Water Management and Irrigation Systems

Abstract

An important urban societal challenge is to properly match citizens‘needs and activities with reasonable use of the available resources. In this context, Rooftop Agriculture (RA) requires well documented guidelines to link its multifunctionality and sustainability to the water cycle, mainly when water shortage, scarcity, flooding and other difficult to handle or limiting conditions occur. Proper water management in RA involves a number of decisions and this chapter outlines the available knowledge, the options and the criteria, related to irrigation and drainage systems design and management at the micro-scale (e.g. plot, end-user) level. Irrigation practices and their impacts are approached considering site-specific conditions (soil-plant-atmosphere system) with respect to six different climatic regions. The main agro-environmental and socio-economic factors are evaluated in order to point out best strategies, comprising suitable and available technologies, to enable successful RA planning and actions regarding water management.