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Did water-saving irrigation protect water resources over the past 40 years? A global analysis based on water accounting framework

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  • Zhou, Xinyao
  • Zhang, Yongqiang
  • Sheng, Zhuping
  • Manevski, Kiril
  • Andersen, Mathias N.
  • Han, Shumin
  • Li, Huilong
  • Yang, Yonghui

Abstract

Water-saving technologies have long been seen as an effective method to reduce irrigation water use and alleviate regional water shortage. However, growing reports of more severe water shortage and increasing application of water-saving technologies across the world have necessitated reassessment of agricultural water-saving. This study develops a simple method based on satellite-based ET partitions to estimate water withdrawal, water consumption and return flow from the 1980s to 2010s, and quantifies water-savings across globe and four hot-spot irrigated areas at both field and regional scales based on water accounting framework. The results show that global irrigation water flows keep increasing from the 1980s to 2010s, with over 50% increase from the expansion in irrigated lands. While water-saving technologies are found mainly applied in originally old irrigated lands, traditional flooding irrigation is still dominant in newly-developed irrigated lands. Non-beneficial water consumption (soil evaporation) is effectively reduced by water-saving technologies, but return flow has increased at the same time. At field scale, water-saving technologies fail to save water because the accumulated increased return flow is more than the accumulated decreased non-beneficial water consumption. At regional scale, however, water is saved because the return flow percolated to fresh aquifers is seen as beneficial rather than loss. At the same time, the accumulated increase of beneficial water consumption (crop transpiration) exceeds regional water savings, which explains the paradox between wide application of water-saving technologies and more severe regional water shortage. This study provides key new evidence for the paradox of irrigation efficiency and helps reconsidering water-saving technologies and their impacts on regional water resources.

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  • Zhou, Xinyao & Zhang, Yongqiang & Sheng, Zhuping & Manevski, Kiril & Andersen, Mathias N. & Han, Shumin & Li, Huilong & Yang, Yonghui, 2021. "Did water-saving irrigation protect water resources over the past 40 years? A global analysis based on water accounting framework," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:249:y:2021:i:c:s0378377421000585
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.106793
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    1. Levidow, Les & Zaccaria, Daniele & Maia, Rodrigo & Vivas, Eduardo & Todorovic, Mladen & Scardigno, Alessandra, 2014. "Improving water-efficient irrigation: Prospects and difficulties of innovative practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 84-94.
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    5. Xinyue Ke & Ni Wang & Long Yu & Zihan Guo & Tianming He, 2023. "Spatial Distribution of Water Risk Based on Atlas Compilation in the Shaanxi Section of the Qinling Mountains, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-21, June.
    6. Cai, Wenjuan & Jiang, Xiaohui & Sun, Haotian & He, Jiaying & Deng, Chun & Lei, Yuxin, 2022. "Temporal and spatial variation and driving factors of water consumption in the middle Heihe river basin before and after the implementation of the"97 water diversion scheme"," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    7. Bai, Tao & Liu, Dong & Deng, Mingjiang, 2022. "Multi-scale ecological operation model of reservoir group coupled with ecological infiltration irrigation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    8. Linjing Ren & Xiaojun Yang, 2023. "Adoption and shift of water-saving strategies to policy shock: based on social-ecological system analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(10), pages 4015-4037, August.
    9. Sisi Li & Yanhua Zhuang & Hongbin Liu & Zhen Wang & Fulin Zhang & Mingquan Lv & Limei Zhai & Xianpeng Fan & Shiwei Niu & Jingrui Chen & Changxu Xu & Na Wang & Shuhe Ruan & Wangzheng Shen & Menghan Mi , 2023. "Enhancing rice production sustainability and resilience via reactivating small water bodies for irrigation and drainage," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Yaxin Shi & Suning Liu & Haiyun Shi, 2022. "Analysis of the Water-Food-Energy Nexus and Water Competition Based on a Bayesian Network," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 36(9), pages 3349-3366, July.

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