The purpose of this project was to establish irrigation water use efficiency improvements by using a percolation control layer in addition to suppression of evaporation loss with infiltration insert water delivery and top soil bed. Reducing fresh water usage in irrigation can lead to significant reduction in world’s water foot print and relieve water stress.
This is how I came up with the idea for this project:When I saw water evaporating from sprinkler irrigation systems in central valley during midday while big electronic signs were screaming “Save water Drought Alert” – I could not believe how much water was being wasted. Upon further research I found that 80% of global fresh water is used in irrigation. And increasing global population (expected to reach 9 billion) will increase food demand by 70%. This increases fresh water usage demand while the fresh water sources are reducing in arid regions of the world due to climate change. Most of the world’s food production is in arid regions. This combination of factors will increase our water withdrawal leading to water stress. I worked on reducing water losses in irrigation to help make efficient use of fresh water that is available.
Programme manager ania.andersch@siwi.org +46 8 121 360 59