Assessment of the Application Efficiency, Water Use Efficiency and Productivity of Irrigated Water in the Urmia Lake Basin (Case Study: Zarineh Rood irrigation and Drainage Network)

The irrigation and drainage network of Zarrinehroud with an area of 65,000 hectares is the most important network of Lake Urmia basin, with the direct link to the lake. With the current crisis in the lake, an assessment of the existing network's performance is essential in the Urmia Lake Rescue Program. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the transmission, distribution, and utilization efficiency and irrigation efficiency at the surface of the network. Three products were selected from the cultivar with the highest crop area (10% beet, 22% and 22%, and 38% wheat). The dominant method of irrigation was surface irrigation. At the network level, soil moisture in the field before and after irrigation, soil physical and hydraulic properties and water use volume for irrigation were measured. The results showed that the average transmission efficiency in canals with the concrete coating of the network was about 79%, which was in the range of 33% (in the smaller channels) to 100% (in the larger channels). The water distribution efficiency in the network was, on average, 76%, varying from 50% to 100%. Water use efficiency in the fields based on soil moisture balance analysis varied from 41% in the sandy loam soils to 66% for the clay texture. Based on the analysis of the data on the amount of harvest, production costs and product sales price, the water use efficiency (in kilograms of product per cubic meter of water used) varied from 0.4 for the elderly hay to 5.1 for the sugar beet. The amount of water used in this network (in Rials per cubic meter of water consumption) was between 2740 for alfalfa aged over 10 years and 6900 for wheat. It can be concluded that in the case of water constraints, wheat, sugar beet and alfalfa could be the most economic cultivar, respectively.