This study focuses on the amounts of wastewater irrigating the land along Peerzadiguda irrigation canal in Andhra Pradesh, India. The Peerzadiguda irrigation canal is located north of Musi river downstream Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state Andhra Pradesh.
In regions where the freshwater resources are scarce, wastewater can become a valuable resource in irrigated agriculture. This is the case along Musi river that contains Hyderabad’s untreated and partly treated wastewater.
The study area is the land around Peerzadiguda irrigation canal that is irrigated with water from the canal. The flow in the irrigation canal was measured, water losses were estimated and the irrigation amount over the whole study area was quantified.
In a Geographical Information System (GIS) the size of the study area was measured and a few maps produced. The actual irrigation on a few farms was also calculated from measurements of the irrigation canals on the farms and from data from interviews with the farmers. The irrigation of the fields was preformed with basin irrigation.
The values of the actual irrigation was used in water balance calculations of the root zone for the crops growing in the area: vegetable, paragrass and paddy rice. An optimal irrigation scheme was then calculated.
The irrigation over the whole study area was calculated to 41 mm per day. The actual irrigation measured on the fields was lower but the water balance calculations showed that the irrigation leads to water losses, in some cases large losses.
With the optimal irrigation amount used in the water balance the water losses were reduced. The use of basin irrigation and the large amount of irrigation water leads to water losses and larger amounts of pathogenic organisms is added to the soil.
Source: Uppsala University
Author: Hytteborn, Julia
Source: Uppsala University
Author: Hytteborn, Julia
