Optimisation of conjuctive use of surface and groundwater for irrigation in Jordan

Rashid, Hani Abdul-Hamid (1980) Optimisation of conjuctive use of surface and groundwater for irrigation in Jordan. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

The thesis is concerned with the optimal allocation of surface and groundwater resources of the Jordan Valley to three agricultural areas in the region under conditions of scarce water supply. The optimising model allocates water from three main rivers, three main reservoirs and two groundwater sources in these areas. The Revised Simplex Method of linear programming is utilised in the model to determine the least-cost alternative based on the unit cost of water from each resource to each destination as it varies within the planning horizon. The net present value of the agricultural output is maximised by adopting the sensitivity index approach which provides a continuous response function of the degree to which crop water requirement is satisfied at various plant growth stages and therefore defining the productivity of irrigation water expressed as crop yield. The analysis was tested for different crops, and results were fed to the non-linear programming model to optimise the cropping pattern, by maximising the net benefit due to agricultural production, and thus to determine the nature of the demand for the conjunctive use model.Towards the conjunctive use model, the groundwater aspects are studied in detail and the most recent methods in groundwater modelling, such as the finite element methods, are used to study the extent of groundwater development. The physical aspects of the model, such as the model area, the cropping pattern and irrigation water requirement, are established. The hydrology of the area is assumed to be deterministic and the existing records (for more than 20 years) are extended to cover the planning horizon. The mathematical aspects of the conjunctive use model cover a series of mathematical equations representing the physical behaviour of the water resources system. The economic criteria for project viability, recognised as standardby national and international organisations, are used to determine the unit cost of water. The various aspects of tube well economics that are essential to determine the unit cost of abstracting groundwater along the time axis, are studied in detail by the use of the computer.

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