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Operational loss estimation in irrigation canals by integrating hydraulic simulation and crop growth modeling

Karimi Avargani, Habib ; Hashemy Shahdany, S. Mehdy ; Hashemi Garmdareh, S. Ebrahim ; Liaghat, Abdolmajid ; Guan, Guanghua ; Behzadi, Farhad ; Milan, Sami Ghordoyee and Berndtsson, Ronny LU orcid (2023) In Agricultural Water Management 288.
Abstract

Identifying operational losses in irrigation canals can be difficult due to inaccurate simplification in designing and operating national guidelines. However, this study aims to provide a practical solution to this problem by identifying operational losses, which are the primary cause of off-farm irrigation water losses. The method involves simulating the daily delivered water to individual Irrigation Units (IUs) through off-take structures using hydraulic simulation. The daily agricultural water demand for individual IUs is then calculated using a crop growth model and irrigation system efficiency. This approach offers an effective way to accurately identify operational losses in agricultural water distribution systems. The Roodasht... (More)

Identifying operational losses in irrigation canals can be difficult due to inaccurate simplification in designing and operating national guidelines. However, this study aims to provide a practical solution to this problem by identifying operational losses, which are the primary cause of off-farm irrigation water losses. The method involves simulating the daily delivered water to individual Irrigation Units (IUs) through off-take structures using hydraulic simulation. The daily agricultural water demand for individual IUs is then calculated using a crop growth model and irrigation system efficiency. This approach offers an effective way to accurately identify operational losses in agricultural water distribution systems. The Roodasht irrigation district in central Iran was used test proposed method. The water distribution simulation was conducted using an open-source Irrigation Conveyance System Simulation (ICSS) in three separate scenarios, including 29, 22, and 55 days, and each showed a typical operation based on history. The IUs’ agricultural water demand, at each off-take location, was calculated by the Aquacrop estimation including the existing information of the on-farm water efficiency depending on irrigation system. According to the study, the amount of water lost daily varied between 60% and 82%, 50–70%, and 44–61% in IUs that used drip, sprinkler, and surface water application systems, respectively, during normal operational scenarios. In situations where water was scarce, the water loss range was 4–87%, 68–80%, and 60–70%, respectively.The results of this study confirmed that losses in the conveyance and distribution systems varied according to the distance from the source and were often higher than the recommended guidelines for irrigation system design and operation (such as the 10–20% suggested in Iranian guidelines). The proposed methodology can be used to improve estimation of actual water losses for irrigation districts with similar operation systems and climatic conditions.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
AquaCrop, Hydrodynamic simulation model, Sustainable water management, Water accounting, Water conservation
in
Agricultural Water Management
volume
288
article number
108478
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85168014622
ISSN
0378-3774
DOI
10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108478
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Funding Information: The research was supported by the Strategic Research Area: The Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW) at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University , Sweden. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge the financial support for this study provided by the Iran Water Resources Management Company (ref 99/008/S ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors
id
7410f7b8-de91-49a3-aea4-ec703f0382fb
date added to LUP
2023-08-24 14:59:58
date last changed
2023-10-10 15:22:52
@article{7410f7b8-de91-49a3-aea4-ec703f0382fb,
  abstract     = {{<p>Identifying operational losses in irrigation canals can be difficult due to inaccurate simplification in designing and operating national guidelines. However, this study aims to provide a practical solution to this problem by identifying operational losses, which are the primary cause of off-farm irrigation water losses. The method involves simulating the daily delivered water to individual Irrigation Units (IUs) through off-take structures using hydraulic simulation. The daily agricultural water demand for individual IUs is then calculated using a crop growth model and irrigation system efficiency. This approach offers an effective way to accurately identify operational losses in agricultural water distribution systems. The Roodasht irrigation district in central Iran was used test proposed method. The water distribution simulation was conducted using an open-source Irrigation Conveyance System Simulation (ICSS) in three separate scenarios, including 29, 22, and 55 days, and each showed a typical operation based on history. The IUs’ agricultural water demand, at each off-take location, was calculated by the Aquacrop estimation including the existing information of the on-farm water efficiency depending on irrigation system. According to the study, the amount of water lost daily varied between 60% and 82%, 50–70%, and 44–61% in IUs that used drip, sprinkler, and surface water application systems, respectively, during normal operational scenarios. In situations where water was scarce, the water loss range was 4–87%, 68–80%, and 60–70%, respectively.The results of this study confirmed that losses in the conveyance and distribution systems varied according to the distance from the source and were often higher than the recommended guidelines for irrigation system design and operation (such as the 10–20% suggested in Iranian guidelines). The proposed methodology can be used to improve estimation of actual water losses for irrigation districts with similar operation systems and climatic conditions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Karimi Avargani, Habib and Hashemy Shahdany, S. Mehdy and Hashemi Garmdareh, S. Ebrahim and Liaghat, Abdolmajid and Guan, Guanghua and Behzadi, Farhad and Milan, Sami Ghordoyee and Berndtsson, Ronny}},
  issn         = {{0378-3774}},
  keywords     = {{AquaCrop; Hydrodynamic simulation model; Sustainable water management; Water accounting; Water conservation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Agricultural Water Management}},
  title        = {{Operational loss estimation in irrigation canals by integrating hydraulic simulation and crop growth modeling}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108478}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108478}},
  volume       = {{288}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}