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A New Model for Simulating Supplemental Irrigation and the Hydro-Economic Potential of a Rainwater Harvesting System in Humid Subtropical Climates

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Abstract

Here we have developed a new model to simulate supplemental irrigation and the hydro-economic potential of a rainwater harvesting system in rainfed agricultural areas. Using the model, soil moisture in rainfed crop land, supplemental irrigation requirements, rainwater storage in an on-farm reservoir (OFR) system, and surface and ground water availability were predicted. In an irrigated system, an OFR was used to harvest rainwater during the rainy season, and stored water was applied to cropland as supplemental irrigation (SI). An economic analysis was performed to calculate the benefits due to an OFR irrigation system, and gains from increased crop yield and downstream water availability in the irrigated OFR system were compared with rainfed system (i.e. no OFR). In addition, we calculated the impacts of dry and wet seasons on total value gains (grain and water gains) for irrigated and rainfed conditions and performed a sensitivity analysis to quantify the impacts of model input parameters on total value gains. Analyses showed that the OFR system can produce crop yields three times greater than rainfed agriculture. During a water stress season, the total water use in the irrigated system was 65 % greater than for the rainfed system. Water use efficiency of the irrigated system was 82 % higher than for the rainfed system. In a dry season, the total value gains due to increased crop yield by supplemental irrigation and downstream water availability of the irrigated system were 74 % greater than for the rainfed system, while in a wet season the total value gain of the irrigated system was 14 % greater than for the rainfed system. A precipitation scenario analysis of wet and dry seasons indicated that the benefits of a rainwater harvesting system can be considerably greater in dry seasons than wet seasons.

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Abbreviations

OFR:

On-farm reservoir

ACA :

Catchment area

ACL :

Cultivated area

AUC :

Uncultivated area

AOFR :

OFR area

ds/dt:

Change in soil moisture

dw/dt:

Change in OFR water

Peff :

Effective precipitation

QUC :

Runoff from uncult. land

ET0 :

Reference evapotrans.

ETc :

Estimated evapotrans.

P:

Precipitation

Es :

Actual soil evaporation

E:

Evaporation OFR

D:

Deep percolation

S:

Seepage from OFR

SI:

Supplemental irrigation

SImax :

max. suppl. irrigation

RAM:

Readily available soil moisture

QC :

Runoff from cult. land

Kr :

Deep absorption constant for deep percolation

R:

Proportional constant for deep percolation

Dwt :

Depth from OFR bottom to the water table

Ks :

Saturated hydraulic conductivity

Kc :

Crop coefficient

Yc :

Calculated crop yield

Ymax :

Maximum crop yield

Yirr :

Actual crop yield under irrigated conditions

Yrain :

Actual crop yield under rainfed conditions

Ky :

Yield response factor

Sm :

Available soil moisture

TWU:

Total water use

WUE:

Overall water use efficiency

IWSE:

Irrigation water supply efficiency

GW :

Green water

Bw :

Blue water

WVOFR :

Water storage in OFR

Qspill :

Spill from OFR

NRAM:

Non-readily available soil moisture

Smfc :

Available soil moisture at field capacity

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Pramod K. Pandey & Michelle L. Soupir

  2. UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands

    Pieter van der Zaag

  3. Water Resources Section, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

    Pieter van der Zaag

  4. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Vijay P. Singh

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  1. Pramod K. Pandey
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  2. Pieter van der Zaag
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  4. Vijay P. Singh
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Correspondence to Pramod K. Pandey.

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Pandey, P.K., van der Zaag, P., Soupir, M.L. et al. A New Model for Simulating Supplemental Irrigation and the Hydro-Economic Potential of a Rainwater Harvesting System in Humid Subtropical Climates. Water Resour Manage 27, 3145–3164 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-013-0340-1

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