Climate-smart tank irrigation: A multi-year analysis of improved conjunctive water use under high rainfall variability
| Autor: | Petra Hellegers, Christian Siderius, Pavel Kabat, H. Boonstra, V. Munaswamy, C. Ramana, E.C. van Ierland |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Irrigation
Soil Science WASS surface-water Earth System Science Rainwater harvesting Environmental Economics and Natural Resources groundwater Alterra - Centre for Water and Climate Productivity Earth-Surface Processes Water Science and Technology projections india Water Resources Management tamil-nadu Climate Resilience Water resources efficiency Klimaatbestendigheid Leerstoelgroep Aardsysteemkunde Environmental science Conjunctive use Water resource management Agronomy and Crop Science Cropping management Groundwater Water use Alterra - Centrum Water en Klimaat Milieueconomie en Natuurlijke Hulpbronnen |
| Zdroj: | Agricultural Water Management 148 (2015) Agricultural Water Management, 148, 52-62 |
| ISSN: | 0378-3774 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.agwat.2014.09.009 |
| Popis: | Although water harvesting is receiving renewed attention as a strategy to cope with increasing seasonal and inter-annual rainfall variability, many centuries-old local water-harvesting reservoirs (tanks) in India are rapidly deteriorating. Easy access to groundwater is seen as one of the major threats to their maintenance and functioning. Potentially, however, conjunctive use of water from rain, tanks and groundwater reserves, supported by proper monitoring, could improve the resilience and productivity of traditional tank irrigation systems. To date, few quantitative multi-annual analyses of such climate-smart systems have been published. To redress this, we assess the sustainability of a rehabilitated tank irrigation system, by monitoring all inputs and outputs over a period of six years (12 cropping seasons). Our results show that during the period considered, improved conjunctive use resulted in a more stable cropping intensity, increased economic water productivity and higher net agricultural income. Groundwater tables were not negatively affected. We argue that improved conjunctive use can considerably reduce the vulnerability of tank irrigation to rainfall variability and thus is a valuable strategy in light of future climate change. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Full Text from ScienceDirect