Abstract
The efficient use of water should involve decisions for balancing green water (GW) and blue water (BW) use for sustainable development. More specifically, the focus of irrigation water management should be redirected from a BW perspective toward considering the full water balance, including GW flow. This study presents a modelling approach in a system dynamic platform for minimizing the BW to GW ratio in a water basin while maximizing total agricultural profit. The paper considers the compromise between any reduction in the GW to BW ratio and the possible changes in the economic achievement of the region through varying land use and cropping patterns. This paper explores and presents the possibilities of reducing the BW to GW ratio in the Zarrinehrud River-basin for moderate, dry, and wet years using the water footprint concept. Results show that under all combinations of economic objective and BW to GW ratio addressed by water footprint measures, the hydro-economic performance of the river basin may substantially be improved as compared with the current practice. Either weights may systematically be changed or multiple objective optimization algorithms may be employed if a more precise tradeoff between the objectives is needed.
Highlights
From a management perspective, the efficient use of water in the future should address difficult decisions for balancing green water (GW) and blue water (BW) for food, the environment, and society [1]
The percent of variations of the GW and BBWW ffoooottprints compared to the eexxisting condition for the mmoderate-year sscenario ggiivvees ssiiggnniifificcaanntt nneeggaattiivvee ((−−1122..55%%)) and positive (+99%%)) changes in the economic performancee of the system, as expected under S1 and S3 scenarios, where full priorities are assigned to water footprint and eeccoonomic mmeasures, rreesspectively
For the S2 option, which may not be opposed by the agricultural district, the reduction in the BW to GW ratio may range from 1.2% to 4% for wet to moderate years
Summary
Most previous studies have not differentiated between the BW and GW in their analysis They often have focused on the relation between crop yield and total transpiration, evapotranspiration, or applied irrigation water. The water footprint (WF) indicator can precisely calculate the actual water consumption based on the climate, geographical conditions, and crop production of the region. The yield response factor (Ky) represents the effect of a reduction in evapotranspiration on yield losses It accounts for the complex interactions between crop production and water use, where various biological, physical, and chemical processes may be involved [20]. The procedure was fully coded in AnyLogic [19] for simultaneous simulation of crop water consumption and optimization of cropping patterns for hydro-economic assessment
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