Benchmarking and multivariate data analysis techniques for improving the efficiency of irrigation districts: An application in spain

Abstract Performance indicators are a powerful tool for identifying deficiencies in irrigation district management and determining which measures should be taken to improve them. This process is known as Benchmarking. Until now, analysis has been based on direct comparisons of performance indicators from different irrigation districts. However, this procedure does not provide an overall view of the actual performance of each district in relation to others. Furthermore, on some occasions irrigation districts are compared with very different ones and best practices cannot be adapted to organisations having lower performance. In this paper, a methodology to analyse performance indicators is developed and applied to nine irrigation districts in Andalusia (Spain). The methodology is based on multivariate data analysis (cluster analysis), thereby enabling irrigation districts to be classified into statistically homogeneous groups. The irrigation districts have also been ranked according to an index developed in this work which aggregates all the methodology. This classification allows each irrigation district to be compared to another with similar characteristics. Our results demonstrate great differences in terms of performance between districts with open channel water delivery systems and those with pressure water delivery systems. In districts where users are charged per unit of irrigation water consumed, water use was found to be more efficient.