Sustainability of Duero Water Systems for Crop Production in Spain

Beatriz Lama-Pedrosa, Álvaro Sordo-Ward (), Paola Bianucci and Luis Garrote
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Beatriz Lama-Pedrosa: Department of Civil Engineering, Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Álvaro Sordo-Ward: Department of Civil Engineering, Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Paola Bianucci: Department of Civil Engineering, Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Luis Garrote: Department of Civil Engineering, Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: In recent decades, increased water demand combined with the effects of climate change has endangered water availability in many regions. In this context, sustainable water management has become a priority, seeking to balance human needs with the conservation of aquatic ecosystems. In the Duero basin (Spain), the availability of water is especially relevant for agricultural purposes, representing 93% of the total water needs. This study focuses on identifying and assessing the short-term sustainability of irrigated crop production in the Duero River basin. The maximum potential availability of surface water for irrigation was estimated and compared with the short-term agricultural surface water demand. The analysis was based on the use of a high-spatial-resolution (500 × 500 m) GIS-based model named WAAPA, and three indexes were used to evaluate and analyze the results. The results show that by analyzing the river basin in an aggregate form, the demands for irrigation were met, in which the reservoirs played an important role. When the analysis was downscaled to tributaries or even small streams, non-sustainable situations were identified. This shows the importance of using high-spatial-resolution models to improve, maintain, and achieve sustainability in the production of irrigated crops.

Keywords: sustainability; irrigated crops; crop production; WAAPA model; environmental flows; storage volume; GIS based model; high spatial resolution; sustainability indices; Duero basin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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