A New Concept of Water use Efficiency: A Case Study for Irrigation Schemes in Buyuk Menderes Basin

Abstract

Classical water use efficiency concepts are appropriate tools for irrigation design and irrigation management, however, it is not sufficiently suitable for water allocation and transfer policies. In order to overcome the limitations of classical water use efficiency, a new concept called efficient water use efficiency in decision making for water resources is proposed. Effective water use efficiency takes into account the quantity and quality of water distributed in a basin and returning to the water source when the inflow for each usage cycle is estimated. In this study, the efficiencies of irrigation water used during the 2019 irrigation season at Nazilli, Akçay, Aydın and Söke irrigation schemes in the Büyük Menderes basin were calculated, and compared to the classical project, the developed classical, and effective water use efficiency methods. In the analyzed irrigation schemes, classical efficiency was between 43-61%, developed classical efficiency 47-67% and effective efficiency 67-86%.