Evaluation presentation and development of a web based irrigation management tool

In Greece about 70% of the consumed water supply is used for irrigation, and thus optimal irrigation management is an increasingly important crop production objective. At the plain of Arta at Epirus (Greece), the irrigation systems (both central and private) suffer from fundamental problems regarding their design, installation and management. With the given infrastructure, rational water management could promptly and directly increase irrigation efficiency. Based on this hypothesis, a pilot web service was developed and has operated for 6 years. In the present paper, the meteorological network, the web service and the calculation procedures used in the system, along with the front end capabilities, are presented. The main features of the service are the publication of information regarding daily reference and crop specific evapotranspiration. The calculations are based on actual meteorological data and an estimator, based on water balance calculations, for the time and duration to the next irrigation event. The pilot version of the system has already disseminated recommendations to more than 8,000 agro-meteorologists, agronomists, irrigation engineers and farmers. Feedback from the end-users is positive, and relevant water consumption and crop yield data are presented. These results were used to enhance and expand the system at Arta and to upgrade a related web service that is operating in Puglia (Italy).