Multicriterion Strategic Planning for Improved Irrigation Delivery. II: Application

Abstract

A companion paper (Gates et al. 1991) developed an approach for assessing alternative strategies for improving an irrigation water delivery system in the context of multiple planning criteria. The present paper applies this approach to the Alamosa River and La Jara Creek irrigation systems in the San Luis Valley of south‐central Colorado. Eleven distinct long‐term, system‐wide alternative strategies were explored, and their impacts upon irrigation delivery performance were predicted using a stochastic simulation model. The rehabilitation alternatives that were considered involved structural, managerial, and/or policy changes. Uncertainty due to spatial and temporal variability, inadequate data, and subjectivity was accounted for in the model. Two multicriterion decision‐making techniques were implemented to rank the alternative planning strategies according to criteria of relative cost, social acceptability, institutional acceptability, and environmental impact, as well as water delivery performance. Alternatives identified for further detailed consideration at an implementation stage were those involving reduced canal conveyance losses, increased irrigation application efficiencies, and a refinement in the prior appropriation scheme of water allocation.