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Time should be considered in carrying out the design and management of demand irrigation distribution systems. In this paper, a method to characterize the pumping flow in demand pressurized systems throughout the day and irrigation season is presented. This method considers the temporal evolution of water requirements during the irrigation season and water demand concentration in certain periods of the irrigation day due to different electrical energy charges. The model was established based on data from an actual water distribution network of an irrigation district in southern Spain. The results differed significantly from those obtained using approaches based on establishing a uniform working probability for the outlets of the water distribution network at all hours of the irrigation day, which underestimated the circulating flows or system capacity. The most probable pumping flow with uniform probability was 3.1 m3/s, a smaller value than those obtained in the off-peak and average energy tariff times (4 and 3.4 m3/s, respectively). The total energy head required at the booster pumping in each period of the irrigation season was simulated. 10,000 randomly chosen scenarios were simulated for each irrigation day and each energy tariff time. The heterogeneous vertical stratification between 50 and 103 m of the required piezometric head was obtained as a function of the demanded flow for the water distribution system. This paper includes a pump selection algorithm for recommending least cost or optimum pump combinations in the distribution network and to evaluate the system’s energy cost. The pump recommendations show that the optimal solution could have saved 41% of the pumping cost of the Fuente Palmera irrigation district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The canal delivery system in the Left Hemidelta area of the Ebro River in Spain consists of a tree-shaped net of open canals. The overall system can be quickly isolated in the case of an emergency by closing the upstream pool. Transients, in which the initial state is hydraulically far from the final state, are difficult to handle and cannot be made in only one gate movement in order to protect the canal lining. Therefore, they have to be as smooth as possible. GoRoSo is a feedforward control algorithm for irrigation canals based on sequential quadratic programming. With this tool, it is possible to calculate the gate trajectories that smoothly carry the canal from the initial state to the final state by keeping the water depth constant at checkpoints. The paper shows the efficient implementation of GoRoSo in both the closure and opening operations of the canal delivery system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will lead to changed demands on existing irrigation systems. This paper presents a methodology for investigating the performance of irrigation networks under climate change, and applies this to an irrigation network in Cordoba, southern Spain. The methodology uses emission scenarios (A2 and B2) developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A global climate model (HadCM3) is used with downscaling to predict climate variables for 2050 and 2080 under the emission scenarios. European agricultural policy scenarios are used to predict future cropping patterns. Irrigation water requirements are then estimated for various combinations of these climate and cropping pattern scenarios, and the performance of the irrigation network is evaluated in terms of the equity and adequacy of pressure at the outlets, using EPANET. The methodology was applied to the Fuente Palmera irrigation district, which supplies water on-demand for drip irrigation. The results show that climate change would have a major impact on network performance with the existing cropping pattern, but that expected changes in cropping pattern would reduce this impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modernization of irrigation districts in Spain is based on the construction of collective pressurized networks equipped with remote control systems. In this paper, a simulation approach is used to explore the benefits of introducing a collective solid-set irrigation control software. The controller works in combination with a district management database, real-time evapotranspiration and meteorology information, and a remote control system. Controller decisions are based on the simulation of sprinkler irrigation performance and on crop–water balance. The decision to irrigate a plot can be guided by the use of two simulation parameters: the estimated application efficiency of the irrigation event (heavily affected by wind speed) and a crop–water stress index. Simulation experiments were performed in a district located at the Ebro basin of Spain. The collective controller resulted in water conservation (with respect to the current situation) of 2,234 and 4,664 m3 ha-1 for corn and alfalfa, respectively, and in an increase in water productivity of up to 91%. Although additional research is needed to produce a reliable collective controller, these preliminary results are encouraging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]