IRRIGATION WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE NILE DELTA USING GIS TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

A GIS−based decision support model was developed for On-farm Water Management (GIS-OWM). The model includes three modules for water requirements calculations; crops manipulation and On-farm Water Allocation. The model was verified in an area located between Dakahlia and Kafr Elsheikh governorates, Egypt during (1/10/2013 to 1/10/2014). The ETo values which were estimated using GIS-OWM were highly significantly correlated with the ETo values estimated using FAO CROPWAT. The consumed time to reach the selected gates on Bahr Elbeshma canal using the GIS-OWM model were also highly significantly correlated with the actual consumed time to reach the same gates. The forecasting gross irrigation requirements for the pattern distributed using GIS-OWM (m 3) was compared to the canals available water (m 3) and the gross irrigation requirements for the actual pattern (m 3). The saved water amount during summer season when GIS-OWM is verified is (1.22×10 7) m 3 for 11795 Feddans.This amount represents about 34.6% of total water available during this period. GIS-OWM is able to generate maps for On-farm Water Allocation and field irrigation status. INTRODUCTION recision agriculture is generally defined by Mandal and Maity (2013) as information and technology based farm management system to identify, analyze, and manage variability within fields for optimum profitability, sustainability and protection of the land resource. Precision farming aims to manage production inputs over many small management zones rather than on large zones. Water management requires many factors to reach optimal distribution for water such as soil data, crops data, metrological data, and irrigation water networks data. Penman-monteith method is the standard method for reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) calculations were reported by Allen et al. (1998).