Irrigation Potential of the TRASVASE System (Santa Elena Peninsula, Guayas, Ecuador)
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 5
Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the total irrigable area in the Santa Elena Peninsula Water Delivery System (TRASVASE) under several land use scenarios based on a simple water budget model requiring estimation of: (1) crop water requirements (CWR); (2) irrigation efficiency; and (3) dams and canals evaporation utilizing weather data. CROPWAT, a software package developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), was used to calculate CWR and irrigation requirements. The reference evapotranspiration was calculated using Santa Elena Peninsula historical average weather data and results used to create average monthly surface maps using ArcMap. Nine scenarios were created to calculate available agricultural water and irrigable area. The total calculated irrigable area during the dry season (June–November) was compared to estimate from the Commission for the Development of the Guayas River Basin in Ecuador (CEDEGE) and to the average estimate done by the farmers. CEDEGE estimate was , 48% more than the most water conservative scenario (CB) analyzed in this study, whereas farmers’ projected average was or 0.06% more. The advantage of this method is that it requires minimal climatic and geographic information coupled with well-established FAO models to produce tangible results. It can be of important use in locations where climatic data is limited, reducing dependency on weather stations to calculate system wide irrigation requirements.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 5 • October 2006
Pages: 453 - 462
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: May 7, 2004
Accepted: Dec 20, 2005
Published online: Oct 1, 2006
Published in print: Oct 2006
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