Water and agriculture: supply patterns, irrigation systems and ICT

1. Water and agriculture: supply patterns, irrigation systems and ICT Water allocation optimization and higher efficiency Agenzia regionale per lo sviluppo rurale del Friuli Venezia Giulia - Pozzuolo del Friuli (Ud) - Italy Different supply patterns and pricing schemes. Different irrigation systems Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) provides some suggestions on water pricing: the adopted criteria should reflect the volume consumed by the final user. The pricing system should also be able to promote an efficient use of water resources. When it comes to irrigation two different water supply patterns can be considered: i) „Scheduled pattern“ (SP), ii) „On demand pattern“ (DP). With the SP the farm can withdraw a given amount of water according to a scheduled timetable. The farm pays a flat rate regardless of the amount of water consumed. With the DP the farm pays only for the water it has actually consumed. Ideally the latter pattern should be able to increase farmers‘ awareness of the costs occurred for irrigation and as a consequence promote wiser utilization so as to achieve overall water savings. Savings in water resources for agricultural use are also deeply affected by the irrigation system adopted. Water consumption observed with Surface irrigation technique (SUT, 2.2 l/(s*ha)) is remarkably higher than that observed with Sprinkler irrigation technique (SPT, 0.9 l/(s*ha)), thus the potentatial savings with the conversion from SUT to SPT can be estimated in 1.3 l/(s*ha). Fig. 1: Specific devices used for the „On demand“ irrigation pattern (DP) Fig. 2: Possible example of ICT application and water use for agriculure Taking advantage from the ICTs Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be very useful in the fulfillment of water savings and water allocation optimization targets. Different possible examples can be considered. A guided irrigation system: small sets of probes at field level can be used to calculate the crop-soil water balance and then assist the farmers in deciding the most convenient irrigation intervention through web-based information systems or SMS messages. The whole set of flowmeters in a district where an „on demand“ pattern is applied can be controlled by a centralized system. Informatics and water technology can be coupled at a higher hierarchical level. The whole set of pumps and devices of a fully connected network can be supervised by a specific „knowledge function“ that is able to process input data so as to optimize the amount of water to be allocated to the different crops and plots: weather forecats service information, crops water requirements and soil-crop water balance detected in sample critical areas can be integrated. ICTs can also represent an effective tool as a Decision Support System for water governance of a given area.