Assessment of equity and adequacy of water delivery in irrigation systems using remote sensing-based indicators in semi-arid region, Morocco

The irrigation performance criteria of equity and adequacy are of primary concern for irrigation managers. The input data required at various scales to assess irrigation performance, often not available, need costly intensive field campaigns. Remote sensing techniques, used to directly estimate crop evapotranspiration (ETc), became recently an attractive option to assess irrigation performance from individual fields to irrigation scheme or river basin scale. In this study, ETc maps were obtained by combining the FAO-56 dual approach with relationships between crop biophysical variables and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), using high spatial resolution time series of SPOT and Landsat images. This approach was applied for 2002/2003 growing season in Haouz plain, Morocco. Remote sensing-based indicators, reflecting equity and adequacy of the irrigation water delivery were estimated. Adequacy was determined according to Relative Irrigation supply (RIS), Depleted Fraction (DF) and Relative Evapotranspiration (RET) and equity according to the coefficient of variation of ETc. The analysis of these indicators exhibits a great variability among fields. Variability in irrigation performance at all levels, associated factors and possible improvements are discussed. This study demonstrates how remote sensing-based estimates of water consumption provide better estimates of irrigation performance at different scales than the traditional field survey methods