Planning and operation of irrigation projects for optimal water resources use

Baban, Rozgar Taher (1982) Planning and operation of irrigation projects for optimal water resources use. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

Groundwater, in many arid regions, is either the only available watersource for irrigation, or is the main part of the overall water resources for the area. To develop this scarce resource for irrigation, thorough hydrological, agricultural and economic studios are required, and interactions between these factors must be clearly identified. Operation of irrigation projects using groundwater is a multi-decisional process because of the fluctuation of the groundwater level, arid the stochastic nature of the recharge sources. In the present study the effect of falling groundwater level on the cropping pattern and intensity, and the consequences that the fall in the economy of the project, are studied. Criteria are laid for the optimum groundwater mining if a project has no continuous or intermittent recharge. The operation of irrigation projects for the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater is studied. While the optimum design of irrigation systems and planning of projects are discussed, great emphasis is laid on the operation phase or such projects. To determine the optimum policy for allocating irrigation water among crops grown at a particular time, and throughout their growing seasons, a function is required which relates the yield to the available soil moisture and the time of water application. Such a function is developed for this purpose, and from that a method is found for evaluating crop growth stages monetarily. The suggested method determines the optimum water required and the instantaneous action of the operator to allocate a limited amount of water. In addition to optimum water allocation, and the response of the crops to water deficits, the model which is compiled to simulate operation of an irrigation project using surface and groundwater resources determines the optimum quantities of surface water, groundwater, and artificial recharge, within any specified period. Optimum long-term planning for operation of surface and ground water reservoirs is simulated by another model which handles stochastic data, so that the expected reliability of a surface reservoir, yield and return of the project, and expected operation policy throughout selected time horizon can be found.

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