New Technologies to Facilitate the Planning Process to Manage

Water Over-Exploitation

Prof Wim Bastiaanssen & Dr. Peter Droogers

TtanBalance inflow & outflow

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

Expenditures exceeding income is not sustainableReduce expenditures = reduce evapotranspiration

income

expenditures

Water Resources Yemen

Problem: Data is outdated, incomplete, inconsistent & sometimes contradictory

Source: Worldbank study using public domain data

TRMM validation over PakistanManifold solutions exist

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

• Reduce abstractions of groundwater- Quota on water use, well licences, stop subsidized diesel for pumps- Reduce crop ET by improved irrigation technologies- Reuse urban, industrial and irrigation water• Control agricultural areas- Control irrigated area (ha)- Control cropping intensity- Abandon certain crops - Land retirement• Rainwater harvesting- Local infiltration dams- Constructing more reservoirs• Crop productivity improvement- New seeds- Better fertilizers- Optimal water supply• Desalinization• Import food • ……

Which tools are available to assist planning ?

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

Remote sensingWater basin models

Groundwater flow modelsClimate models

Water accountingGIS data

Smart phoneSMS messages

Models are Required for Future Projection

PAST FUTURE

FUTURE: C

FUTURE: A

Policies:A, B, C

ObservationsRemote Sensing Simulation Models

FUTURE: B

Many satellites provide free data

TRMM validation over PakistanSatellite Image of Irrigation Systems Siham

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

Situation 2006 Changes 2006 to 2009

Actual evapotranspiration Abyan

Yearly RainfallTRMMSatellite1998 to 2012

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

RainfMM validation over Pakistan

Rainfall trend 1998 to 2012

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

Upland Processes

Modelling water basins

Channel/Flood PlainProcesses

Modelling Recharge and Runoff for period 2000-2009 (SPHY model)

TRMM validation over PakistanRemote sensing for calibrating hydrological model

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-DelftRemote sensing Hydrological model

Change in precipitation (present vs. 2050)

CMIP3 – average 9 GCMS - 2040-2050 relative to 2000-2009So somewhat more rain in some areas, but….

Change in Evapotranspiration (present vs. 2050)

, but…. evaporation also higher anddemand for irrigation even much larger

Water accounting

Smart phones

Local farmers beingsupported

Water productivity gap Morocco (Doukkala)

Reduce irrigated area Saudi Arabia

345

508

872

1094

12851232 1206

1249

1064

887

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

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1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Areax1000 [ha]

Irrigation extent [x1000 ha]

Ban on wheat

Water credit card Italy

Pump stops working if water credits are finished

China Plain: ET management

We need information to answer the following questions:

Cheema – Ph.D. student TU-Delft

• How much water do we have ?• Where is the water going to ?• Who is using the water ?• What are the recharge mechanisms ?• What is the local sustainable aquifer yield ?• What is the remaining aquifer life ?• Can we introduce water savings without hampering crop production ?

Geographical and hydrological data provides the knowledge base

Tools create data at our fingertips

Share the

data via

the cloud !

Thank you !