Towards more effective water management
The growing demand for water by households and agriculture is putting a serious threat to water supply, raising the issue of effective management of water resources. With this in mind, the EU-funded project ‘Participatory multi-level EO-assisted tools for irrigation water management and agricultural decision-support’ (Pleiades) aimed to address the issue of irrigation efficiency especially in regions with limited water supply. The consortium gathered information regarding agricultural water needs by examining various case studies from the Mediterranean and Latin America. Using Earth Observation (EO)-mediated coverage of space and time coupled with information and communication technologies, scientists developed tools for water management of river basins, irrigation schemes and farms. They also assessed the pros and cons of new technologies and provided farmers with tools that would allow them to control water usage and improve the performance of their irrigation systems. The consortium developed an open source ‘system of participatory information, decision support and expert knowledge for irrigation and river basin water management’ (SPIDER) which was made freely available to all stakeholders. By doing so, it successfully brought together and informed all stakeholders about efficient water management options that will help sustain water supplies.
