Building a climate resilient farm: A risk based approach for understanding water, energy and emissions in irrigated agriculture

The links between water application, energy consumption and emissions are complex in irrigated agriculture. There is a need to ensure that water and energy use is closely considered in future industry planning and development to provide practical options for adaptation and to build resilience at the farm level. There is currently limited data available regarding the uncertainty and sensitivity associated with water application and energy consumption in irrigated crop production in Australia. This paper examines water application and energy consumption relationships for different irrigation systems, and the ways in which the uncertainty of different parameters impacts on these relationships and associated emissions for actual farms. This analysis was undertaken by examining the current water and energy patterns of crop production at actual farms in two irrigated areas of Australia (one using surface water and the other groundwater), and then modelling the risk/uncertainty and sensitivity associated with the link between water and energy consumption at the farm scale. Results showed that conversions from gravity to pressurised irrigation methods reduced water application, but there was a simultaneous increase in energy consumption in surface irrigation areas. In groundwater irrigated areas, the opposite is true; the use of pressurised irrigation methods can reduce water application and energy consumption by enhancing water use efficiency. Risk and uncertainty analysis quantified the range of water and energy use that might be expected for a given irrigation method for each farm. Sensitivity analysis revealed the contribution of climatic (evapotranspiration and rainfall) and technical factors (irrigation system efficiency, pump efficiency, suction and discharge head) impacting the uncertainty and the model output and water-energy system performance in general. Flood irrigation systems were generally associated with greater uncertainty than pressurised systems. To enhance resilience at the farm level, the optimum situation envisaged an irrigation system that minimises water and energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Where surface water is used, well designed and managed flood irrigation systems will minimise the operating energy and carbon equivalent emissions. Where groundwater is the dominant use, the optimum system is a well designed and managed pressurised system operating at the lowest discharge pressure possible that will still allow for efficient irrigation. The findings might be useful for farm level risk mitigation strategies in surface and groundwater systems, and for aiding adaptation to climate change.     

Water-table modelling to estimate irrigation losses: application to the Lower Durance, France

The consumption of water by irrigation in agriculture is very large and thus the effects of the management of irrigation systems on aquifers are very important. The basis of this preliminary study into the reduction of this consumption is to improve our understanding of the losses resulting from water transport and deep seepage inside the irrigated areas of cultivation (parcels) at the regional level (100 km) by studying water-table variations with reference to anthropogenic contributions. The use of a hydrodynamic model that incorporates adjustment of the quantity of irrigation water by a reduction coefficient enables actual water-table behaviour to be simulated. Losses can thus be deduced from the quantity of irrigation water flowing into the irrigation system and from hydrometeorological parameters.

Application of the technique in the Lower Durance (France) indicates that, in this region, 53% of the water remains in the irrigation network and 19% is lost by deep seepage, leaving only 28% of the water supplied for use by plants.     

东北寒区水稻需水对地下水埋深的响应及灌溉模拟

【目的】揭示不同降水年型下东北寒区水稻需水对地下水埋深变动与灌溉的响应规律,进一步优化寒区水稻灌溉制度。【方法】以黑龙江庆安和平灌区灌溉试验站多年水稻灌溉试验及2017年地下水动态观测数据为依据,分析不同灌水模式下水稻耗水及地下水变化动态,验证AquaCrop模型在东北寒区水稻生长模拟中的适用性,并用于模拟分析25%、50%、75%降水年型下水稻需水与不同地下水埋深的相互关系及灌水量的响应规律,提出适宜该地区水稻高产的地下水埋深范围及其生育期净灌水量。【结果】①水稻生育期内,地下水埋深先浅后深,其中,分蘖期、拔节孕穗期和抽穗开花期耗水量大,灌溉和降雨较多,地下水埋深较浅;②构建了3种降水年型下ET与GD、I的多元回归方程,综合考虑了水稻需水量与地下水埋深、生育期灌水量之间的相关关系,可用于稻田高效耗用水管理和地下水资源持续利用;③为实现东北寒区水稻高产和地下水埋深基本稳定的双重目标,地下水埋深应控制在2.0～2.5 m之间,水稻生育期净灌水量为:枯水年不宜低于现状灌水量,即300 mm;丰水年和平水年净灌水量可适当减少至现状灌水量的0.8倍,即240 mm。【结论】提出了适宜该地区水稻高产的地下水埋深范围及生育期净灌水量,为促进我国东北地区节水增粮,保护湿地生态环境,提高农业用水效率提供了理论依据。     

条带种植模式下微喷带对冬小麦产量和耗水特性的影响

【目的】缓解华北平原淡水资源匮乏与冬小麦高耗水的矛盾,解决当地水资源利用率低的问题。【方法】以济麦22为试验材料,在条带种植微喷带灌溉设置了4个灌水量处理:在小麦拔节期、灌浆初期、灌浆中期(灌浆期5月下旬)3个生育时期设灌水15 mm(W1)、22.5 mm(W2)、30 mm(W3)、37.5 mm(W4),以等行距种植常规地面畦灌在拔节期和灌浆初期各灌60mm为对照(CK),分析了不同灌溉处理的耗水特性、籽粒产量及水分利用特征。【结果】小麦生育期内总耗水量在306.46～399.4 mm,W1、W2、W3、W4处理和CK土壤水占总耗水的比例分别为44.2%、42.97%、41.24%、40.15%和38.41%;随着灌水量的增加,灌溉水占总耗水的比例增加;冬小麦拔节至灌浆初期耗水量最大,占全生育期的45.33%～53.68%,条带种植模式各处理在播种至灌浆初期耗水所占比重较大,CK则在灌浆初期至成熟期较大。微喷带灌溉条件下冬小麦籽粒产量随着灌水量的增加而增加,W4处理产量最高达9 682.66 kg/hm2;W3处理的水分利用率最高,比CK提高了7.54%。【结论】微喷带灌溉灌水量在135～157.5mm,耗水量在367.5～400 mm时,冬小麦能获得最高的产量和水分利用效率。     

节水压采区农业种植结构多目标优化研究——以衡水市为例

针对节水压采区水资源紧缺、种植结构不合理、灌溉定额较大等问题,提出了基于作物水分生产函数的多目标种植结构优化模型。以衡水市为例,以种植结构和灌水量为优化变量,以经济效益最大和总灌溉水量最小为优化目标,建立了多目标优化模型,通过改进的NSGA-II算法进行优化计算,得出了不同灌溉水价水平下对应的种植结构和灌水量调整方案。结果表明,小麦种植面积比现状种植面积有所减少,玉米、花生等耗水量小的作物面积有所增加。通过优化,合理提高灌溉水价可促进高耗水作物种植面积的减少,扩大低耗水作物种植面积。     

农业节水措施对地下水涵养的作用及其敏感性分析

以北京市大兴区为研究区,利用经校验的水平衡模型,通过调整灌溉满足率和灌溉水利用系数,探讨了不同农业节水措施对增加地下水补给量和减少地下水开采量的作用及其敏感性。结果表明,不同水文年型下,降低灌溉满足率及提高灌溉水利用系数都能减少地下水开采量,且降低灌溉满足率对减少地下净开采量的作用更为显著,有利于区域地下水涵养。在参数取值范围内,地下水净开采量对灌溉满足率的敏感性较大,而地下水补给量对灌溉水利用系数的敏感性较高。与提高灌溉水利用系数相比,对资源性缺水区域,采用先进节水技术,适度降低区域灌溉满足率,对促进水资源持续有效利用及加大地下水涵养具有更显著的效果。     

引黄灌区纯井灌水均衡及效益分析

灌溉模式多是井渠双配套,导致工程重叠,土地占压多,引沙量大,且浪费有限的水资源。为实行开源节流,地表水与地下水联合应用,在引黄灌区部分区域开展纯井灌溉是非常必要的。茌平县阁三里位于位山引黄灌区中游,周围引黄条件好,却一直利用地下水实行纯井灌溉。该井灌区(以下简称试区)拥有丰富的地下水动态及水文地质资料,开展阁三里纯井灌水均衡及效益研究,对于指导当前水资源合理调度及工程规划具有重要意义。该文通过系统地分析研究,证明在引黄灌区内部分区域开展纯井灌是必要的、合理的、成功的。     

灌区耗水量变化对地下水均衡影响研究

从宝鸡峡灌区水资源形成及转化的角度出发界定了灌区耗水量的概念。通过对灌区水量平衡关系分析,建立了灌区地下水量平衡模型,通过模型计算与分析,结果表明渠系及田间入渗补给量、地下水开采量是主要的地下水平衡要素;宝鸡峡灌区1991~2003年渠系蒸发及浸润损失量和渠系渗漏补给量总体呈递减的趋势,当渠首引水量和渠系利用系数一定时,渠系蒸发及浸润损失量和渠系渗漏补给量呈反比关系。灌区田间灌溉耗水量与田间灌溉入渗补给量也呈递减趋势;灌区地下水耗水量和地下水开采量总体呈上升趋势。     

CPSP模型在华北井灌区农业水管理中的应用

为研究不同农业水管理措施对区域水平衡的影响,选择北京市大兴区为华北井灌区代表性研究区,以CPsP模型为技术支持,研究了提高灌溉水利用率、采用亏缺灌溉、改善农业种植结构及利用区外水源等不同水管理措施影响下区域水平衡、区域耗水、区域取水及用水指标的变化规律.结果表明,在资源型缺水区域,提高灌溉水利用率、采用非充分灌溉及改善农业种植结构在一定程度上能缓解区域水资源紧缺的压力,特别是采用非充分灌溉及改善作物种植结构能显著减少区域取水及耗水总量,并能减少地表水及地下水的补给量中回归水所占比例,在缓解区域水资源紧缺压力的同时也降低了区域水质遭受回归水污染风险.另外,在未来情景中,因经济快速发展及人口持续增长,工业及居民生活用水量增加,区域水资源供需矛盾将会加剧,为确保区域水资源良性循环,势必采取积极有效的水资源管理模式.     

Managing irrigation and drainage systems in arid areas in the presence of shallow groundwater: case studies

Two field studies were conducted on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley of California to demonstrate the potential for integrated management of irrigation and drainage systems. The first study used a modified cotton crop coefficient to calculate the irrigation schedule controlling the operation of a subsurface drip system irrigating cotton in an area with saline groundwater at a depth of 1.5 m. Use of the coefficient resulted in 40% of the crop water requirement coming from the groundwater without a loss in lint yield. The second study evaluated the impact of the installation of controls on a subsurface drainage system installed on a 65 hectare field. As a result of the drainage controls, 140 mm less water was applied to the tomato crop without a yield loss. A smaller relative weight of tomatoes classified as limited use, was found in the areas with the water table closest to the soil surface.     

两种灌溉取水监督管理制度的分析

违规取用地表水灌溉水权，在水资源有限的情况下，从一定程度上损害了公共利益，并对他人不能进行补偿，因而是一种外部不经济的行为。我国对取水权的监督管理权掌握在政府手中，由流域机构具体管理。而国外某些地区对灌溉取水的监督权是分散在各个与灌溉系统相关的人员或机构手中，与此相关的人员或机构既是监督者，同时又被别人监督。文中比较分析了这两种不同的取水监督管理制度的优缺点，并给出完善我国取水监督管理制度的建议。     

Pressurised irrigation technologies for smallholders in developing countries – a review

The findings of a study of factors influencing the uptake of pressurised irrigation technologies by smallholders in developing countries are presented. The paper reviews the physical and technical characteristics that determine their suitability for use by smallholders. It also identifies a range of pre-conditions relating to water availability, institutional support and economic opportunity that must be satisfied before smallholders will adopt even low-technology pressurised irrigation systems.The review demonstrates that where physical, economic and institutional conditions are right some forms of pressurised modern irrigation technology permit smallholder irrigation of high value crops where surface irrigation would be inappropriate. However, the paper warns against the danger of wide-scale promotion of such technologies without considering the issues of institutional and technical support. Where pressurised systems are promoted to increase water use efficiency it is essential that they be well designed, installed and operated for savings to be realised.     

Improving agricultural water use efficiency in arid and semiarid areas of China

Water shortage in China, particularly in the north and northwest of China, is very serious. The region accounts for half of the total area of China, but has less than 20% of total national available water resources. While the water shortage in this region is severe, irrigation water use efficiency is only about 40%, with a typical agricultural water use efficiency of about 0.46 kg m⁻³. Excessive irrigation in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia has had a significant influence on downstream water users along the Yellow River. It is widely believed that an increase in the agricultural water use efficiency is the key to mitigating water shortage and reducing environmental problems. This paper reviews water-saving agricultural systems and approaches to improve agricultural water use efficiency in the arid and semiarid areas of China. The paper will cover biological mechanisms of water-saving agriculture and water-saving irrigation technologies, including low pressure irrigation, furrow irrigation, plastic mulches, drip irrigation under plastic, rainfall harvesting and terracing. In addition, the paper addresses the compensatory effect of limited irrigation and fertilizer supplementation on water use efficiency and highlights the need to breed new varieties for high water use efficiency. Considerable potential for further improvement in agricultural water use efficiency in the region depends on effective conservation of moisture and efficient use of the limited water.     

干旱沙区降解膜覆盖的玉米生长与耗水规律

针对干旱沙区水资源短缺、水分利用效率较低、“白色污染”等问题,在内蒙古乌兰布和沙区开展了2 a的可降解地膜膜下滴灌田间试验.试验设置2种类型的地膜覆盖(可降解地膜和普通地膜)与3个灌溉定额(低水、中水和高水)共6个处理,研究了可降解地膜覆盖下不同灌水处理对干旱沙区玉米生长、产量、土壤含水率、耗水量及水分利用效率WUE的影响.结果表明:可降解地膜覆盖下的玉米生长和产量与普通地膜覆盖的差异不具有统计学意义,抽雄期后耗水量较大,而WUE显著降低;可降解地膜覆盖下灌水量对玉米生长、产量、土壤含水率、耗水量及WUE有显著的影响,灌水量增加会促进玉米生长,延缓后期玉米衰老,增加玉米产量,2 a均为高水处理的产量最大,分别为13 614.97,13 726.68 kg/hm²,且与中水处理的差异不具有统计学意义;耗水量随灌水量增加呈上升趋势,而WUE随灌水量增加呈抛物线趋势,2 a中水处理的WUE均为最大,平均分别比高水、低水处理的高2.77%,19.56%.     

草地灌溉学科研究新进展

21世纪以来,草地灌溉学科得到了较快发展,在人工饲草SPAC水分运移消耗、需水规律与需水量、节水灌溉制度优化等方面基本跟踪着国际国内灌溉学科前沿,完成了一系列饲草料作物水分高效利用理论技术研究创新,为牧区灌溉饲草料地健康发展提供了较好的保障。与水利行业其他领域相比仍严重落后,一些理论技术问题亟待研究解决,只有增加投入,加强科技创新、普及,方能满足牧区社会发展、生态保护需求。     

Measuring the willingness of farmers to pay for groundwater in the highland areas of Jordan

The main objective of this paper is to estimate the willingness of farmers to pay for groundwater resources under different conditions of water supply regimes. Information available on water supplies, areas under irrigation and market conditions were the basis of the calculations. In order to identify solutions that maximize the total net income subject to resource restraints, parametric linear programming models were used to derive farmers’ willingness to pay for irrigation water. Results showed that there is potential to decrease water consumption and to reallocate it in an optimal way. Optimal reallocation increased the net agricultural income in the study area. The water demand for agriculture reacts to increasing water prices in a quite elastic manner over a long interval, whereas it reacts inelastic in the case of a decrease of the overall water supply by 15%. Farmers are willing to pay two and a half times the prevailing price of groundwater. The results show that the water values in the region are underestimated and the decision makers can impose a price level for groundwater from US$ 0.14 to 0.35/m³ without having any impact on the cropping pattern or the planted area.     

Validation of a methodology for grouping intakes of pressurized irrigation networks into sectors to minimize energy consumption

A methodology to optimise the amount of energy consumed in pressurized irrigation systems was presented by Jimenez-Bello et al. (2010a). These authors proposed grouping pressurized irrigation network intakes, each of the water turnouts resulting from a shared hydrant, into sectors via a genetic algorithm. In the present research, the methodology was applied and validated in a water users association. Several energy efficiency indicators were calculated and compared during five consecutive seasons (2006–2010). The first two seasons, when the methodology was not employed, were used as reference for the results obtained from 2008 onwards, when the methodology was applied to the management of irrigation network. Results obtained in seasons 2008–2010 showed that the average energy savings were 16% in comparisons to the 2006 season. However, it should be noted that the potential, theoretical savings, could have been as high as 22.3% if the modelled grouping networks would have been accurately followed. There was in fact some discrepancy between the theoretical model outputs and the final groupings due to some intake restrictions. In addition, during the irrigation campaigns, the number of irrigation intakes that operated within each sector was not always equal to the modelled sectoring, a fact that reduced the overall water users association energy efficiency. This occurred particularly during rainy periods, when some users deliberately decided to close their manual irrigation intakes valves. Overall, results showed the potential of the validated methodology for optimising energy use. However, the final overall system efficiency might depend on specific constraints that need to be taken into account when attempting to use model output predictions.     

On-farm labour allocation and irrigation water use: case studies among smallholder systems in arid regions

On-farm measurements and observations of water flow, water costs and irrigation labour inputs at the individual parcel level were made in case studies of smallholder irrigation systems in sub-Saharan Africa and south-eastern Arabia. The systems, in which the water source supplied either single or multiple users, were analysed to address the fundamental issues of labour allocation for on-farm water management as this has important consequences for the success of such systems. Results show that the costs associated with accessing water influenced labour input, because when they were low the farmers tended to increase the irrigation rate and reduce the amount of time they spent distributing the water within their parcels. Conversely when water costs were high, lower flow rates and more time spent in water distribution were observed, and this resulted in more uniform irrigation and higher irrigation efficiency. Also, opportunities and demands for farmers to use their labour for activities other than irrigation can lead them to modify operational or physical aspects of the system so that they can reduce the time they spend distributing water within the parcels, particularly when the water is relatively cheap. Awareness and better understanding of how farmers may allocate their labour for water management will lead to more effective planning, design and management of smallholder irrigation systems.     

Management evaluation of Water Users Associations using benchmarking techniques

The development of different tools to evaluate the performance of Water Users Associations (WUAs) is an important practice for improving water and energy management, together with other production costs. One of these tools is the Benchmarking technique, which is based on the comparison between different WUAs to determine the best practices in each of them.In this paper, a Benchmarking process is applied to seven WUAs located in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) during three irrigation seasons (2006-2008). The performance indicators developed by the International Programme for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage (IPTRID) are used, while new indicators dealing with production and energy are proposed. The goals of this paper are to group WUAs with the same characteristics, using performance and energy indicators, and to reduce the set of indicators using statistical methods. The most important indicators, easy to obtain and yielding result in maximum information are retained for further use.Three proposals reducing the initial number of indicators were proposed, with an aim of being useful for future applications based on characterizing WUAs. Indicators results highlighted that irrigable areas can be grouped based on the application of drip irrigation systems and those with sprinkler irrigation systems. When using groundwater resources, no significant differences were observed for energy consumption between these irrigation systems. This can be explained by the indicator energy load index (ICE, m), which had similar values in all WUAs analyzed. According to annual irrigation water supply per unit irrigated area (V_TSr, m³ ha⁻¹), the highest values (between 5200 m³ ha⁻¹ and 6800 m³ ha⁻¹) were obtained in WUAs with sprinkler irrigation systems, which contained crops characterized by high water requirements, compared to the V_TSr (less than 1800 m³ ha⁻¹) of WUAs with drip irrigation systems, with crops that required less volume of irrigation water. Regarding production efficiency indicators, in drip irrigation systems the high presence of vineyards, almond and olive trees, crops with low water requirements, explained high values of gross margin per unit irrigation delivery (MBVs, € m⁻³)(close to 0.82 € m⁻³) in comparison with sprinkler irrigation systems (close to 0.36 € m⁻³).     

Can irrigation be sustainable?

Globally, about 10 Mha of agricultural land is lost annually due to salinisation, of which about 1.5 Mha is in irrigated areas. While some climate and management aspects are common to semi-arid regions, the detailed mechanisms and options to secure ecological sustainability and economic viability may vary considerably from case to case. This paper applies a whole of system-water balance to compare irrigation in three semi-arid regions suffering from similar sustainability issues: Rechna Doab (RD), Pakistan; the Liuyuankou irrigation system (LIS), China; and Murrumbidgee irrigation area (MIA), Australia. Soil salinity, lack of adequate water resources and groundwater management are major issues in these areas. The MIA and LIS irrigation systems also suffer from soil salinity and low water-use efficiency issues. These similarities occur in spite of very different climatic and underlying hydrogeological conditions. The key data used to compare these different regions are climate and soils, available water resources and their use, as well as components of the water balance. In addition, the history of water resource development in these areas is examined to understand how salinity problems emerge in semi-arid regions and the consequences for production. Based on the efficiency parameters and the definitions of sustainability, approaches are explored to solve common environmental problems while maintaining economic viability and environmental sustainability for irrigation systems.