Abstract
Equitable water allocation is essential in an irrigation scheme for obtaining potential crop yields from the entire scheme, especially when water supply is inadequate. An optimization model achieved this goal by coupling an optimal water allocation model with available water supply and irrigation water demand for a river-fed rice irrigation system in Malaysia. This model consists of a paddy field water balance module and an optimization module. The outputs from the module are daily irrigation demand and surface runoff, if there is any. The optimization module consists of an objective function, which minimizes water shortage across the scheme area while maintaining equity in water allocation. This model performs optimization subject to several system constraints, and the decision variable of the model is daily releases or supply to the tertiary canals. Performance of this model remained unaffected under different water supply conditions, and the optimization model reliably examined the effects of alternate water allocation and management rules with field information. It improves efficiency and equity in water allocation with respect to crop growth stages and water shortages rather than simply cutting irrigation supply on a proportional basis to overcome water shortages. Keywords: irrigation, optimization, simulation, equitable deliveries, rice DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20181105.3536 Citation: Rowshon M K, Iqbal M, Mojid M A, Amin M S M, Lai S H. Optimization of equitable irrigation water delivery for a large-scale rice irrigation scheme. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2018; 11(5): 160–166.
Highlights
Rice is the main staple crop of Asia[1], and planting of rice request large amount of water resources
Equitable water allocation for rice production in large-scale irrigation systems is complex, especially when the available water for irrigation supply is inadequate during each part of the crop season
2.1 Study area The Tanjung Karang Rice Irrigation Scheme (TAKRIS) is one of the eight large schemes located at Northwest Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia with a net command area of 15305 hm2
Summary
Rice is the main staple crop of Asia[1], and planting of rice request large amount of water resources. Irrigation water to tertiary canals is allocated proportionately according to their command areas without considering variations in irrigation demands due to spatial and temporal variability in weather, soil and crops across the irrigation scheme, the actual water demands and time of delivery among the outlets considerably varies. These variabilities, make it necessary to reschedule the water deliveries before each rotation[9]. This study, aims to develop an optimization model for equitable irrigation water allocation among the tertiary canals for a large-scale river-fed rice irrigation scheme in Malaysia by considering an appropriate objective function and constraints
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
