Abstract
Water-saving irrigation development level (WIDL) refers to reasonably and accurately judging a water-saving area based on the analysis of all factors affecting the water-saving irrigation development. The evaluation of regional WIDL is the premise of scientific planning guidance to irrigation work. How to select reasonable evaluation indexes and build a scientific and comprehensive model to evaluate WIDL is of great significance. In this study, the comprehensive evaluation index system of WIDL in 21 cities (states) of the Sichuan province in China (a typical humid region in southern China) was constructed, and the TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) method was improved to evaluate WIDL. Results showed that the overall development level of water-saving irrigation was “poor” in Sichuan province. The water-saving irrigation level turned out to be “good” in three regions with advantageous geographical conditions and developed economies, “general” in four regions with good economic levels where agronomy water saving has been popularized, and “poor” in fourteen regions of mountainous and hilly areas, especially Ganzi, Aba, and Liangshan, located in the Northwest plateau of Sichuan province, with poor natural resources and insufficient economies. The evaluation results were in good agreement with the actual situation, and in this area, there is enormous potential for the development of water-saving irrigation strategies. This study provides an important technical approach for the evaluation of water-saving irrigation development in humid regions of Southern China.
Highlights
Water scarcity has become a major restraint factor for social and economic development among many regions, especially in semiarid and arid regions [1,2]
Many studies have focused on the evaluation of water-saving irrigation technology or comprehensive benefits [19,20,21,22,23], less research has been conducted on the comprehensive evaluation of the regional water-saving irrigation development level (WIDL)
How could we evaluate the development level of water-saving irrigation strategies? First, we established a comprehensive evaluation index system of WIDL from three aspects of engineering, agronomy, and management
Summary
Water scarcity has become a major restraint factor for social and economic development among many regions, especially in semiarid and arid regions [1,2]. Management (water price, government police, etc.) measures [12,13,14,15,16,17,18] The natural conditions, such as hydrogeology, channel soil, irrigation soil, crop species, the management and maintenance level of irrigation districts, farmer’s habits of water use, and water price policy vary in different regions, which will lead to different engineering technologies, economic benefits, environmental benefits, and development level of water-saving irrigation in various regions. WIDL refers to reasonably and accurately judging a water-saving or high-efficiency water-saving area based on the analysis of all factors affecting water-saving irrigation development. It is an objective summary of past achievements and a judgment of the current starting point.
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