Evaluation of Applied Water in the Farms and Gardens Equipped with the Smart Water Meters in Arsenjan Plain, Fars province

Volumetric delivery of water by installing smart water meters on the agricultural wells could be an effective action for proper use of water and increase the water productivity. In recent years, the smart water meters were used at Arsenjan plain in Fars province for volumetric water delivery.

In this study, the applied water and the water productivity in some of the Arsenjan plain farms and gardens were evaluated. Twelve farms were selected for each of the three products; winter wheat, tomato and pomegranate. Well discharge, crop yield, volume of applied water was measured using smart meters. The actual values were also measured. The values of irrigation water productivity and total water productivity was calculated. The differences between applied water and some water requirement scenarios were compared using t-test.

Results showed that the values of applied water and discharge in the smart meters were 21 and 25 percent less than the actual measured values, respectively. Therefore, the performance accuracy of the studied smart water meters was low. The average irrigation water productivity of wheat, tomato and pomegranate was 0.93, 7.75 and 1.44 kg/m3, respectively. The average applied water in the studied farms and gardens were 43 percent more than the required values estimated by Penman-Montieth method. Finally, it was suggested that in order to improve the performance of smart meters, the calibration of these meters should be considered more carefully.