Canal Irrigation Allocation Planning Model
A water allocation model was developed to recommend allocation of irrigation water to different crop fields in a canal-based irrigation project. Model components are an irrigation scheduling program to predict irrigation water demands, a crop response model to compute crop yields, and a canal delivery model to check the physical feasibility of water delivery. Multiperiod linear programming is utilized to determine the optimal allocation strategy, which maximizes irrigation benefits. Allocation constraints are irrigation water demand, irrigation water availability, canal delivery capacity, minimum irrigation limitations, and crop response model limitations. The allocation model was validated using crop, soil, canal, and irrigation management data for MAC, a University of Arizona farm.