Irrigation And Drainage Research Articles

Socio-economic advantages and climate adaptation in sustainable vs. conventional cotton: evidence from Pakistan

Two groups of cotton growers participated in this study; the first, referred as “conventional cotton producers” (CCPs), continues to use traditional techniques. The second group, known as sustainable cotton producers (SCPs), adheres to practices that are socially acceptable, economically feasible, and environment friendly. This study was designed to undertake a thorough socio-economic analysis of CCP and SCP in terms of cost of production, yield, and adaptations for climate change. The data were collected from a total of 275 farming households (138 SCPs and 137 CCPs) from two districts, namely, Bahawalpur and Rajanpur, Punjab, Pakistan. The data were analyzed using the benefit–cost ratio (BCR), paired sampled t-test, and log–log regression model in SPSS. The results of the study revealed that the cost of production for SCP was significantly less than CCP and the value of BCR for SCP is higher than CCP. The results of the study also revealed that the land preparation costs, irrigation costs, and fertilizer and pesticide costs decrease the cotton yield of CCP, while land area owned and picking costs showed no significant influence on the yield of CCP. On the other hand, all cost items except fertilizer cost have a positive impact on CCP’s cotton yield. The results also indicated that SCP farmers adopted more of adaptation practices for climate change than CCP. This study concluded that SCP has significant advantages over CCP. Therefore, it is recommended that the government should prioritize incentives for SCP adoption to enhance yield and environmental sustainability in cotton farming.

Gender differences in rice production participation among smallholder farmers in small-scale irrigation schemes in mbarali district, Tanzania

Smallholder farmers are crucial to agri-food production in sub-Saharan Africa. However, gender disparities in rice production participation persist in Tanzania. Existing research has yet to fully explore how demographic and socioeconomic factors influence gendered participation in rice production. This study assesses gender differences in rice production participation patterns among smallholder farmers and identify gender-related socio-economic and demographic factors influencing differences in participation within small-scale irrigation schemes in Mbarali District. Using cross-sectional approach, data were collected from 397 randomly selected farmers through structured questionnaire and analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics, including ordered probit regression. The results revealed significant gender differences in rice production participation (p < 0.01). Male farmers had higher participation rates in activities such as land preparation, seedbed preparation, seedling management, irrigation, herbicide, fertilizer, pesticide application, harvesting, transporting, storage, and selling, while female farmers had higher participation rates in transplanting and weeding. The overall level of participation was moderate, with 78 % of male farmers and 49 % of female farmers. However, larger proportion of females (43 %) were at a lower participation levels compared to only 1 % of male farmers, while 21 % of males and 8 % of females were at high participation levels. Factors like household size, farming management, hierarchical position within households, decision-making power, and the ability to access irrigation water positively influenced participation levels, while land size cultivated had a negative impact (p < 0.05). These were gender-related socio-economic and demographic factors that disadvantage female farmers' participation (p < 0.05). While the age of the farmer and inadequacy of irrigation water significantly affected participation levels, farm-hired labour had positive influence, however, these factors were not gender-specific. The study concludes that gender differences in participation in rice production are influenced by demographic and socio-economic factors. To address these, the study recommends for interventions that reduce gender disparities by promoting equality in resource access, enhancing women's decision-making power over resources and ability to access irrigation water, and ensure sufficient water in small-scale irrigation schemes. The government should create an enabling environment that supporting female farmers in small-scale irrigation schemes for broader gender equality in agriculture and rural development.

Land Evaluation of Tribal Talukas of Bharuch District in South Gujarat, India

Climate change interrupts existing agriculture, emphasizing the need for land evaluation to assess current capacities and introduce climate-resilient alternative crops. A study was undertaken to evaluate soils of three tribal talukas viz. Jhagadia, Netrang and Valia of Bharuch district in South Gujarat during 2021-24. The total fifteen representative soil profiles were identified and excavated from various landforms based on GIS maps. Land evaluation was conducted using land capability classification, land irrigability classification and soil site suitability for existing crops and alternative crops for the study area. The study area is predominantly classified under Land Capability Class II, indicating minor limitations and covering the majority of the region. The study area also includes Class III with moderate limitations and Class IV in Netrang taluka, which faces severe limitations due to soil quality, wetness, and erosion. The study area soils were grouped under three irrigability classes with further divided into six sub-classes based on the limitation of soils and site characteristics. Soil suitability indicates high cotton potential in specific profiles, while pigeonpea and soybean shows broad suitability. Sugarcane thrives in Jhagadia and Valia, with marginal suitability in Netrang and banana is highly suitable in most of Jhagadia. Key alternative crops suitable for the study area are finger millet, castor, groundnut, green gram, cluster bean, mango, guava and Kamalam. The study advocates soil and water conservation for intensified, sustainable agriculture, proposing tree-based BAIF's Wadi model for hilly terrains.

Resilience to drought and climate change disasters and its determinants in the heterogeneous pastoral Ethiopia

Disastrous livestock losses have been documented over long periods in pastoral Ethiopia, and this challenge has remained unresolved. Nevertheless, this issue has received less attention than it deserves. This study estimated resilience of households to drought and climate change using survey data collected from 2756 households in the four pastoral regions of Ethiopia. A two-step approach, along with factor analysis, was followed to estimate resilience by household categories, intervention groups, and regions. Following this, tobit model was estimated to identify factors influencing resilience. The results indicated, (1) the average resilience estimated for treated and untreated groups range from 0.32 to 0.90 and from 0.32 to 0.55, respectively. (2) The components of income and food-access, public services, social safety net, and liquid and non-liquid assets boosted the estimated resilience. To those components, daily per-capita income and expenditure, food-insecurity, health-post, mobility, time-efficient food-aid, livestock-size and diversity, and irrigated land contributed most. (3) The estimated tobit model indicated months of drought, whether households produce or purchase grain for consumption, among others, significantly influenced resilience. To improve resilience, the study advises diversified income, school-feeding, market access, water points, and timely food-aid. Over time, transformative investments in road and irrigation, augmented by technology and training for forage and crop production require attention.

Do changes in land use and climate change overlap? An analysis of the World Bank Data

AbstractLand use change (LUC), including deforestation, agriculture, and urbanization, is a major contributor to climate change (CC). This change in land use has impacts on food, water, and energy systems, creating a complex interconnected web of issues. This study aimed to investigate the global link between LUC and CC from 1990 to 2012. Using time‐series data from the World Bank, LUC was represented by irrigated land, arable lands, and forest areas, while CC was represented by CO2 emissions. Moreover, the relationship between economic growth in high‐income and low‐income countries and LUC and CC was examined in this study. Based on the findings of this study, in low‐income countries, the intensity of LUC is higher in comparison with high‐income countries. Meanwhile, CO2 emissions are increasing in middle‐income and high‐income countries. Economic growth is closely related to CO2 emissions in countries with different levels of income. The study indicated that managing land use is of high importance to mitigate CO2 emissions globally. According to the findings, recent LUC has shown more obvious effects on ecological variables than CC. Although LUC is not inherently directly related to CC, humans change land use, especially in terms of land management, to adapt to CC, and these changes will inevitably bring many environmental impacts. This study contributes significantly to advancing the understanding of the complex relationship between CC and LUC, emphasizing the need for integrated approaches in policy development. These measures are crucial to achieving resilience and meeting global CC reduction targets.

Irrigation and food security in the context of water shortage: legal issues and perspectives

The article examines the legal problems and prospects of ensuring the irrigation of agricultural land in conditions of a lack of traditional water resources. Modern hydromelioration reform in the form in which it is currently implemented is not a panacea. It mostly solves property and administrative-functional issues, but leaves a call for attention to environmental and natural resource problems. In view of the tendency to decrease the quantity and quality of water in the country, the question arises about the prospects of irrigation under such conditions. In recent decades, there has been a constant search for innovative solutions of not only technological, but also legal nature in the world for solving the complex problems of distributing limited resources and providing agriculture with vital moisture for maintaining food security. The objective problem of the lack of water suitable for irrigation against the background of the rapid growth of such needs is getting worse every year and in the long run can endanger the food security of the country. World experience demonstrates the approbation of various approaches to solving the problem of sufficient irrigation. According to the main way of achieving the goal, these approaches are presented by us in the form of three groups: 1) use of alternative sources of water resources (use of underground water, treated wastewater, desalinated salt water); 2) application of alternative irrigation technologies (modernization of irrigation systems; use of micro-irrigation); 3) use of alternative crops (voluntary and mandatory transition). Having analyzed the foreign and domestic experience of the legal regulation of selected methods of solving the problem of water shortage for irrigation, it is possible to trace some general trends: a) self-removal of the state from the implementation of large-scale irrigation projects, the need for which is generated by global environmental challenges; b) slow ecological transformation of legislation regulating agricultural irrigation; c) the predominance of separate legal norms and separate legal mechanisms aimed at regulating alternative irrigation, and the lack of comprehensive regulatory and legal support for the reconstruction of the irrigation system taking into account objective environmental problems.

Long-term sustainability of the water-agriculture-energy nexus in Brazil's MATOPIBA region: A case study using system dynamics.

The global demand for agricultural commodities has driven extensive land conversion to agriculture in Brazil, especially in the MATOPIBA region. This area encompasses the Rio Grande Basin, a major tributary of the São Francisco Basin that is known for expanding intensive irrigated agriculture and hydropower generation. However, recent data reveal declining precipitation and aquifer recharge, potentially exacerbating ongoing water and land conflicts. This study investigates the long-term sustainability of agricultural expansion amid the worsening water scarcity using a system dynamics model. Findings suggest that rising costs and decreasing profits due to irrigation water shortages may hinder the expansion of irrigated land. By 2040, the irrigation demand may remain partly unmet, while downstream flow and baseflow could decrease. Additionally, agricultural expansion will significantly raise energy demand, posing a developmental challenge. We suggest that ensuring the sustainability of the Rio Grande Basin depends on improved water management and exploring alternative energy sources to address existing constraints.

The detrimental effect of socio-economic factors on cotton productivity in the tribal region of Odisha

Cotton is a crucial cash crop in the tribal belt of Odisha. It has a significant effect on the livelihood of the tribal people. The volatile socio-economic background of the tribal farmers is a major hindrance to the proper development of the agriculture sector. In this regard, it is important to study the possible factors affecting cotton productivity in the tribal region to boost the policy effectiveness for the development of this cash crop in the area. More precisely, how is their socio-economic condition reflected in their crop productivity? So, the development of the tribal farmers can develop this crop in the region. This study analyses the detrimental effect of socio-economic factors on cotton productivity in the tribal area of Odisha. The data are collected using a structured questionnaire and a multiple-sampling technique. To understand the effect of socioeconomic factors on productivity, the ordinary least square (OLS) method has been employed in this paper. The result shows that most of the farmers are illiterate for which productivity is degrading. The age and gender of the head of the household are significant contributors to the cotton productivity of the study area. Male-headed households are more productive than female-headed households. Per capita monthly income and proportion of irrigated land are also important factors to affect cotton productivity positively. However, the social group of the family has no significant effect on the cotton productivity in the study area. Policymakers and agriculturists should emphasize farmer literacy, farmer income and land irrigation facilities to boost the productivity of this crop in the studied region.

Smallholder farmers’ willingness to pay for improved irrigation water use: the case of Menz Mama Midir Woreda in North Shewa Zone of Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The water use practices in Menz Mama Midir woreda are very traditional and inefficient. To lessen this problem, water pricing (valuation) has been considered to be a promising tool. This study, therefore, examined smallholder farmers' willingness to pay and determinants affecting their decisions to pay for improved irrigation water use in Menz Mama woreda, North Shewa zone, Amhara national regional state of Ethiopia. Cross-sectional data collected from 215 randomly sampled irrigation beneficiaries were used for analysis. The mean WTP from double bounded dichotomous elicitation method ranges from 164.027 Birr (4.17 USD) to 221.059 Birr (5.62 USD) per year per hectare of irrigable land. The result from the seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model estimation revealed that the sex of the household head, total annual farm income, size of irrigable landholdings of the household, frequency of extension contacts, amount of credit, and dissatisfaction with the existing irrigation service positively and significantly influenced farmers' WTP decisions. In contrast, off-farm income and bid values were negatively related to WTP decisions. Therefore, the aforementioned factors affecting farmers' decisions to pay should be taken into consideration when constructing irrigation schemes in the study area and areas with similar economic and socio-cultural settings.

A diagnostic approach to modeling watersheds with human interference

Most watersheds have human impacts that modify hydrological responses differently over a range of timescales. However, these impacts are not accounted for in most hydrological models. Human impacts in watersheds are diverse and case specific, unlike natural hydrologic processes. Incorporating all plausible human impacts comes at a high data acquisition and modeling cost. This raises the question, which human impacts do we need to incorporate to represent observed streamflow patterns at different timescales? To answer this question, we develop a diagnostic approach to modeling watersheds with human interference. This mixed methods approach is informed by the case history and builds on the top-down hydrological modeling approach where process complexity is incrementally added with changing timescales to identify and respond to changing dominant hydrological processes in a given watershed. Here we implement this modeling approach in the East Fork watershed in California, USA for which data on changes in water imports, withdrawals, irrigation and agriculture land cover is available from the early 1940′s, making it an ideal demonstration case. In the East Fork watershed, we find that incorporation of water imports and rights are sufficient to replicate annual patterns of runoff variability, and that adding crop water demand and irrigation enables replication of monthly and daily patterns, while incorporation of groundwater pumping results in negligible improvements. To demonstrate the capabilities of the diagnostic approach in and beyond this case we conducted two computational experiments: checking for needed model structural change and exploring a counterfactual scenario of intensified agriculture.

Modeling of Automatic Plant Watering System using ATMega328 MCU Arduino Microcontroller Board: Mobile Application Result Display

Some gardeners still struggle to manually water their plants, preventing them from drying out and dying. Due to the inadequate water supply, plants do not grow and die as a result of soil drying. Watering plants is a labor-intensive job in day-to- day greenhouses. Knowing when and how-to water is an important aspect of watering the soil. The gardener needs an automatic plant watering system. This study aims to design and develop an automatic plant watering system using an Arduino device to provide an efficient and effective plant watering system that will help farmers increase plant production. To ease some problems for gardeners and farmers in growing their plants, the Arduino device ATmega328 Microcontroller detects and senses the soil conditions and moisture level and supplies the water plant if required. The microcontroller coded the water of plants when detecting the dryness of the soil. A qualitative and quantitative data analysis using a Chi-squared test to determine the deviation in one or more categories resulted in a 0.05% mean of 3.09 as perceived by 100 gardeners and farmers as a “significant” hypothesis. The V-model method iterates the agility process of the system designed in terms of phases. Five (5) IT experts validated and evaluated the system test capability and reliability result the mean of 2.96, interpreted as “Average”. The findings of series hardware system calibration test during the incubation and evaluation, the coefficient of stability (0-1) for the qualitative data resulted 85%, interpret as “Good Reliability” in functionalities, IPO, and detection. It concludes that research studies on the technology, particularly in Automatic Plant Watering System using Arduino Detection: Web Application meets the standard and significantly perceived the efficiency and effectiveness acquired an overall mean of 5.0, interpreted as “Very Satisfactory.” Recommending for the implementation

Balancing Environmental and Human Needs: Geographic Information System-Based Analytical Hierarchy Process Land Suitability Planning for Emerging Urban Areas in Bni Bouayach Amid Urban Transformation

Urbanization in Bni Bouayach, Morocco, threatens vital irrigated areas and agricultural land, raising concerns about environmental sustainability. This study employs a GIS-based Analytical Hierarchy Process (GIS-AHP) framework to assess land suitability for sustainable development. It addresses knowledge gaps in urban planning as follows: (i) Evaluating land suitability for sustainable development: this analysis identifies areas appropriate for urban expansion while minimizing environmental impact. (ii) Balancing environmental and human needs: the framework integrates ten criteria encompassing accessibility, economic, social, geomorphological, and environmental factors. This comprehensive approach results in a Land Suitability Map with five categories: prohibited/unfit, extremely unsuitable, moderately unsuitable, adequately suitable, and highly suitable. Notably, 39.5% of the area falls within the adequately suitable or highly suitable categories, primarily consisting of accessible bare lands and pastures. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers to guide Bni Bouayach towards sustainable urban development, ensuring balanced growth that respects both environmental preservation and resident needs.

DIGITALIZATION OF IRRIGATION SYSTEMS FROM WATER MANAGEMENT MAPS

With the increasing intensity of evapotranspiration caused by the changing climate, there is a growing need for water. This is especially true in locations where water-intensive vegetables are grown in intensive agriculture. Historically, irrigation systems were built in many intensive agriculture areas in Czechia, but they fell out of use, and evidence of their location was lost. However, Water Management Maps, which were only issued in paper form and have never been fully digitized, can provide evidence about the location of these large-scale irrigation systems. In this paper, we present a method for digitizing irrigation systems using the segmentation and classification of individual segments in the ArcGIS environment. The resulting raster is converted to polygons and is blended with the Land Parcel Identification System layer, resulting in a layer of irrigated land. Two statistical analyses were performed on this layer: statistics of the areas corresponding to the individual source watercourses, and statistics of the type of source.

RICE (Oryza sativa L.) SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN MEXICO: IS IT POSSIBLE TO ACHIEVE IT?

Given the significance of rice in the Mexican diet and the country’s dependence on imports to meet domestic demand, an examination of the food self-sufficiency index (SSI) for rice, which was 16.9 % in 2021, is required. The goal of this study was to examine the possibility of increasing the SSI to 66 % through crop area and yield increases, as well as to identify the most competitive regions in irrigated and rainfed agriculture under free trade conditions. A spatial equilibrium model that considered yield and potential area was obtained to analyze three scenarios that would place the SSI at 21, 46, and 66 %. The results show that to reach an SSI of 66 %, production would have to rise to 1139.7 thousand Mg, with 144.6 thousand ha of irrigated land and 18.2 thousand ha of rainfed areas, and an average yield of 7.4 and 4.2 Mg ha-1, respectively. The rice-producing states with the highest growth potential would be Nayarit, Campeche, and Michoacán, which have the potential to increase the cultivated area by more than 75 000 ha. Other regions with potential include Veracruz, Colima, and Jalisco. Due to the vulnerability of the domestic market to exogenous international changes resulting from its dependence on imports, it is recommended that the necessary measures be implemented to increase SSI for rice.

Irrigation modernization in the Ebro – Aragón region of Spain: Past and future trends

Irrigation modernization has been analyzed in the part of the Aragón region within the Ebro River Basin, in northeastern Spain. A geodatabase was built with 1144 irrigation cartographical units (ICUs) adding up to 476 k ha with access to water and equipped with on-farm irrigation hardware. ICUs were classified in eight categories related to irrigation modernization. The classification revealed that in the past two decades an integral irrigation modernization was achieved in 103 k ha. In a second modernization, 13 k ha were transformed to reduce their dependence on grid energy. A third type of modernization, oriented to the digitalization of irrigation management processes, is only incipient at this time. Public investments in modernization during this period were estimated at 36.8 M€/year. This intense, publicly co-funded, policy-driven process will be far from sufficient to complete the modernization of all irrigated land in the study area in another twenty-year period. In a concurrent process, obsolete, socially unfavored and structurally deficient irrigated areas are being abandoned for irrigation and even for farming. Specific indicators were proposed to approach the abandonment process, revealing that irrigation intensity in temperate climate, riparian ICUs was only 20 %. Irrigation in the study area needs to progress towards sustainable intensification, concentrating agricultural production in areas equipped with the technology and the water management capacities required to face the current agronomical and environmental challenges. The on-going processes of irrigation modernization, new irrigation developments and irrigation abandonment should be coordinated to serve this purpose.

Статистический анализ землепользования в Удмуртской Республике

The authors of this work conducted a statistical analysis of land use in the Udmurt Republic in 2011-2022. The dynamics of land areas by category is given. The study found that the largest decrease in farmland area occurred in the first half of the period under review. Over the 12 years studied, the area of this category decreased by 7.5 thousand hectares. The rate of reduction is 6.6 thousand hectares/10 years, i.e. every 10 years the category of agricultural land decreases by 6.6 thousand hectares. Every 10 years, the land area of settlements increases by 1.8 thousand hectares, which indicates an increase in the urban population and an increase in the number of urban residents. By 2022, the area of land occupied by settlements increased to 204.3 thousand hectares. The area of industrial and other lands is increasing at a rate of 4.2 thousand hectares in 10 years. For 2022, the area of industrial land amounted to 42.9 thousand hectares. For 2011-2022, the area of the analyzed category increased by 4.6 thousand hectares. In 2016, the land area of specially protected natural areas increased by 17.3 thousand hectares (from 1.9 to 21.6 thousand hectares), since the lands of the forest fund were transferred to this category. The area of forest land decreased from 2046.8 to 2029.4 thousand hectares. Over the 12 years under consideration, the land area of the water fund decreased by 0.5 thousand hectares, the maximum area was in 2011 and amounted to 29.2 thousand hectares. Starting from 2011 and ending in 2022, the total area of reserve land remained relatively stable (19.5-20.7 thousand hectares), the changes do not exceed 1.2 thousand hectares. As of 2022, the area of irrigated land of the Udmurt Republic amounted to 18.2 thousand hectares, and drained - 23 thousand hectares. Over the past 11 years, the area of good irrigated land has increased by 5.9 thousand hectares, the areas of satisfactory and unsatisfactory land have decreased by 4.6 thousand hectares and 3.8 thousand hectares, respectively.

A Design and implementation of a sustainable microcontroller based solar power automatic water irrigation control and monitoring system

The major cause of the shortage of land reserve water owing to the lack of rainfall makes the proper operation of irrigation systems extremely important. A major concern for farmers these days is water scarcity. Pakistan is an important agricultural nation and major part of economy depend on agriculture. This study analyses the soil moisture monitoring and automatic plant watering system since it is really helpful in all kinds of weather. In this study a prototype is design and implement using Arduino-based automation sensors are employed for the control and observation of a solar powered smart irrigation system. An Arduino based remote irrigation system developed for the agricultural plantation, which is placed at a remote location and requires water, provides for plantation when the moisture of the earth drives under the set-point rate which turns on the pump on autopilot. An estimation was carried for solar power energy potential agriculture system condition using soil and humidity sensors. The measurements and mathematical formulation were observed to monitor effectivity of solar based power generation. This analysis is conducted for 20 Watt power panel integrated with 5-watt electrical drive with battery capacity 1200 m-Ah. A modified energy model was used to determine the agricultural load for a 5-watt dc motor. The results showed a cumulative analysis to implement this system inspired by smart sustainable clean renewable energy technologies which meet the farmer’s demands significantly increase the productivity of farming and reduce wastage of water and energy.

Occurrence of Abiotic and Biotic Stress Tolerance in Rice: A Multigene Approach

A sustainable food system ensures food security and nourishment for future generations. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) requires emergence stress tolerance for successful cultivation in germination and early establishment stages. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) study, rice is one of the most important worldwide cereal crops and a staple food for more than half of the world’s population. Over the past few years, drastic climatic changes have been subjected to many abiotic and biotic stresses. Global estimates express that a total of 1000 million hectares of cultivated land is affected by abiotic and biotic stress. Besides this around 30% of the irrigated land area is also disturbed. This review discusses the mechanisms of stress-tolerant variants and understanding the recent developments of complex tolerance phenomena. Here, we have compiled the logical pieces as evidence of successful applications of potent molecular tools for boosting stress tolerance in rice, their prospects and limitation. This information would help researchers better understand the genetic enhancement of stress tolerance in rice.

Solar-powered automatic plant watering system with moisture sensor using Arduino Uno

Solar-powered automatic plant watering system with moisture sensor using Arduino Uno

Mapping and assessment of groundwater pollution risks in the main aquifer of the Mostaganem plateau (Northwest Algeria): utilizing the novel vulnerability index and decision tree model.

Water plays a pivotal role in socio-economic development in Algeria. However, the overexploitations of groundwater resources, water scarcity, and the proliferation of pollution sources (including industrial and urban effluents, untreated landfills, and chemical fertilizers, etc.) have resulted in substantial groundwater contamination. Preserving water irrigation quality has thus become a primary priority, capturing the attention of both scientists and local authorities. The current study introduces an innovative method to mapping contamination risks, integrating vulnerability assessments, land use patterns (as a sources of pollution), and groundwater overexploitation (represented by the waterhole density) through the implementation of a decision tree model. The resulting risk map illustrates the probability of contamination occurrence in the substantial aquifer on the plateau of Mostaganem. An agricultural region characterized by the intensive nutrients and pesticides use, the significant presence of septic tanks, widespread illegal dumping, and a technical landfill not compliant with environmental standards. The critical situation in the region is exacerbated by excessive groundwater pumping surpassing the aquifer's natural replenishment capacity (with 115 boreholes and 6345 operational wells), especially in a semi-arid climate featuring limited water resources and frequent drought. Vulnerability was evaluated using the DRFTID method, a derivative of the DRASTIC model, considering parameters such as depth to groundwater, recharge, fracture density, slope, nature of the unsaturated zone, and the drainage density. All these parameters are combined with analyses of inter-parameter relationship effects. The results show a spatial distribution into three risk levels (low, medium, and high), with 31.5% designated as high risk, and 56% as medium risk. The validation of this mapping relies on the assessment of physicochemical analyses in samples collected between 2010 and 2020. The results indicate elevated groundwater contamination levels in samples. Chloride exceeded acceptable levels by 100%, nitrate by 71%, calcium by 50%, and sodium by 42%. These elevated concentrations impact electrical conductivity, resulting in highly mineralized water attributed to anthropogenic agricultural pollution and septic tank discharges. High-risk zones align with areas exhibiting elevated nitrate and chloride concentrations. This model, deemed satisfactory, significantly enhances the sustainable management of water resources and irrigated land across various areas. In the long term, it would be beneficial to refine "vulnerability and risk" models by integrating detailed data on land use, groundwater exploitation, and hydrogeological and hydrochemical characteristics. This approach could improve vulnerability accuracy and pollution risk maps, particularly through detailed local data availability. It is also crucial that public authorities support these initiatives by adapting them to local geographical and climatic specificities on a regional and national scale. Finally, these studies have the potential to foster sustainable development at different geographical levels.