The Effects Of Climate Change On Irrigation Water Requirements

In addition, global climate change will exacerbate these challenges faced by countries and populations. Shifting precipitation patterns threaten to reduce water availability in some regions while inflicting stronger storms on others, increasing both potential droughts and floods. This may increase the frequency of more serious

The type of irrigation system we have watering our crops can and will help either bring the drought back or conserve as much water as we can. Since our main objective is to conserve and save as much water as we can looking into the different and better irrigation systems would be the best idea that we can be looking into.

The western prairies provinces (WPP) have an area of two million km2, these regions are the main agricultural and food producing regions in all of Canada (Schindler, 2006). As global warming increases, more water will be used for irrigation for crops. Every year, 2.5 km3 of water is used for irrigation on 1 million acres of land. The water comes from reservoirs and lakes that trap snowmelt run-off from the Rocky Mountains, however only twenty percent of this water is returned to the rivers. The WPP temperatures have increased by 4 degrees since 1970 (Schindler, 2006. Most of the rural areas are not receiving 14-24% of their previous annual precipitation in the 1900’s. The summer flows have decreased 20-84% due to the increased warming through its effects on evapotranspiration and evaporation (Schindler, 2001). Low water flows can cause an escalation of water retention that results in increased nutrient retention, thus proliferating Eutrophication. (Helmer,1999). This imbalance between water evaporation, water usage and water replenishment will create scarce resource for Western Canada’s near future.

As we all understand, the Earth has many landmarks and it is these physical features that create an abundant and organized system within which we thrive. One of the most abundant natural resources on the planet is water and the importance of this element is as crucial as any other. For the fortunate few who get to utilize it, this amazing reserve provides us with our necessity for daily consumption as well as our ability to grow just about anything we please. Common irrigation practices are essential for gathering water into a contained area to grow crops that would not typically survive in areas without heavy rainfall. As a matter of fact, “irrigation is an ancient practice that originated along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq” and is now the result of an estimated 40 percent of all crops grown around the world (Water Encyclopedia). This tactic has provided many different cultures with numerous varieties of crops as well as growth in crop yield which in turn dramatically advances human civilization. As we develop into a more progressive society, the tools and systems used to grow our crops also become more intelligent as well as sustainable

Climate change is a growing issue. I have found that this is an issue that can no longer be ignore. One area that is effected even more so than others is California. Specifically California’s water resources are becoming depleted due to climate change. This is not only an issue of the future but of the present. If this trend continues on its predicted path not only will California be effected but our whole nation. It should be a concerning issue to everyone and is not to be taken lightly.

California is the leading state in agricultural production; however, the state has taken a blow from this four-year drought. Farmers have been forced to re-evaluate their irrigation systems and make necessary changes to conserve water. In order to judge the agricultural water use efficiency, scientists are using a ratio of evapotranspiration of the crop grown to the water applied to the crop. Evapotranspiration is the total evaporation and plant transpiration from land surface to the atmosphere (Marin et al. 2015). Through various

The water shortages in California are causing hardships on the agricultural industry. There isn’t enough fresh water to support both the human population and the natural environment. One way to prevent water shortages would be to improve the irrigation systems the farmers use. Instead of using various types of irrigation systems that waterlog the soil, they should increase the use of a drip-irrigation system.

Imagine walking into your house after being outside on a scorching summer’s day. Beads of sweat drip down your face, and you are completely parched. You turn on your faucet for a glass of water, but nothing comes out. This may sound like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie scene, but it can soon become a reality for those living on the west coast. Decades of unsustainable water practices have led to record low levels of water resources across the western states of the United States. Michelle Nijhuis of National Geographic reports that the western states of California, Nevada, and Arizona face a great deal of issues, due to the fact that their past system of water irrigation has become unsustainable. The first main factor behind this

However, many of the worlds irrigation systems are found in arid, semi arid environments, which climate change will alter significantly in the future (J. D, Connor, Schwabe, K. King, D. Knapp, K. 2011). Nearly one third of the worlds Nearly one-third of the irrigated land worldwide are affected by salinization (Schwabe et al., 2011e).

The scarcity of water in California will keep getting worse, and the farmers limitations on water will too. Farmers are facing a greater threat than the federal government's limitations on their water consumption. Instead of ignoring the fact that: global warming is changing the environment around them. They should acknowledge that their land is getting significantly drier, and learn how to adapt to the land changing. In order, for them to successfully grow crops, pay their workers, and strive throughout future seasons. California farmers need to focus on what

This study has found that global annual temperature has been increasing more rapidly than in centuries past. As the temperature rise the evaporation levels rise as well and the amount of precipitation the atmosphere can hold rises. A 1% per year of increasing CO2 concentrations increased temperatures that caused a higher rate of evaporation accumulating in more droughts. (Sheffield & Wood, 2007,

The practice of Drought Tolerant Maize showed excellent consequences under reduced rainfall and warm climate. Moreover, climate information and early warning system were applied in sub-Saharan Africa. They aimed to provide evidences of risk of significant changes in climate ahead and to tack action that can decrease possible risks. In contrast, because of insufficient and incomplete understanding of the impact of climate change on the agriculture, Australia introduced climate change adaptations, which covers obtaining knowledge about how the communities confront the climate change in the

(Hasan and Özay 2002, 73-74). As Albiac (2008) reports, development of pipe network distribution and drip irrigation methods in other countries led the farmers to have remarkable irrigation efficiency in drought (143). Such technologies have already been used in China, but they are not widely spread in China’s agriculture. One investigation in China on rice paddy irrigation systems development was performed and it revealed that using the fry-foot paddy irrigation (when no water flooded the field) instead of flooding irrigation (when the rice field is completely flooded) significantly (40-60%) reduces water consumption (Xiaoping, Qiangsheng and Bin 2004, 351). Furthermore, drip irrigation method was applied in arid Northern China and it raised the water usage efficiency (Du et al 2007). However, introduction of new irrigation technologies faced some difficulties in China. As Hodstedt (2010) noticed in his article, the water saved by these technologies such as drip irrigation systems was simply spent on more food production and, therefore, did not reduce the water shortage. Also, as he reported, this caused two other environmental problems. Firstly, the water, which was the supply for underground water and aquifers as it was lost by deep percolation and leakage, became unavailable after the water-saving technologies were introduced and this strengthened the aquifers depleting along with its overpumping. Secondly, after

While many blame current droughts on climate change, rainfall patterns in areas like California—currently in its fourth consecutive year of drought—have actually varied little from a century ago. But if little is done to curb carbon emissions, what is to come may be far worse. In fact, economic losses associated with climate change, globally, will reach an estimated $3 billion by the end of 2015. Furthermore, these human-induced droughts will uproot entire communities and force them to migrate to regions with more water and food. With climate change set to worsen over the course of this century, food and water shortages will only get worse, and not just for Californians.

Agriculture is one of the major sector becoming vulnerable to climate-change. Increased incidences of abiotic and biotic stresses are likely to cause serious negative impact on crop production. Abiotic stress is defined as the negative impact of non-living factors on the living organisms in a specific environment. The non-living variable must influence the environment beyond its normal range of variation to adversely affect the performance or individual organism in a significant way. This leads to decrease in the productivity by more than 50% in major crop plants which are growing word wide (Bray et al., 2000). Increased water stress, reduction in rainfall and increased air temperature are the major reasons for yield decline in wheat and paddy crops in many parts of South Asia. The average increase in temperature per decade is measured to be 0.28 ºC over land and 0.12 ºC over ocean and predicted that it is likely to rise further to a maximum of 2.5 ºC by 2050 and 5.8 ºC by 2100 (Jones et al., 1999; Grover et al., 2011). The principal abiotic stresses in India are drought or soil moisture stress, high temperatures, soil salinity/alkalinity, low pH and metal toxicity stresses that affect nearly two-thirds area forming parts of the arid and semi arid eco systems (Grover et al., 2011).