Abstract
The demand for fresh water is on the increase, and the irrigation industry in Australia is looking to a future with less water. Irrigation consumes the bulk of the water extracted from various sources, and hence the efficiency of its use is of outmost importance. This paper reviewed the advancements made towards improving irrigation water use efficiency (WUE), with a focus on irrigation in Australia but with some examples from other countries. The challenges encountered, as well as the opportunities available, are also discussed. The review showed that improvements in irrigation infrastructure through modernisation and automation have led to water savings. The concept of real-time control and optimisation in irrigation is in its developmental stages but has already demonstrated potential for water savings. The future is likely to see increased use of remote sensing techniques as well as wireless communication systems and more versatile sensors to improve WUE. In many cases, water saved as a result of using efficient technologies ends up being reused to expand the area of land under irrigation, sometimes resulting in a net increase in the total water consumption at the basin scale. Hence, to achieve net water savings, water-efficient technologies and practices need to be used in combination with other measures such as incentives for conservation and appropriate regulations that limit water allocation and use. Factors that affect the trends in the irrigation WUE include engineering and technological innovations, advancements in plant and pasture science, environmental factors, and socio-economic considerations. Challenges that might be encountered include lack of public support, especially when the methods used are not cost-effective, and reluctance of irrigations to adopt new technologies.
Highlights
Irrigation is an essential agricultural practice for food, pasture and fibre production in semiarid and arid areas
Irrigation scheduling process of determining howhow muchmuch waterwater to apply when irrigate, Irrigation schedulingisisthe the process of determining to and apply andtowhen to and has a direct effect on water use efficiency (WUE): the application of more water than that is necessary for optimal irrigate, and has a direct effect on WUE: the application of more water than that is necessary for plant consumption reduces thereduces irrigationthe
The purpose of this paper was to review the steps that have been taken to improve the use of the scarce water resources, with a focus on irrigation in Australia but with examples from other countries
Summary
Irrigation is an essential agricultural practice for food, pasture and fibre production in semiarid and arid areas. With the advancement of technology, thanks largely to the many years of investment and research and development in agriculture, there are new and emerging opportunities for further improving the WUE in irrigated agriculture Examples of these include use of remotely sensed data (from drones or satellites), communication networks and the availability of cheap sensors. It is clear from the above discussion that in order to improve the irrigation WUE, losses that occur along the conveyance and distribution channels must be minimised, and the timing and the quantity of water applied (or irrigation scheduling) must be optimised. We discuss the challenges to the achievement of higher WUE, with focus on water consumption at the basin scale and factors affecting trends in WUE which are broadly categorised as: engineering and technological; environmental; advancements in plant and pasture science; and socio-economic
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