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Assessment of Options for the Sustainable Use of Agricultural Drainage Water For Irrigation in Egypt by Simulation Modelling
Author(s) -
Wahba M.A.S.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.2029
Subject(s) - drainage , irrigation , environmental science , farm water , hydrology (agriculture) , water resource management , water conservation , agronomy , engineering , ecology , biology , geotechnical engineering
The water management simulation model DRAINMOD‐S was applied to simulate different strategies for using agricultural drainage water for irrigation over a 20‐year period. The irrigation strategies considered were: (i) fresh/non‐saline water as the baseline for comparison; (ii) drainage water of different salinities; (iii) cyclic use of fresh water and drainage water; (iv) deficit irrigation combined with controlled drainage; and (v) interseasonal cyclic use of drainage water and fresh water (2 years drainage/2years fresh). The study area was in the North‐West Delta of Egypt which already uses fresh canal water blended with agricultural drainage water for irrigation. The most common 2‐year crop rotation in the area of wheat–maize–berseem–cotton was simulated. Four different drainage water salinities (4, 8, 12, 16 dS m −1 ) were simulated and three different options for the freshwater/drainage water cycle. Better results were found, yields being maintained, for the strategies of deficit irrigation combined with controlled drainage, cyclic use of agricultural drainage water of 4–12 dS m −1 with fresh water and the inter‐seasonal cycling of drainage and fresh water. These results provide a set of sustainable options for using agricultural drainage water for irrigation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.