Water Use Planning for Alkali Soils Under Reclamation

Abstract

A method to determine optimal water use in alkali soils under reclamation is developed. The procedure involves a deterministic linear programming model for allocation of surface and ground water for irrigation of crops within the project area and for water export; development of a technique to estimate the system parameters which are of a transient nature; and generation of system response at different stages of soil reclamation. The dynamic nature of the agricultural system and the nonlinearity of the crop water production function are incorporated by using separate input data for each time increment in the model and by introducing multiple activities for each crop, respectively. The model is applied to a representative alkali area in the Indo‐Gangetic plains in India. Optimal cropping patterns over a period of 20 yr at five discrete stages of reclamation are determined. Parametric analysis is used to determine optimal water resources management policies with regard to canal water diversion, ground water mining, and export water.