Drainage assessment of irrigation districts: on the precision and accuracy of four parsimonious models

Abstract. In semi-arid irrigated environments, agricultural drainage is at the heart of three agro-environmental issues: it is an indicator of water productivity, it is the main control to prevent soil salinization and waterlogging problems, and it is related to the health of downstream ecosystems. Crop water balance models combined with subsurface models can estimate drainage quantities and dynamics at various spatial scales. However, such models' precision (capacity of a model to fit the observed drainage using site-specific calibration) and accuracy (capacity of a model to approximate observed drainage using default input parameters) have not yet been assessed in irrigated areas. To fill the gap, this study evaluates four parsimonious drainage models based on the combination of two surface models (RU and SAMIR) and two subsurface models (Reservoir and SIDRA) with varying complexity levels: RU-Reservoir, RU-SIDRA, SAMIR-Reservoir, and SAMIR-SIDRA. All models were applied over two sub-basins of the Algerri–Balaguer irrigation district, northeastern Spain, equipped with surface and subsurface drains driving the drained water to general outlets where the discharge is continuously monitored. Results show that RU-Reservoir is the most precise (average KGE (Q0.5) of 0.87), followed by SAMIR-Reservoir (average KGE (Q0.5) of 0.79). However, SAMIR-Reservoir is the most accurate model for providing rough drainage estimates using the default input parameters provided in the literature.

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Publication Details

Journal
Hydrology and earth system sciences
Published
2024-08-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3695-2024
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.60

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article

Drainage assessment of irrigation districts: on the precision and accuracy of four parsimonious models

Pierre Laluet, Julien Tournebize, Josep María Villar Mir, Víctor Altés et al.
3 citations
Hydrology and earth system sciences
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
0.60
article

Drainage assessment of irrigation districts: on the precision and accuracy of four parsimonious models

Pierre Laluet, Julien Tournebize, Josep María Villar Mir, Víctor Altés, Luis Olivera-Guerra, Pere Quintana‐Seguí, Anaïs Barella-Ortiz, Olivier Merlin, Vincent Rivalland, Omar Cenobio-Cruz, Alexis Jeantet
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Abstract. In semi-arid irrigated environments, agricultural drainage is at the heart of three agro-environmental issues: it is an indicator of water productivity, it is the main control to prevent soil salinization and waterlogging problems, and it is related to the health of downstream ecosystems. Crop water balance models combined with subsurface models can estimate drainage quantities and dynamics at various spatial scales. However, such models' precision (capacity of a model to fit the observed drainage using site-specific calibration) and accuracy (capacity of a model to approximate observed drainage using default input parameters) have not yet been assessed in irrigated areas. To fill the gap, this study evaluates four parsimonious drainage models based on the combination of two surface models (RU and SAMIR) and two subsurface models (Reservoir and SIDRA) with varying complexity levels: RU-Reservoir, RU-SIDRA, SAMIR-Reservoir, and SAMIR-SIDRA. All models were applied over two sub-basins of the Algerri–Balaguer irrigation district, northeastern Spain, equipped with surface and subsurface drains driving the drained water to general outlets where the discharge is continuously monitored. Results show that RU-Reservoir is the most precise (average KGE (Q0.5) of 0.87), followed by SAMIR-Reservoir (average KGE (Q0.5) of 0.79). However, SAMIR-Reservoir is the most accurate model for providing rough drainage estimates using the default input parameters provided in the literature.

Hydrology and earth system sciencesVol. 28(16)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), TU Wien (AT), Universitat de Lleida (ES), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Microbiologie de l’alimentation au service de la santé (FR), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Centre d'Études Spatiales de la Biosphère (FR), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR), Observatori de l'Ebre (ES), Mathématiques et Informatique Appliquées du Génome à l'Environnement (FR), Barcelona Activa (ES), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Universitat Ramon Llull (ES)
Agence Nationale de la Recherche, H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Openalex Percentile: Top 34%
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
0.60
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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