As energy is an important input in agriculture which is used to extract groundwater for irrigation (Schoengold & Zilberman 2007; Dumler et al, 2009). Since agriculture production requires energy to pump groundwater, so the rising energy prices may affect the groundwater extraction and crop choice decisions that farmers made. Many studies have investigated the relationship between energy price and water demand. India and Mexico are typical countries for groundwater management. Badiani and Jessoe empirically analyze how the electricity subsidies will affect on groundwater extraction and agricultural production in India (Badiani et al,2013).
Many people rely indirectly or directly from agriculture. Agricultural activities heavily rely on water for sustenance. In many countries, fresh water resources are used for irrigation of crops and feeding of animals. The use of freshwater sources for irrigation strains the water resource and creates shortages especially when agriculture is practiced in large scale (Buchanan & Horwitz 67-69). In developing countries, areas which have large scale agricultural activities especially in water intensive agricultural activities such as horticulture usually experience water shortages due to the amount of water used in agriculture.
There are many ways in which it can be done. Various techniques of irrigation have been developed in order to supply the entire field the uniformly with water so that each crop gets right amount of water, neither too much nor too less, just correct amount. All the techniques of irrigation differ with each other only in the way they distribute the water obtained from the source. These techniques are described below: 2.2.1 Surface irrigation: It is also called as flood irrigation. It is the most common way of irrigating land and is being practiced by human beings from thousands years.
As global population increases rapidly, the demand for food increases as well, which in turn, leads to a steep rise in agricultural activities to meet the growing need for food, to feed more of the global population. However, agricultural activities have been proven to pollute water resources. Richard (2015) noted that Agricultural activities account for 53% of water pollution incidents during the years 2010 to 2012. As technology advances, fertilizers and pesticides are easily available, and also more potent in enhancing plant growth and keeping away pests. These fertilizers and pesticides that are used to speed up the growth of these crops are not disposed of properly, and pollute water resources when the pesticides or fertilizers are disposed into the water resources.
Water, food, energy and environment are inextricably linked. Water is known as an input for producing agricultural goods in the fields and along the entire agro-food supply chain. Although it is renewable, water does not have substitutes or alternative. Agriculture consumes approximately 3100 billion tons of water, accounting for about 71% of fresh water produce today for the production of approximately 2.5 billion tons of food. Agriculture is currently the largest user of water at the global level.
Fresh water is valuable and reducing the amount of water in the Lakes wouldn’t help keep our basin remain water rich. In the article, Mideast Facing Chocie Between Crops and Water by Andrew Martin, He says “For decades nations in this region have drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the mighty Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects were so costly and used so much water that it remained far more practical to import food than to produce it. Today, some countries import 90 percent or more of their staples.” The nations that Martin is talking about is the Middle East and North Africa where the people there are suffering between growing more crops or preserving water of what they have
In addition, the effects of failed governance of water resources on the quality and availability of fresh water and the implications on social and economic benefits is explained. The authors outline the effects of the increasing global water demand, the potential impacts, the status and availability of water resources and the hidden constraints on water resource management. With an increasing global gross domestic product (GDP) of an average of 3.5% per year from 1960 to 2012 and a population growth, urbanization, migration and industrialization, along with increases in production and consumption Connor et al., (2015) indicate that demands for freshwater resources have also increased. An example of the changing consumption patterns, such as increasing meat consumption, building larger homes and using energy-consuming devices increases water consumption for both production and use was used as emphasis by the
Even if there is a mains connection available, rainwater can be used either to meet all a building’s demand for water (depending on users’ water needs) or to meet some water supply needs such as providing water for gardening, flushing the toilet, and/or bathing and clothes washing. Using rainwater can reduce costs for users on a metered water supply, provide an emergency supply, reduce demand on mains water supplies, provide an independent supply for watering the garden. Rainwater can be collected from rivers or roofs, and in many places. The harvested water can also be used as drinking water, longer-term storage, and for other purposes such as groundwater recharge. Rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and oldest methods of self-supply of water for households usually financed by the users.
The released of stored water plays a vital role in agriculture in the developing world especially, during the dry season when rainfall is scanty and also drought periods. Hydroelectric dams, aside generating power for production and manufacturing also supports irrigation systems for agricultural
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 INTRODUCTION The exploitation of groundwater for man use started since ancient times. At first, people did not understand nature of groundwater occurrence properly; however, different methods of groundwater exploitation have been developed. Groundwater plays an important role in national development; hence, its management is of great importance. The demand for groundwater is increasing as the days go by due to a number of factors such as the relatively low cost of development, high population growth rate, high growth rate of industries, availability of groundwater at a needed place, relatively good natural quality etc. In many developing countries many people dependent on groundwater for drinking, domestic