WRM-34306 Water System Design for Multiple Uses of Water Services

Course

Credits 6.00

Teaching methodContact hours
Lectures24
Practical extensively supervised51
Course coordinator(s)dr. ir. HP Ritzema
Lecturer(s)dr. ir. HP Ritzema
dr. ir. PR van Oel
dr. ir. K Kujawa-Roeleveld
dr. ir. JMC Vos
dr. D Joshi
Examiner(s)dr. ir. HP Ritzema

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

WRM-10306 Irrigation and Water Management; HWM-21806 Introduction to Hydraulics; WRM-21312 Design in Land and Water Management 2 and SLM-20306 Land and Water Engineering.

Continuation courses:

WRM-30806 Water Delivery.

Contents:

Irrigation needs are changing triggered by land use changes and an increasing demand on (irrigation) water. In the past, large-scale irrigation systems were built to supply water to farmers for a limited number of crops, mainly irrigated by surface water diverted from rivers, streams or lakes. In the last decades there is a gradual change in land use: urbanisation and non-agricultural uses, including ecosystem services, are increasing, cropping patterns are diversifying and field irrigation methods are changing. As a result river basins are closing, water sources uses and conservation become increasingly contested, and stakeholders engage in different ways to influence water policies and intervention programs. Irrigation water demands are increasing, intensifying and no longer homogeneous and surface water is often supplemented with water from other sources: groundwater extraction, waste water and/or the re-use of drainage water. The increasing awareness of these changes led to approaches that include multiple water services, which has repercussions for the hydraulic design of irrigation systems; services are very different in terms of frequency and quantity. In this course the needs and repercussions of the above mentioned changes on the design of irrigation systems will be treated. Issues to be studied include:
- a diagnostic framework that tackles the multiple use of water by assessing the multiple dimensions of technology, management, governance and use;
- multiple water requirements for a variety of crops, domestic use, livestock, recreational and environmental needs;
- (conjunctive) use of rainfall, surface water, groundwater, waste water and/or re-use of drainage water for irrigation;
- environmental needs/impacts (groundwater recharge, waterlogging, salinity and drainage and return flows to natural streams).
The course presents a diagnostic framework to assess the current and desired services status to modernize irrigation systems and operation techniques. The main part comprises a guided design practical (group work) in which the various design theories will be applied in the design of an irrigation system in a complex peri-urban setting. For the group work, students will specialize in one of the irrigation modalities (i.e. surface water, groundwater, waste water and re-use) and use this knowledge to address complex conjunctive use issues, including a technical design and the operation and maintenance of these multiple services systems. The assessment addresses the multiple dimensions of technology, management/governance and use. Students will design specific interventions: irrigation/hydraulic designs, management of services, water use, institutional reforms, water governance, etc., and write reports on the design and management of irrigation systems with due attention to the hydraulic engineering aspects of the conjunctive use of surface, groundwater, waste water and/or re-use water. Students reflect on the design of their interventions in the context of the watershed.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- analyse the relationship between irrigation water requirements for multiple land use at field level and the source of the irrigation water, including the role of rainfall;
- compare different water rights doctrines and water allocation mechanisms;
- appraise the current irrigation design challenges in the context of multiple uses of water services in large irrigation systems;
- understand the needs and repercussions of irrigation activities in the context of changing land-use and water availability;
- design hydraulic interventions for multiple uses of water services in large irrigation systems;
- assess the expected performance of the proposed interventions and analyse these for the multiple dimensions of technology, management/governance and the water user perspective;
- present and defend the proposed interventions in a professional manner.

Activities:

The course consists of four blocks:
- diagnostic framework to tackle multiple angles of multiple water services: basin closure, multiple sources, multiple uses, diagnostic tools (MASSCOTE, MASSMUS, basin trajectories, water accounting). This block consists of lectures and reading;
- diagnostic phase: student work in groups to look at different water related problems from different angles in one particular river basin;
- design of interventions: groups each focus on different types of interventions: irrigation (hydraulic) design, management of service provision, waste water use, institutional reforms and water governance. Group work and optional lectures on specific design issues: canal hydraulics, institutional reform interventions for service management, waste water use, etc.;
- evaluation of, and reflection on, proposed interventions in plenary sessions and group work: back to the multiple sources and uses in the basin: discussing a framework for multiple uses of water services; the conjunctive use of rainfall, surface, groundwater, waste water and/or re-use of drainage water; and the environmental needs/impacts of the use of water from these different sources.

Examination:

Students will be assessed on the basis of:
- group work: in each block, students will work individually and/or in groups on assignment, resulting in block 4 in a design report (weight 50%);
- an individual open book test, treating the contents of the four blocks of the course (weight 50%).
Each of these two marks should be at least 5.5.

Literature:

- reading materials;
- background information;
- assignments;
- copies of the PowerPoint presentation are provided through an electronic learning environment that can be accessed via MyPortal.

ProgrammePhaseSpecializationPeriod
Compulsory for: MILInternational Land and Water ManagementMScB: Irrigation and Water Management2AF