Mapping agricultural responses to water supply shocks in large irrigation systems, southern India

Irrigated agriculture experienced a water supply shock during a drought in southern India in 2002-2003. In this paper, hotspots of agricultural change were mapped and put in the context of hydrology and water management. Time series of MODIS imagery taken every eight days before (2001-2002) and during (2002-2003) the supply shock were combined with agricultural census data to document changes in cropping patterns in four large irrigation projects in the downstream sections of the Krishna and Godavari River basins (total command area 18,287 km²). The area cropped in rice in the four irrigated command areas decreased by 32% during the drought year, and rice production in the two districts that experienced the largest flow reductions fell below production levels of 1980. The irrigation project that showed the largest change in double cropped area (−90%) was upstream of the Krishna Delta. In the Krishna Delta, large areas changed from rice-rice to rice-gram double cropping. Historical water management contributed to the vulnerability of rice production to drought: the main reservoir in the system was drained to dead storage levels by the end of each growing season over 1968-2000, with little carryover storage. The land cover change maps suggested that the lower Krishna Basin has experienced a “hard landing” during basin closure, and revised management strategies that account for the new flow regime will be required to maintain agricultural production during droughts.     

Estimation of irrigation return flow from paddy fields considering the soil moisture

The objective of this study was to estimate irrigation return flow in irrigated paddy fields considering the soil moisture. The proposed model was applied to examine its feasibility with regard to the growing period of rice. Simulation results showed a good agreement between the observed and simulated values: root mean square error (RMSE) of 6.05-7.27 mm day⁻¹, coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.72-0.73, and coefficient of efficiency (E) of 0.54-0.55. The estimated average annual irrigation return flow during the period from 1998 to 2001 was 306.2 mm, which was approximately 25.7% of the annual irrigation amounts. Of this annual irrigation return flow, 14.1% was attributable to quick and 11.6% to delayed return flow. These results indicate that considerable amounts of irrigation water in the paddy fields were returned to streams and canals by surface runoff and groundwater discharge. The modeling assessment method proposed in this study can be used to manage agriculture water and estimate irrigation return flow under different hydrological and water management conditions.     

气候变化对长江流域早稻灌溉需水量的影响

选用长江流域种植早稻的35个站点1961-2003年气象数据,分析气候变化对长江流域早稻灌溉需水量的影响.结果表明,长江流域大部分地区早稻需水量、灌溉需水量均有减少的趋势.需水量、灌溉需水量同生育期年降雨量、日平均相对湿度呈负相关关系,同生育期日平均气温、日平均风速、年日照时数呈正相关关系,其中灌溉需水量与年降雨量呈极...     

龙川江流域农业灌溉需水变化趋势分析

利用龙川江流域内南华、楚雄、牟定、大姚、姚安、元谋、永仁共7个气象站1961—2007年的逐月气象资料和楚雄、蜻蛉河和元谋等灌区的1961—2007年的农业综合灌溉定额系列,运用Mann-Kendall法,研究了流域内的主要气象因子、参照作物腾发量ET0、农业综合灌溉需水定额的变化趋势。结果表明,除大姚站外月最高温度是龙川江流域ET0变化的主导因素。近50年来龙川江流域降水量增多、湿度增大,导致除南华外的其余站点年ET0显著降低,农业综合灌溉需水定额也呈下降趋势。     

The downstream externalities of harvesting rainwater in semi-arid watersheds: An Indian case study

Water-related investment projects affect downstream water availability, and therefore should account for these externalities. Few projects do, however, owing to lack of awareness, lack of data and difficulty in linking upstream investments to downstream effects. This article assesses the downstream impacts of rainwater harvesting in a semi-arid basin in Southern India, focusing on the trade-offs that arise when crop water use is re-allocated from a downstream surface water irrigation system to groundwater irrigated agriculture upstream. The results indicate that the downstream impacts are considerable and that net benefits are insufficient to pay back investment costs. Further research is required to reduce the uncertainties in the water balance of irrigation systems at basin level, to account for the inter-annual variability of crop water availability and to elaborate the wider welfare effects.     

Water ‘banking’ in Fergana valley aquifers—A solution to water allocation in the Syrdarya river basin?

The Syrdarya river is an example of a transboundary basin with contradictory water use requirements between its upstream and downstream parts. Since the winter of 1992-93, the operational regime of the upstream Toktogul reservoir on the Naryn river - the main tributary of the Syrdarya - has shifted from irrigation to hydropower generation mode. This significantly increased winter flow and reduced summer flow downstream of the reservoir. Consequently, excessive winter flow is diverted to the saline depression called Arnasai, while water for summer irrigation is lacking. This study suggests to store the excessive winter flows temporarily in the upstream aquifers of the Fergana valley and to use it subsequently for irrigation in summer. It is estimated that groundwater development for irrigation could be practiced on one-third of the irrigated land of the valley, and conjunctive use of groundwater and canal water on another third; the rest will remain under canal irrigation. This strategy will lower the groundwater table and create aquifer capacity for temporal storage of excessive water—“water banking”. This use of the term is only one of many concepts to which “water banking” or “groundwater banking” is applied. In this paper, the term is applied for temporary storing of river flow in subsurface aquifers. Pilot modeling studies for the Sokh aquifer - one of the 18 aquifers of the Fergana valley - supported that this strategy is a feasible solution for the upstream-downstream issues in the Syrdarya river basin. Field studies of water banking are required to determine the scale of adoption of the proposed strategy for each aquifer of the Fergana valley.     

黄河三角洲灌溉水源的分析与对策

从黄河三角洲自然地理条件出发，结合该区黄河来水日趋减少，且近年又多有断流发生的实际情况，提出解决黄河三角洲灌溉水源紧缺的对策：修建平原水库，搞好渠道防渗，推广节水灌溉技术，做好计划用水，推行“蓄淡压盐”、种植旱作物等农业措施。     

滴灌灌水量对玉米耗水及生长的影响

为了提高玉米水分利用效率、挖掘中国东北地区玉米增产潜力,寻求合适的灌水方式、方法,基于大田试验,研究了不同滴灌灌水量对黑龙江西部地区玉米的耗水规律、生长状况、干物质积累、产量及水分利用效率的影响.结果表明:低水处理(50%充分滴灌量)分别比高水处理(充分滴灌)、中水处理(70%充分滴灌量)和雨养处理(CK)的水分利用效率高16.4%,8.7%和14.1%;高水处理增大了玉米的株高和茎粗,但低水处理和中水处理下叶面积指数更大,有利于叶绿素的保持;高水处理不利于干物质向籽粒的运移;低水处理可获得更好的穗部特征,其经济产量较高水、中水和雨养对照分别高7.7%,5.2%和24.8%.对于黑龙江西部地区玉米滴灌,低水滴灌量可推荐作为当地滴灌技术灌水量的参考指标.     

元江——红河流域农业灌溉及其发

元江—流域内水资源时空分布极不均匀，上游是资源性缺水地区，中下段又是水资源极度丰富地区，普遍存在严重的季节性缺水问题。流域内贫困面大，种植业在农村经济中占主导地位，面临脱贫致富与保护生态环境的矛盾，不合理的水资源开发及农业灌溉方式，极易造成严重的水土流失和水环境污染。通过分析流域内的农业生产和灌溉用水管理现状，提出切合各地实际、易于被群众所掌握、投资小见效快的农业高效节水灌溉模式     

Water balance and irrigation performance analysis: La Violada irrigation district (Spain) as a case study

Diagnosis of water management at the irrigation district level is required for the rational modernisation of the irrigation schemes and the subsequent increase in the efficiency of water allocation and application. Our objectives were to: (i) evaluate the global irrigation performance in the 5282 ha La Violada surface-irrigated district (Ebro River Basin, northeast Spain), and (ii) estimate the water that could potentially be conserved under two scenarios of modernisation and three increased irrigation efficiencies. The main district’s water inputs and outputs were measured (irrigation, precipitation, and outflow surface drainage) or estimated (canal releases, lateral surface runoff, municipal wastewaters, and actual evapotranspiration of crops) during the 1995–1998 hydrological years. The annual average water outputs were 23% higher than the corresponding water inputs, presumably due to canal seepage and lateral groundwater inflows from the 14 355 ha dry-land watershed. The district-level irrigation performance was poor (mean 1995–1998 seasonal irrigation consumptive use coefficient (ICUC)=48%), due to the low distribution (DE) and on-farm (ICUCf) efficiencies (i.e., mean estimates of 83% (DE) and 61% (ICUCf) for the 1995–1996 irrigation seasons). Thus, despite the high volume of applied irrigation water, the actual district ET was 16% lower than the maximum achievable ET, indicating that the water-stressed crops yielded below their maximums. Potential reductions in water allocation were estimated for three ICUC values (65, 75 and 85%) and two scenarios of modernisation (I and II). In scenario I, where the aim was to achieve maximum ET and crop yields, water allocation could be reduced from 8 to 30% of the current allocation. In scenario II, where the aim was to achieve the maximum conservation of water under the actual ET and crop yields, reductions in water allocation would be much higher (from 26 to 43% of current allocation). Thus, significant volumes of water could be conserved in the rehabilitation of this 50-year-old district by increasing the distribution efficiency and, in particular, the on-farm irrigation efficiency.     

关中地区灌溉农业发展对区域蒸发的影响研究

主要从分析参考作物蒸发蒸腾量(ET0)的变化趋势来反映气候变化对蒸发的影响,从灌区实测水面蒸发量的变化趋势来分析灌溉农业发展对区域蒸发的影响。用改进后的Penman公式计算关中地区1961～2001年系列5个气象站的ET0,结果显示:80年代前后气候对关中地区年ET0值的影响有明显区别,80年代以后关中地区年ET0值增长趋势加大,受气候影响明显大于80年代以前。多年平均年内分布表明连续最大3月即6～8月占全年的比例为46%～48%,但80年代以后年内分布6～8月ET0所占比例有降低趋势;从泾惠渠灌区灌溉试验站实测水面蒸发资料分析,显示明显的逐年减少的趋势,年内分布表明6～8月水面蒸发量所占比例有降低趋势。说明灌溉农业发展引起农田小气候的变化,减少了夏季潜在的蒸发和实际蒸发量。     

Adapting to intersectoral transfers in the Zhanghe Irrigation System, China: Part II: Impacts of in-system storage on water balance and productivity

This paper investigates the impacts of farm ponds in a context of declining supplies in a major canal command within the Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS), in Central China. As dam supplies have been diverted to higher-valued uses (hydropower, cities and industry), farmers have responded by constructing small storages within their fields. These farm ponds have given them sufficient flexibility in water supply to practice varying forms of alternate wetting and drying irrigation for rice without compromising yields and incomes. Ponds are recharged by a combination of return flows from irrigation and runoff from catchment areas within the irrigated perimeter. Various scenarios of water supply incorporating the main reservoir, in-system reservoirs, farm ponds and irrigation practices were simulated using the OASIS model. OASIS integrates surface and groundwater flows, and contains a crop growth module to aggregate the impacts of different water management regimes. The modelling and sensitivity analysis show that further reductions in main reservoir supplies will have a negative effect on rice production in dry and average years, and that ponds have played a crucial role in adapting agriculture to reduced canal supplies. The flexibility allowed by the ponds has resulted in increased water productivity, except in high rainfall years, but net depletion has not decreased, as local supplies have substituted for water from the main reservoir. The study demonstrates the importance of properly accounting for return flows and the necessity to understand crop production in relation to the actual depletion of water (as evapotranspiration) within an irrigation system.     

Water and salt balance in an irrigated area of the Ebro River Basin (Spain)

Summary Water balance components (effective precipitation, diverted water, actual evapotranspiration and irrigation return flow) and salt balance components (TDS of precipitation, diverted water and irrigation return flow, and sources/sinks in the soil profile) of the Violada irrigation district (3,913 ha) located in the Ebro river basin were measured for the 1982 and 1983 hydrological years. The irrigation district discharges annually 73,000 t of salt into its receiving river. The gypsiferous character of the soils gives a saturated gypsum character to the leachate resulting in a fairly constant TDS of the irrigation return flow (coefficient of variation of 12% for the 1982 hydrological year). The salt load of this area is 18.8 t/ha due to the gypsum content of the soils and improper water management. This results in a mean annual irrigation application efficiency (JAE), calculated as the average actual evapotranspiration/diverted irrigation water ratio, of 0.67 for the 2 years studied. On-farm irrigation system evaluation tests were performed in order to evaluate uniformity of water application and irrigation requirements of the main crops. The results indicate that JAE can be improved by means of better irrigation water management (especially irrigation scheduling) and proper land levelling of the fields.Formerly Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias, CRIDA-03     

龙川江流域径流量变化趋势及水资源合理配置研究

采用Mann-Kendall法分析近50年来龙川江流域的径流量的变化趋势;采用MIKE BASIN研究龙川江流域的水资源合理配置方案.研究结果表明:龙川江流域降水量呈增加趋势,但由于水利工程的建设和枯季农业用水量的不断增加等人类活动的影响,改变了径流的年内分配过程,导致流域内年径流量和枯季径流量呈减少趋势.要从根本上解决流域的水资源供需矛盾,除了推行强化节水、水资源保护等措施,建设青山嘴水库等新的水源工程,还必须依靠滇中引水等外流域调水工程.     

景电一期灌区沟道退水滞后性

为揭示干旱区引黄灌区沟道退水滞后性规律,根据景电灌区沟道退水监测资料,采用交叉相关系数法和数据平移法确定灌区退水滞后时间,分析退水时空变化规律及其影响因素.研究表明,各退水口的年退水量差异不大,多年平均退水量约为4 622.3万m³,占灌溉引水量的31%.不同退水口之间的退水量差异较大,其中响水村占总退水的67%,五佛乡占总退水的30.6%,二期总一泵占总退水的2%.景电灌区不同退水口月退水量的主要影响因素为退水口控制面积和退水滞后时间,影响退水滞后时间的因素包括引水、降水、退水路径长度和人工开挖排水渠等.不同退水口的退水滞后时间在1~5个月之间,响水村退水滞后性较五佛乡和二期总一泵强,由灌溉和引水引起的退水滞后性有所差异.本研究所揭示的景电灌区退水滞后效应及其影响因素,可为灌区水资源合理配置与精准调控提供理论支撑.     

Impact of different water price levels on irrigated agriculture in Northern Jordan Valley

A linear programming model was developed to assess the impact of different water prices on cultivated areas, irrigation water demand, net income and optimal cropping pattern in the Northern Jordan Valley (NJV). The results reveal that the price for irrigation water does not reflect any elasticity in the range of water prices between 0.01 and 0.06 JD/M³ indicating constant real economic water price of 0.06 JD/M³. The change in cultivated areas as well as water demand (reduction) starts at water price 0.07 JD/M³. The expected reductions under optimal cropping patterns are 5%, 24%, and 60% for cultivated area and 4.7%, 18.9%, and 31% for water demand with water prices at 0.07, 0.1, and 0.16 JD/M³, respectively. Significant reductions in net incomes are resulted with increasing water prices over current average water price of 0.025 JD/M³. The expected reductions in net incomes are 33.6%, 53.8%, and 81.4% at water prices 0.07, 0.1, and 0.16 JD/M³, respectively. This result reflects the low land profitability as a result of low land productivity and/or low farm gate sale prices for most crops grown in NJV. The study also shows the inconsistency in quantity of water supplied and water demanded, leading to unbalanced water budget on monthly level and inconsequence, a noticeable waste in the quantity of available water during winter months, although there is a net surplus of water over the year. While the findings of this research reveal that a water price in the range of 0.07?C0.1 JD/M³ does not significantly influence the farmers' socio-economic parameters in the NJV, it may help reach the stated goal of saving water especially when monthly distributions of irrigation water are based on real crops water demands and actual cropping patterns.     

纵向岭谷区农业水管理调控措施

为实现纵向岭谷区农业水管理调控,宏观上以流域水资源综合规划为基础,从需求入手,采取强化节水措施,提高水的利用效率,抑制需水的不合理增长,到2030年农田有效灌溉程度达到32%,灌溉水利用系数提高到0.581,农业灌溉需水总量控制在89.8亿m3,需水年均增长率仅0.52%,以MKIE BASIN模型的配置结果显示,各规划水平年能达到水资源供需平衡;微观上应建立数字流域工程,提高对流域雨水工情的实时监测.推行农业高效节水灌溉制度,建立和完善包括实时灌溉预报、渠系动态配水、实时信息采集和预报修正、灌区空间信息管理等内容的流域单元农业灌溉用水及水资源的实时调度系统,利用水资源配置成果与短期实时调度相结合,实现流域单元的农业高效用水调控.     

Regional assessment of evaporation from agricultural irrigation reservoirs in a semiarid climate

The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of evaporation loss from the agricultural water reservoirs (AWRs) for irrigation at a regional scale and to analyze its impact on water storage efficiency. To this end, we identified the extant AWRs for irrigation in the Segura River Basin (SRB) in southeastern Spain, and calculated the water loss from each AWR per month and year. In order to accomplish this, we determined the monthly and yearly values of the pan coefficient, K_p, taking into account the geometric dimensions (area and depth) of the AWRs and local climate conditions through a function of air vapour pressure deficit (VPD). AWR areas were identified by interpreting aerial images, while climate conditions were assessed using daily meteorological data obtained from 74 automated agro-meteorological stations located in irrigated areas. Regional evaporation losses were estimated using aggregation GIS techniques. A total of 14,145 AWRs covering 4901 ha were identified, which represents 0.26 and 1.81% of the total area of SRB and the irrigated land, respectively. Results indicated that annual water loss at a basin scale reaches 58.5 × 10⁶ m³, which corresponds to 1.404 m of water depth over the flooded area and to 8.3% of irrigation water use in the basin. This quantity is higher than the industrial demand and similar to the environmental demand, and is equivalent to 27% of the domestic water use in a region with approximately two million inhabitants. The method used, based on annual K_p, appears the most straightforward to assess regional evaporative losses from AWRs, and can be extended to other regions and climates, provided that the VPD-dependent function that gives the pan coefficient is available.     

An integrated hydro-economic modelling framework to evaluate water allocation strategies II: Scenario assessment

In this paper the results of an assessment of the hydrological and economic implications of reallocating water in the Musi sub-basin, a catchment within the Krishna Basin in India, are reported. Policy makers identified a number of different but plausible scenarios that could apply in the sub-basin, involving; supplying additional urban demand from agricultural allocations of water, implementing a number of demand management strategies, changing the timing of releases for hydropower generation, changing the crops grown under irrigation, reducing existing stream flows and allowing for more environmental flows. The framework chosen to undertake this assessment was a simulation model that measures and compares the economic values of water allocation scenarios determined from a water allocation model that accounts for supplies of groundwater and surface water across a number of regions and over a variety of uses. Policy makers are provided with the range of measures on the security of the supply of water and the social costs and benefits of reallocating water between sectors and across regions within the sub-basin. Taking water from agriculture to supply urban users has a greater impact on irrigation supplies during dry years. It was also found that changing the allocation of water between sectors, by taking it away from agriculture had a large positive economic impact on the urban sector. Yet the costs involved in undertaking such a strategy results in a significant loss in the net present value of the scheme. Stream flow reductions, if significantly large (at around 20%), were found to have a large physical and economic impact on the agricultural sector. Implementing water saving strategies in Hyderabad was found to be more cost effective than taking water from agriculture, if rainwater tanks are used to achieve this. Changing the timing of hydropower flows resulted in best meeting of irrigation demand in NSLC and NSRC. Under this scenario, the crops grown under irrigation were found to have a significant economic impact on the sub-basin, but not as large as farmers undertaking crop diversification strategies, ones which result in farmers growing less rice. The security of supplying water to different agricultural zones has significantly improved under this scenario. Finally, releasing water for environmental purposes was found to have only a minor impact on the agricultural sector.     

农业干旱形成机制分析

基于农业干旱概念和作物水分代谢过程,从驱动因素对作物水分收入和支出影响角度分析了气候变化和人类活动二大驱动因素对农业干旱形成的驱动机制,探讨了多种因素综合作用下农业干旱(包括雨养农业和灌溉农业)从孕育、缓冲、开始、发展到解除的过程。