Up‐scaling potential impacts on water flows from agricultural water interventions: opportunities and trade‐offs in the Osman Sagar catchment, Musi sub‐basin, India

Agricultural water management (AWM) has been shown to improve and secure yields in the tropics and has been suggested as an important way to combat poverty in the region. In this paper, we describe potential impacts on upstream and downstream flows of extensive AWM interventions, using the watershed development programme of the Osman Sagar catchment of Musi sub‐basin, Andhra Pradesh semi‐arid India, as an example. Various AWM interventions are compared with a non‐intervention state and the current state of the study area, using 31 years of data by application of the calibrated and validated ARCSWAT 2005 (Version 2.1.4a) modelling tool. Different AWM interventions contribute to improved livelihoods of upstream smallholder farmers by increasing soil moisture availability and groundwater recharge, which can subsequently be used for irrigation. The result is higher crop production and hence larger incomes. Moreover, lower flow intensities and sediment losses reduced by 30–50%, reducing the risk of flooding and sediment accumulation in the Osman Sagar drinking water reservoir. On the other hand, AWM interventions are predicted to result in reduced total water inflows to the Osman Sagar reservoir from 11% of the total annual rainfall (754 mm) recorded at present, to 8% if AWM interventions were implemented at large scale throughout the catchment. A cost–benefit analysis of AWM interventions showed that the highest net economic returns were achieved at intermediate intervention levels (only in‐situ AWM). Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  Balaji Narasimhan,et al.  SPATIAL MAPPING OF AGRICULTURAL WATER PRODUCTIVITY USING THE SWAT MODEL IN UPPER BHIMA CATCHMENT, INDIA , 2012 .

[2]  J. Barron,et al.  Assessing impacts of agricultural water interventions in the Kothapally watershed, Southern India , 2012 .

[3]  M. Gumma,et al.  Role of groundwater in buffering irrigation production against climate variability at the basin scale in South-West India , 2012 .

[4]  R. Reddy,et al.  GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH , 2012 .

[5]  Jeffrey G. Arnold,et al.  Soil and Water Assessment Tool Theoretical Documentation Version 2009 , 2011 .

[6]  L. Bouwer,et al.  The downstream externalities of harvesting rainwater in semi-arid watersheds: An Indian case study , 2011 .

[7]  R. Vervoort,et al.  Hydrological impacts of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in a case study catchment: The Arvari River, Raja , 2011 .

[8]  S. Wani,et al.  Assessing the Environmental Benefits of Watershed Development: Evidence from the Indian Semi-Arid Tropics , 2011 .

[9]  R. Vervoort,et al.  Hydrological impacts of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in a case study catchment: The Arvari River, Rajasthan, India. Part 1: Field-scale impacts , 2010 .

[10]  Suhas P. Wani,et al.  Managing water in rainfed agriculture—The need for a paradigm shift , 2010 .

[11]  S. Wani,et al.  Managing natural resources of watersheds in the semi-arid tropics for improved soil and water quality: a review. , 2010 .

[12]  V. S. Bhatia,et al.  Analysis of water non-limiting and water limiting yields and yield gaps of groundnut in India using CROPGRO-Peanut model , 2009 .

[13]  V. S. Bhatia,et al.  Yield gap analysis: modelling of achievable yields at farm level , 2009 .

[14]  Brian Davidson,et al.  Urban Water Supply Strategies for Hyderabad, India – Future Scenarios , 2009 .

[15]  H. Turral,et al.  Evapotranspiration and regional probabilities of soil moisture stress in rainfed crops, southern India , 2008 .

[16]  Zhifang Yin,et al.  Assessment of crop growth and soil water modules in SWAT2000 using extensive field experiment data in an irrigation district of the Yellow River Basin , 2008 .

[17]  K. Abbaspour,et al.  Estimation of freshwater availability in the West African sub-continent using the SWAT hydrologic model , 2008 .

[18]  A. van Griensven,et al.  Autocalibration in hydrologic modeling: Using SWAT2005 in small-scale watersheds , 2008, Environ. Model. Softw..

[19]  Eric Viala,et al.  Water for food, water for life a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture , 2008 .

[20]  S. Wani.  Community Watershed as a Growth Engine for Development of Dryland Areas A Comprehensive Assessment of Watershed Programs in India , 2008 .

[21]  Anju Gaur,et al.  Integrating remote sensing and a process-based hydrological model to evaluate water use and productivity in a south Indian catchment , 2008 .

[22]  P. Joshi,et al.  Impact of Watershed Program and Conditions for Success:A Meta-Analysis Approach.Global Theme on Agroecosystems Report no. 46 , 2008 .

[23]  S. Wani,et al.  Quantification of Yield Gaps in Rain-fed Rice, Wheat,Cotton and Mustard in India: Global Theme on Agroecosystems Report no. 43 , 2008 .

[24]  Groundwater Dynamics in Hard Rock Aquifers , 2008 .

[25]  Simulation of Flow in Weathered-Fractured Aquifer in a Semi-Arid and Over-Exploited Region , 2008 .

[26]  R. P. Singh,et al.  Concerns of Groundwater Depletion and Irrigation Efficiency in Punjab Agriculture: A Micro-Level Study , 2008 .

[27]  Adarsha Watershed in Kothapally.  Adarsha Watershed in Kothapally Understanding the Drivers of Higher Impact , 2008 .

[28]  S. Wani,et al.  Quantifi cation of Yield Gaps in Rain-fed Rice, Wheat, Cotton and Mustard in India Global Theme on Agroecosystems , 2008 .

[29]  Jeffrey G. Arnold,et al.  The Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Historical Development, Applications, and Future Research Directions , 2007 .

[30]  Jennie Barron,et al.  Water productivity in rainfed systems: overview of challenges and analysis of opportunities in water scarcity prone savannahs , 2007, Irrigation Science.

[31]  J. Rockström,et al.  Managing water in rainfed agriculture , 2007 .

[32]  Biju George,et al.  Groundwater modeling for sustainable resource management in the Musi catchment, India , 2007 .

[33]  D. Molden.  Water for food, water for life: a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture , 2007 .

[34]  P. Thenkabail,et al.  Closing of the Krishna Basin: irrigation, streamflow depletion and macroscale hydrology , 2007 .

[35]  S. Chander,et al.  InfoCrop: A dynamic simulation model for the assessment of crop yields, losses due to pests, and environmental impact of agro-ecosystems in tropical environments. II. Performance of the model , 2006 .

[36]  S. Chander,et al.  InfoCrop: A dynamic simulation model for the assessment of crop yields, losses due to pests, and environmental impact of agro-ecosystems in tropical environments. I. Model description , 2006 .

[37]  Moon Seong Kang,et al.  Applying SWAT for TMDL programs to a small watershed containing rice paddy fields , 2006 .

[38]  V. S. Bhatia,et al.  Yield Gap Analysis of Soybean, Groundnut, Pigeonpea and Chickpea in India Using Simulation Modeling:Global Theme on Agroecosystems Report no. 31 , 2006 .

[39]  S. Wani,et al.  On-site and Off-site Impact of Watershed Development: A Case Study of Rajasamadhiyala, Gujarat, India , 2006 .

[40]  J. Arnold,et al.  SWAT2000: current capabilities and research opportunities in applied watershed modelling , 2005 .

[41]  P. Joshi,et al.  Meta-Analysis to Assess Impact of Watershed Program and People’s Participation:Comprehensive Assessment Research Report 8 , 2005 .

[42]  B. Shiferaw,et al.  Adarsha Watershed in Kothapally Understanding the Drivers of Higher Impact , 2004 .

[43]  Toshio Koike,et al.  Global potential soil erosion with reference to land use and climate changes , 2003 .

[44]  S. Wani,et al.  Efficient management of rainwater for increased crop productivity and groundwater recharge in Asia , 2003 .

[45]  V. Singh,et al.  Application and testing of the simple rainfall-runoff model SIMHYD , 2002 .

[46]  S. Wani,et al.  Hydrological Characterization of Benchmark Agricultural Watersheds in India, Thailand, and Vietnam , 2002 .

[47]  M. Schaap,et al.  ROSETTA: a computer program for estimating soil hydraulic parameters with hierarchical pedotransfer functions , 2001 .