Water Management Practices Quiz

Water Management

• Water management aims to address challenges like water shortages, rainfall deficits, water surplus, intensive cropping, and different water schedules for various crops.

Water Management Practices

• On-farm water management:

  • Watercourse improvement: Involves building lined irrigation canal structures, dams, and watersheds.
  • High Efficiency Irrigation Systems: Focuses on clearing vegetation, repairing canal structures, and minimizing water abstractions.

• Soil Management:

  • Laser Land Leveling: Uses lasers to level land surfaces for efficient water distribution.
  • Mulching: Covers the soil with organic materials like wood chips, leaves, or inorganic materials like plastic, to minimize evaporation, suppress weeds, and improve soil fertility.
  • Use of Organic Matter: Enhances soil fertility and water retention, offering an alternative to inorganic fertilizers.

• Crop Management:

  • Sowing Methods:

    • Broadcasting: Seeds are spread on the soil, providing a cheap and quick method but with uneven seed distribution and germination.
    • Dibbling: Seeds are placed in holes at specific distances for uniform germination but requires more labor and cost.
    • Drilling: Seeds are dropped into holes and covered with soil by seed drills, ensuring accurate seed placement but needing more time and costs.
    • Manual planting: Seeds or seedlings are directly placed in the soil manually.
    • Transplanting: Seedlings are moved from a nursery and planted in the main field.

  • Weed Control: Removing unwanted vegetation to ensure healthy crop growth.

  • Suitable Plant Species: Selecting crops appropriate to the specific growing conditions to ensure optimal plant growth.

Irrigation

• Irrigation delivers water from sources to farms and drainage channels.

• Crop Water Requirement (CWR): The total water needed by a crop, calculated as:

  • CWR = ET + PL + FL
    • ET: Evapotranspiration (water lost through evaporation and plant transpiration)
    • PL: Percolation losses (water seeping below the root zone)
    • FL: Field losses (water lost through runoff or other means)

• Irrigation Water Requirement (IWR): The actual water needed for irrigation, calculated as:

  • IWR = CWR - ER
    • ER: Effective rainfall (amount of rainfall that is actually available to the crops)

Purpose of Irrigation

• Provides soil moisture.
• Cools the soil and atmosphere.
• Offers drought protection.
• Washes out soil acids.
• Reduces soil piping hazard.
• Improves soil texture.

Irrigation Systems in the Philippines

• National Irrigation Systems (NIS): Large and medium schemes managed by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

• Communal Irrigation Systems (CIS): Small-scale schemes constructed and operated by farmers' associations with NIA support.

• Private Irrigation Systems (PIS): Constructed and maintained by individuals or groups for personal use.

Comparison of Irrigation Systems

Types of Irrigation Development Schemes

• Diversion Projects: Water is drawn from a water source.

• Reservoir Projects: Involves constructing dams to store water in watersheds.

  • Dam: A barrier that controls the flow of surface water or underground streams.

• Pump Projects: Water is lifted from the water source.

Water Use in Agriculture

• Agriculture: Accounts for 60-70% of global freshwater use.

• Industries: Uses approximately 20% of freshwater.

• Human/Sanitation: Accounts for 8-10% of freshwater use globally.