Worldwide, there is increasing pressure on available water resources. Growing populations, increased wealth, urbanization, and industrialization are a number of factors that cause the pressure. In most places, climate change is an adding factor to the pressure.
A large proportion of the available water resources (around 70% of the total) are consumed for agricultural purposes. Therefore, irrigated agriculture will have to increase its efficiency and productivity of water use. Water management in the irrigated agricultural sector is required. Due to the risk of water shortage, farmers are obliged to use sprinklers or drip irrigation. And when it comes to irrigation efficiency, we think of the most efficient way of irrigating, drip irrigation. With a 90% efficiency compared to other most common irrigation practices, this way of irrigating should be the key to water use efficiency. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. In order to use its efficiency by at least 80%, good operation and regular maintenance of the drip system is extremely important. The operation and maintenance of irrigation schemes are one of the management measures performed in the DESALT project. The DESALT project contains aspects relating to the improvement of irrigation methods and the respective performances, mainly the distribution uniformity (DU) as a fundamental tool to reduce the demand for water at the farm level and to control the negative environmental impacts of over-irrigation, including salt-stressed areas.
A primary objective in the field of irrigation water management is to give field operators an understanding of conservation irrigation principles. This is done by showing them how they can judge the effectiveness of their own irrigation practices, make good water management decisions, or recognize the need to make adjustments in existing systems or install new systems.
