| Authors: | Kevin R. Brinson, Tracy L. DeLiberty, Daniel J. Leathers |
| Volume: | Volume 2024, No. 002 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.46275/JOASC.2024.06.001 |
| Abstract: | Irrigation is an important agricultural management practice and the second largest consumer of fresh-water resources in Delaware. As more farmland is converted to irrigated agriculture, it is crucial that water resource managers be able to determine reasonable estimates of irrigation water usage in order to protect the resource. This study used a soil water balance approach to simulate irrigation for corn and soy-beans in Delaware (USA). The simulations were divided into four scenarios to determine which irrigation management method best represents agricultural irrigation water usage in Delaware. Two scenarios utilized an evapotranspiration-based (ET-based) approach using meteorological data from the Delaware Environmental Observing System (DEOS) with a soil water availability threshold to determine when and how much to irrigate. A second set of scenarios used a calendar-based approach and a rain gauge trigger to simulate irrigation. Analyses were performed to examine the seasonal and spatial variability of irrigation in Delaware and to compare simulated irrigation data to reported water use data provided by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Water Allocation Permit program. Seasonal irrigation varied due to environmental as well as irrigation decision making factors. Spatially, irrigation varied primarily as a result of the soil water holding properties. The ET-based scenario with a fixed amount of irrigation had the best agreement with the reported irrigated water use data. This study demonstrated the utility of high-resolution, environmental data with a soil water balance approach to improve estimates of irrigated water usage at the state and regional scale. |
| Link: | https://stateclimate.org/pdfs/journal-articles/2024_2-Brinson.pdf |
Menu