Quantifying the Poorly Known Role of Groundwater in Agriculture: the Case of Cyprus

Christos Zoumides (), Adriana Bruggeman (), Theodoros Zachariadis () and Stelios Pashiardis ()

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2013, vol. 27, issue 7, 2514 pages

Abstract: Agriculture in the Mediterranean region is constrained by limited water resources and in many countries irrigation demand exceeds the renewable water supply. This paper presents a comprehensive approach to (a) quantify the consumptive green (soil moisture provided by precipitation) and blue (irrigation) water use for crop production, (b) distinguish the contribution of groundwater to irrigation supply and (c) estimate groundwater over-abstraction. A spatiotemporally explicit soil water balance model, based on the FAO-56 dual crop coefficient approach, which includes the computation of evaporation losses of the different irrigation systems, was applied to the 5,760-km 2 area of the Republic of Cyprus for the agro-meteorological years 1995–2009. The model uses national agricultural statistics, community-level data from the agricultural census and daily data from 34 meteorological stations and 70 precipitation gauges. Groundwater over-abstraction is quantified per groundwater body, based on the sustainable abstraction rates specified in the Cyprus River Basin Management Plan, as prepared for the EU Water Framework Directive. It was found that, on average, total agricultural water use was 506 Mm 3 /year, of which 62 % is attributed to green water use and 38 % to blue water use. Groundwater contributed, on average, 81 % (151 Mm 3 /year) to blue water use and exceeded the recommended abstraction rates by 45 % (47 Mm 3 /year). Even though the irrigated area decreased by 18 % during the 2008 drought year, relative to the wettest year (2003), total blue water use decreased by only 1 %. The limited surface water supply during the driest year resulted in a 37 % increase in groundwater use, relative to the wettest year, and exceeded the sustainable abstraction rate by 53 % (55 Mm 3 /year). Overall, the model provides objective and quantitative outcomes that can potentially contribute to the improvement of water resource management in Mediterranean environments, in the light of climate change and expected policy reforms. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Keywords: Crop water use; Blue water; Green water; Groundwater exploitation; Climate variability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1007/s11269-013-0299-y

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