Droughts and Irrigation: Study in a River-Based Irrigation Scheme in New Zealand
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 1
Abstract
The occurrence of hydrological and agricultural droughts in a river-based irrigation scheme in New Zealand was investigated in this study. Hydrological drought occurred when irrigation supplies fell short of demands. Agricultural drought was defined by a soil moisture deficit arising from imbalances in rainfall and evapotranspiration during the irrigation season (September–April). Hydrological drought was further characterized by the number of days supplies fully or partially fell short of demands (duration) and the percentage of irrigation abstractions available when demands were partially met (severity). Based on 37 years (1972–2008) of observed river flow data (supply), it was found that one-fourth of hydrological droughts occurred early (September–December) during irrigation season. Hydrological drought started to intensify, both in duration and severity, from January and peaked in March. On the basis of climate data from 1972 to 2008, the monthly soil moisture deficit (difference between rainfall and evapotranspiration), indicators of agricultural droughts, of various return periods were analyzed. The 5- and 10-year return period agricultural droughts always exceeded the profile total available water (PAW) (estimated as a difference between wilting point and field capacity over a root zone depth of 900 mm) in the two-thirds of the irrigation scheme. Agricultural droughts peaked in January. Spatial variability in agricultural drought across the scheme, when combined with PAW, highlighted the inequity of having a single-design irrigation application rate for the entire scheme, in which large, parallel rainfall and evapotranspiration gradients exist. These gradients indicate that irrigation reliability varies spatially and temporally within the scheme.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded through the Foundation of Research Science and Technology Water Allocation Programme (Contract UNSPECIFIEDC01X0308). Insightful input from the anonymous reviewers is also gratefully acknowledged.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 1 • January 2012
Pages: 80 - 89
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 29, 2010
Accepted: Apr 25, 2011
Published online: Apr 27, 2011
Published in print: Jan 1, 2012
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