Sustainable Irrigation And Drainage V

Irrigation, as the biggest water user in most regions of the world is facing significant challenges in balancing social, economic and environmental needs for water. These proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Irrigation and Drainage: Management, Technologies and Policies provide examples of how irrigation and drainage can become more sustainable, while acknowledging that the concept of sustainability is a goal that continues to change as our knowledge of the biophysical realities alters. In that sense moving towards sustainability is an ever evolving journey. A focus is made on the implications for improving sustainability, whether this is drainage, irrigation technologies, economic modelling, governance studies for irrigation management, reuse of water or any other aspect. Topics covered include: Irrigation management; Irrigation modelling; Irrigation systems and planning; Economic incentives; Groundwater issues; Water contamination and remediation; Drainage systems; Drainage modelling; International issues; Water reuse; Climate change effects; Water trade; Economics of irrigation; Socio-economic benefits.

"Wessex Institute of Technology's Sustainable Irrigation 2012 Conference held at University of South Australia in Adelaide"--Preface.

Fresh water is becoming an ever increasingly precious commodity, control of which could lead in the near future to the type of political instability now associated with energy shortages. This book addresses the different aspects of irrigation, including not only the management of water resources and scientific and technical aspects, but also matters related to policy and economics, researchers in academia and industry as well as professional practitioners and policy makers. Bringing together papers from the First International Conference on Sustainable Irrigation Management, Technologies and Policies, the book covers topics such as: Irrigation Controls; Irrigation Modelling; Irrigation Systems and Planning; Irrigation Management.

This book contains most of the papers presented at the Second International Conference on Sustainable Irrigation Management, Technologies and Policies, held at the University of Alicante in 2008. The meeting follows the success of the first Conference which was organised in Bologna in 2006.

Fresh water is becoming an increasingly precious commodity. In the near future, control of it could lead to the type of political instability that is now associated with energy shortages. This book addresses the different aspects of irrigation, including not only the management of water resources and scientific and technical aspects, but also matters related to policy and economics. The objective of the Conference Series is to provide a venue for an international presentation and dissemination of papers related to sustainable ways of conducting irrigation. Sustainable irrigation has three key aspects, i.e. i) developing ways of using scarce water resources most efficiently to maximize food production while minimizing the environmental impact of irrigation activities on the affected land and water resources; ii) ensuring that the extraction of water from surface and groundwater sources is set at sustainable levels to maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems to secure a continued supply of quality water for irrigation, recreation and urban/industrial uses; iii) facilitate an equitable distribution of the water available for consumption between competing users, which is essential to maintain sustainable communities. Attracting researchers in academia and industry, as well as professional practitioners and policy makers, the Third International Conference provides a platform for a review of the state of the art from the scientific, technological, political and economic points of view. Papers from the Meeting are published in this volume, and cover the following topics: Irrigation Management; Modelling and Simulation; Sustainable Irrigation - Farmers' Actions, Environmental Benefits and Socio-economic Consequences.

or impeded the successful outcomes." --Book Jacket.

"Irrigation is the method in which water is supplied to plants at regular intervals for agriculture. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall. Gardeners use hoses and sprinklers to water flowerbeds, vegetable gardens and lawns. This is irrigation at its most basic. Large scale irrigation is where market gardeners, farmers, orchardists and grape growers apply water at critical times to assist plant growth and therefore produce quality crops. Irrigation and drainage is artificial application of water to land and artificial removal of excess water from land, respectively. The amount of water that is to be used for irrigation depends on the type of crop that is being farmed as well as the amount of rainfall in the region. There are some countries where water is used for irrigating land more than it is used for other purposes. In the US, about one-third of the water that is utilized each year is used for irrigation. Worldwide, it is more than half. Some land requires irrigation or drainage before it is possible to use it for any agricultural production; other land profits from either practice to increase production. Some land, of course, does not need either. The sustainability of irrigation and drainage in the face of many variants and constraints like availability of water as a resource, ecological balance, sociocultural impacts, and climate change effects lies in the strategies adopted and systems emplaced. It has always remained a challenge for the users of irrigation waters to maintain sustainability in quality and quantity. Irrigation and drainage improvements are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Often both may be required together to assure sustained, high-level production of crops.Irrigation and Drainage - Sustainable Strategies and Systems aims to discover frontiers of knowledge in coining sustainable approaches and structures directly needed in managing the quality and quantity of water obligatory for crop irrigation, surface and root zone drainage and flood management by available tools of research and development. "

This monograph provides an overview of the principles required for a service orientation in the management of irrigation and drainage systems. The material covered is designed to emphasize an area largely neglected in the irrigation and drainage management literature. The dominating philosophy underlying this book is that irrigation and drainage systems must be managed as a service business responsive to the needs and changing requirements of its customers. It is postulated that this service approach to the management of irrigation and drainage systems consitutes a key element of the startegy that is needed to improve the current level of performance of many irrigation and drainage systems worldwide. Enhanced performance of irrigation is a prerequisite if we are to face the enormous challenge of producing greater quantities of food to meet the demand of a growing population. This is particularly the case in an environment with increasing competition for water from industry and urban water users, set against mounting concerns about environmental sustainability.