Management of agricultural saline drainage using system dynamics approach

Abstract

AbstractAgricultural drainage water quality changes over time until it reaches a balance. In areas with shallow and saline groundwater, it might take several years to reach a balance. In such cases, knowledge of the quantity and quality of drainage water is necessary to manage it. The drainage water generated must then be managed for reuse purposes where it is of suitable quality and is finally discharged or disposed of. In this paper, the system dynamics technique was used to manage this drainage water. The study used the system dynamic programming tool VENSIM. The model developed in this study is capable of managing drainage water by combination of existing solutions such as mixture of irrigation water, used for downstream and cultivation of salt tolerant plants, used for irrigation of salt‐friendly plant, discharged into a river and discharged to evaporation ponds, simultaneously. The model was run using actual data for Khuzestan Province of Iran. The results showed that the model could be an opportunity for the design and management of drainage systems.