ASSESSING WATER FOOTPRINT OF CROPS CULTIVATION (original) (raw)

AI-generated Abstract

Human-induced changes in water consumption are likely to reduce the freshwater availability. So far, this issue has not been addressed in Iraq using the water footprint framework. Water footprint is a temporally and spatially explicit indicator considering location and timing of the volumes of water used. This study estimates the blue and green water footprint of six crops (i.e. wheat, barley, sunflower, tomato, sweet melon and chickpeas) in Kurdistan, Iraq. Kurdistan region is located in the Northern Iraq, covering about 28,817 km2 of area. In this thesis, the water footprint network method and the CROPWAT 8.0 were used to compute the crop water requirement of crops grown in the Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan region from 2003 -2013 (10 years). It was found that the green water footprints for growing wheat, barley, sunflower, tomato, sweet melon and chickpeas range between 12 m3/ton -533 m3/ton, while the blue water footprints range between 2 m3/ton -300 m3/ton. This preliminary study can be used as a starting point to introduce the wise water governance program by developing and implementing good water policy as well as to give a new dimension to the concept of water management in Kurdistan Region. The results also allow the development of recommendations for improved irrigation practices, mitigation during drought event, planning of irrigation schedules under varying water supply conditions and the assessment of production under rainfed conditions or deficit irrigation. The amount of water required in growing crops can differ depending on the location and climate conditions, therefore future research should be done to investigate the water footprint of growing crops under different scenarios. It is also suggested that the sustainable irrigation system and construction small dams should be provided to reduce the impact of drought, particularly during the dry season.