures used tocarry out asset surveys, and to process anduse the data collected. The procedureshave been found to be relevant andapplicable to the conditions experienced inAlbania and a valuable mechanism forfocussing the attention of Water UserAssociations and Federations of Water UsersAssociations on sustaining and enhancingthe condition of the irrigationinfrastructure.     

膜下滴灌水肥一体化研究进展

水资源短缺和肥料利用效率偏低是制约我国农业可持续发展的重要因素。膜下滴灌水肥一体化技术是将节水灌溉、按需施肥与覆膜农艺措施集成的高效灌水施肥技术,具有节水节肥、减蒸抑盐、提质增效和减少化肥投入等优点。综述了膜下滴灌水肥一体化技术对水肥利用效率、土壤水盐分布运移,氮磷钾养分在土壤-作物系统的吸收、转化、迁移规律和对土壤理化性质的影响,以及水肥耦合模型研究和滴灌水肥一体化发展历程,分析了膜下滴灌技术目前存在的问题并提出了对策建议。     

Reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa through investments in water and other priorities

Water resources are essential to human development processes and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals that seek, inter alia, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal literacy, and ensure environmental sustainability. Expanding irrigation is essential to increase agricultural production, which is needed to achieve economic development and attain food security in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Water resources and irrigated agriculture are not developed to their full potential. Currently less than 4% of renewable water resources in Africa are withdrawn for agriculture. Barriers include the lack of financial and human resources to build irrigation and related rural infrastructure and acquire agricultural technology, and inadequate access to markets. This constrains progress towards poverty reduction. We examine the linkages between agricultural water, education, markets and rural poverty through a review of published studies. We argue that, linking agricultural water, education, and market interventions, which are so often implemented separately, would generate more effective poverty reduction and hunger eradication programs. Investments in agricultural water management and complementary rural infrastructure and related policies are the pathways to break the poverty trap in smallholder African agriculture.     

Cost-effectiveness of groundwater conservation measures: A multi-level analysis with policy implications

Groundwater in Spain, as in other arid and semiarid countries worldwide, has been widely used in the expansion of irrigated agriculture. In the Spanish Mancha Occidental aquifer, the excessive, and sometimes illegal, water abstraction for irrigation has promoted outstanding socioeconomic development in the area, but it has also resulted in exploitation of the aquifer and degradation of valuable wetlands. Water policies implemented in the region have not yet managed to restore the aquifer and face strong social opposition. This paper uses a multi-scale modeling approach to explore the environmental and socio-economic impacts of alternative water conservation measures at the farm and basin levels. It also analyzes their comparative cost-effectiveness to help policy makers identify the least costly policy option for achieving the goal of the Mancha Occidental aquifer's sustainability. To conduct this analysis, a Mathematical Programming Model has been developed to simulate: the closing-up and taxed-legalization of unlicensed wells, uniform volumetric and block-rate water prices, water quotas, and water markets. Aggregate results show that net social costs are not substantially different across policy option, so none of the considered policy options will be clearly more cost-effective than the others. However, there are significant differences between private and public costs (at the farm and sub-basin levels), which will be critical for determining the application in practice of these policies. Results show that controlling illegal water mining (through the legalization of unlicensed wells) is necessary, but is not sufficient to recover the aquifer. Rather, effective water management in this area will require the implementation of other water management policies as well. Among them, uniform volumetric and block-rate water pricing policies will entail the lowest net social cost, but will produce important income losses in the smallest and most water-intensive farms, which might put at risk the viability of these farms and the social acceptance of the policies. Further investigations on social costs, policy enforcement capacity and public participation in water management are highly recommended.     

The rehabilitation of an irrigation system along the Yellow River

The People's Victory Irrigation System which diverts water from the Yellow River of China covers a total irrigable area of 59 000 ha. The system encountered some serious problems in the first decade of its operation — salinity and waterlogging of irrigated land, siltation of irrigation and drainage channels, as well as a low efficiency of water use. This paper describes a series of structural and functional measures which have been adopted in the past 24 years for the rehabilitation of the system, including: improvement of the existing drainage system and construction of new drainage system on agricultural land, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater supplies, a comprehensive programme to reduce the levels of siltation as well as the implementation of improved water management practices. A model for the optimal operation of the system by using system analysis theory as an aid in reducing the operation and maintenance (O & M) costs has been developed in recent years. The results are that the soil salinity has been controlled and the agricultural production has increased whilst the efficiency of water use has improved and the siltation levels reduced. Experience gained on this system has been successfully used in developing and managing other irrigation projects along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The proposed procedure of solving the said optimal model has also embodied some benefits from reducing O & M costs in operation.