Abstract
Regional based estimates of water use for commercial sugar-cane in South Africa
Highlights
The water use of rain-fed sugar-cane has come into focus inSouth Africa, largely as a result of changes in legislation
Forestry is the only declared streamflow reduction activity’ (SFRA); in light of the new Water Act, other crops or land covers have come under the spotlight as potential
In the introduction of this paper it was reasoned that actual water use (i.e. AET) of a crop is likely to be very different to potential water use (i.e. potential evapotranspiration (PET)) owing to environmental constraints
Summary
The water use of rain-fed sugar-cane has come into focus inSouth Africa, largely as a result of changes in legislation. The water use of rain-fed sugar-cane has come into focus in. In the new South African Water Act (Act 36 of 1998), definitions of water use have been extended to include: ‘engaging in a streamflow reduction activity’ (SFRA). Forestry is the only declared SFRA; in light of the new Water Act, other crops or land covers have come under the spotlight as potential SFRAs. In an influential study, Kruger et al (2000) adopted a methodology whereby candidate SFRAs were determined based largely on a comparison of their potential evapotranspiration (PET) rates with the PET rates of corresponding Acocks veld types (Acocks, 1975). It was concluded that sugar-cane should be targeted for further investigation as a potential SFRA
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