IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v275y2023ics0378377422005455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A comprehensive performance assessment system for diagnosis and decision-support to improve water and energy efficiency and its demonstration in Portuguese collective irrigation systems

Author

Listed:
  • Loureiro, Dália
  • Beceiro, Paula
  • Moreira, Madalena
  • Arranja, Carina
  • Cordeiro, Diana
  • Alegre, Helena

Abstract

In regions with a strong seasonal or interannual asymmetry in the distribution of precipitation and higher frequency of droughts, collective irrigation systems are vital infrastructures for agricultural activity. Although operating for decades, several systems have ageing infrastructures, with relevant water losses and pumping energy inefficiencies. Consequently, the systems are not adequately designed or operated to meet current and future water demand. Therefore, rehabilitation to improve water and energy efficiency while ensuring infrastructure, economic sustainability and service quality is crucial. In this sense, comprehensive approaches using performance assessment to support the planning process or benchmarking between water users associations play an essential role in improving efficiency in collective irrigation systems. However, few methodologies assess interdependencies between water losses, energy efficiency, infrastructure condition, service quality, economic and operational dimensions. Additionally, these approaches rarely were applied to the different stages of the planning process (diagnosis, planning, monitoring, and reviewing the impact of measures) and to different types of collective irrigation systems (gravity, pressurised, combined) for comparative analysis. This paper presents a comprehensive performance assessment system (PAS) for diagnosis and decision support about measures to improve water and energy efficiency in collective irrigation systems. Afterwards, the PAS is applied for diagnosis and prioritisation of alternatives to enhance the efficiency of a gravity system. The results indicate significant water losses due to the canal and intermediate reservoirs discharges and leakage in canals and low-pressure pipes, related to network ageing and insufficient flow monitoring and control for the gravity system. Ranking allowed identifying the gravity network area with high priority of intervention due to poor performance in non-revenue water, water losses due to discharges, energy efficiency of pumping stations and system energy in excess. Several alternatives were studied for this network area, and infrastructural solutions involving canal rehabilitation and water discharge control significantly impact global performance improvement besides the substantial investment associated. Subsequently, the PAS is used for comparing gravity and pressurised systems. In opposition to gravity, the pressurised system, with efficient use of water resources, presents a poor performance in pumping energy efficiency. Furthermore, the significant energy costs indicate the importance of energy improvement measures for the pressurised system. Besides assessing water and energy efficiency, the novel PAS may help managers and policymakers identify every system's best practices and weak points.

Suggested Citation

  • Loureiro, Dália & Beceiro, Paula & Moreira, Madalena & Arranja, Carina & Cordeiro, Diana & Alegre, Helena, 2023. "A comprehensive performance assessment system for diagnosis and decision-support to improve water and energy efficiency and its demonstration in Portuguese collective irrigation systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:275:y:2023:i:c:s0378377422005455
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107998
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377422005455
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107998?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Borgia, Cecilia & García-Bolaños, Mariana & Li, Tao & Gómez-Macpherson, Helena & Comas, Jordi & Connor, David & Mateos, Luciano, 2013. "Benchmarking for performance assessment of small and large irrigation schemes along the Senegal Valley in Mauritania," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 19-26.
    2. Speelman, Stijn & D'Haese, Marijke & Buysse, Jeroen & D'Haese, Luc, 2008. "A measure for the efficiency of water use and its determinants, a case study of small-scale irrigation schemes in North-West Province, South Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 31-39, July.
    3. Tarjuelo, José M. & Rodriguez-Diaz, Juan A. & Abadía, Ricardo & Camacho, Emilio & Rocamora, Carmen & Moreno, Miguel A., 2015. "Efficient water and energy use in irrigation modernization: Lessons from Spanish case studies," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 67-77.
    4. Bjornlund, Henning & Nicol, Lorraine & Klein, K.K., 2009. "The adoption of improved irrigation technology and management practices--A study of two irrigation districts in Alberta, Canada," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 121-131, January.
    5. Levidow, Les & Zaccaria, Daniele & Maia, Rodrigo & Vivas, Eduardo & Todorovic, Mladen & Scardigno, Alessandra, 2014. "Improving water-efficient irrigation: Prospects and difficulties of innovative practices," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 84-94.
    6. Liu, Xin & Luo, Yongyao & Karney, Bryan W. & Wang, Weizheng, 2015. "A selected literature review of efficiency improvements in hydraulic turbines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 18-28.
    7. Zema, Demetrio Antonio & Nicotra, Angelo & Mateos, Luciano & Zimbone, Santo Marcello, 2018. "Improvement of the irrigation performance in Water Users Associations integrating data envelopment analysis and multi-regression models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 38-49.
    8. Fernández-Pacheco, D.G. & Ferrández-Villena, M. & Molina-Martínez, J.M. & Ruiz-Canales, A., 2015. "Performance indicators to assess the implementation of automation in water user associations: A case study in southeast Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 87-92.
    9. Córcoles, J.I. & de Juan, J.A. & Ortega, J.F. & Tarjuelo, J.M. & Moreno, M.A., 2010. "Management evaluation of Water Users Associations using benchmarking techniques," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Cunha, Henrique & Loureiro, Dália & Sousa, Gonçalo & Covas, Dídia & Alegre, Helena, 2019. "A comprehensive water balance methodology for collective irrigation systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pereira, Helga & Marques, Rui Cunha, 2017. "An analytical review of irrigation efficiency measured using deterministic and stochastic models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 28-35.
    2. Jordán, Cristian & Speelman, Stijn, 2020. "On-farm adoption of irrigation technologies in two irrigated valleys in Central Chile: The effect of relative abundance of water resources," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    3. Martínez-Alvarez, V. & García-Bastida, P.A. & Martin-Gorriz, B. & Soto-García, M., 2014. "Adaptive strategies of on-farm water management under water supply constraints in south-eastern Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 59-67.
    4. Julián González-Trinidad & Hugo Enrique Júnez-Ferreira & Carlos Bautista-Capetillo & Laura Ávila Dávila & Cruz Octavio Robles Rovelo, 2020. "Improving the Water-Use Efficiency and the Agricultural Productivity: An Application Case in a Modernized Semiarid Region in North-Central Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Zema, Demetrio Antonio & Nicotra, Angelo & Mateos, Luciano & Zimbone, Santo Marcello, 2018. "Improvement of the irrigation performance in Water Users Associations integrating data envelopment analysis and multi-regression models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 38-49.
    6. Zhuo-wan Liu & Tomas Balezentis & Yao-yao Song & Guo-liang Yang, 2019. "Estimating Capacity Utilization of Chinese State Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-29, September.
    7. Demetrio Antonio Zema & Pasquale Filianoti & Daniela D’Agostino & Antonino Labate & Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja & Angelo Nicotra & Santo Marcello Zimbone, 2020. "Analyzing the Performances of Water User Associations to Increase the Irrigation Sustainability: An Application of Multivariate Statistics to a Case Study in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Alauddin, Mohammad & Rashid Sarker, Md. Abdur & Islam, Zeenatul & Tisdell, Clement, 2020. "Adoption of alternate wetting and drying (AWD) irrigation as a water-saving technology in Bangladesh: Economic and environmental considerations," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    9. Salgado, Ramiro & Mateos, Luciano, 2021. "Evaluation of different methods of estimating ET for the performance assessment of irrigation schemes," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    10. Lima, F.A & Martínez-Romero, A. & Tarjuelo, J.M. & Córcoles, J.I., 2018. "Model for management of an on-demand irrigation network based on irrigation scheduling of crops to minimize energy use (Part I): Model Development," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 49-58.
    11. Gadanakis, Yiorgos & Bennett, Richard & Park, Julian & Areal, Francisco Jose, 2015. "Improving productivity and water use efficiency: A case study of farms in England," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 22-32.
    12. Pratt, Tyler & Allen, L. Niel & Rosenberg, David E. & Keller, Andrew A. & Kopp, Kelly, 2019. "Urban agriculture and small farm water use: Case studies and trends from Cache Valley, Utah," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 24-35.
    13. dos Santos Almeida, Alexsandro Claudio & Mamédio, Mário Roberto & Goelzer, Ademar & Rodrigues, Lucas Araujo & Mateos, Luciano, 2023. "Shared centre pivot. An experience of smallholder irrigation in Midwest Brazil," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    14. Jordan, Cristian & Donoso, Guillermo & Speelman, Stijn, 2021. "Measuring the effect of improved irrigation technologies on irrigated agriculture. A study case in Central Chile," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    15. Marjan Aziz & Madeeha Khan & Naveeda Anjum & Muhammad Sultan & Redmond R. Shamshiri & Sobhy M. Ibrahim & Siva K. Balasundram & Muhammad Aleem, 2022. "Scientific Irrigation Scheduling for Sustainable Production in Olive Groves," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, April.
    16. Zhihai Yang & Amin W. Mugera & Fan Zhang, 2016. "Investigating Yield Variability and Inefficiency in Rice Production: A Case Study in Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-11, August.
    17. Elodie Blanc & Aurelia Lepine & Eric Strobl, 2014. "Determinants of crop yield and profit of family farms: Evidence from the Senegal River Valley," Working Papers 2014-596, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    18. Fan, Yubing & McCann, Laura M., 2017. "Farmers’ Adoption of Pressure Irrigation Systems and Scientific Scheduling Practices: An Application of Multilevel Models," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258458, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Pedro Garcia-Caparros & Juana Isabel Contreras & Rafael Baeza & Maria Luz Segura & Maria Teresa Lao, 2017. "Integral Management of Irrigation Water in Intensive Horticultural Systems of Almería," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-21, December.
    20. Hua, Ye, 2015. "Influential factors of farmers' demands for agricultural science and technology in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 249-254.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:275:y:2023:i:c:s0378377422005455. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.