W. Wolters

• Dr ir
• Wageningen University & Research

From being a smallholder-based, food-producing country covering its basic needs, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) have become major importers of food. The sustainability of the agricultural sector has been systematically undermined by conflict, neglect, and mismanagement, as a result of which the capacity of its farmers to feed the popul...

Drought management in the Netherlands is not a separate activity, but integrated into a comprehensive, multi‐faceted water management regime covering both floods and droughts and water quantity and quality. Droughts are not frequent in the Netherlands, with the events of 1976 and 2003 being the major ones. Drought studies have concluded that constr...

“Egypt is a gift of the Nile,” wrote Herodotus, and indeed, without the Nile there would be no Egypt as the world knows it. Egypt is mainly dependent on the flow in the Nile River (with an agreed share of 55.5 BCM) and it receives about 1.3 BCM rainfall annually (mainly along the north coast). The overall water use efficiency is already high, due t...

Aardappel, een zouttolerant voedselgewas, is als testgewas gebruikt om te onderzoeken of productie met beregening met brak- of zoutwater mogelijk is en de invloed op de opbrengst.

Egypt is one of the countries hardest hit by global and climate change. Challenges include population growth; increased demands for food, water, and energy; as well as changing land use patterns and urbanization. Egypt's part of the Mediterranean is characterized by a very complex hydrological system, as it lacks rainfall (Cairo average 30 mm/year)...

In this knowledge compendium a series of contributions illustrates how Wageningen UR cooperates with African organizations in finding innovations to combat water scarcity and to deliver the scientific knowledge necessary for future actions. In most of these activities, the integration of the formal knowledge of WUR with the tacit knowledge of the l...

Capacity development plays an essential role in improving irrigation and drainage practices in existing agricultural areas. Capacity development is a knowledge-creating process, in which the more concrete or explicit aspects such as training and institutional strengthening are linked to local or tacit knowledge and aspects of ownership. In this pro...

This paper describes the essential contents of research at a recently completed subsurface pipe drainage project located in the Khushab district of Pakistan. The paper explores the need and decision by Government of Pakistan to install a Sub Surface Pipe Drainage Project near Khushab where an old Surface Drainage System was already installed by the...

AquaStress project has been developed through a multi-stakeholder approach, linking and integrating the society to research, technology and policy-making, so as to enhance sustainability and innovation in water stress management. This approach is applied in eight case study areas and test sites of watersheds in Europe and Northern Africa. Case stud...

To feed the growing world population, food production will have to double in the next 25 years. The majority of this increase will have to come from investments in improved irrigation and drainage practices in existing agricultural lands. Research plays an essential role in achieving these ambitious goals. This paper shows that applied research on...

Agricultural Water Demand Management (AWDM) is at the core of the Water for Food Programme launched as a result of a pledge by the Netherlands' Minister for Agriculture at the 2nd World Water Forum in March 2000, The Hague. One of the projects that was started after the March 2000 pledge was Workshops Capacity Building for Agricultural Water Demand...

Recharge to the aquifer through seepage from irrigation canals is often quoted as one of the main causes for waterlogging in Pakistan. In the design of drainage systems to control this waterlogging, rules-of-thumb are often used to quantify the seepage from canals. This paper presents the option to use a groundwater model for a more detailed assess...

International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI) was created with the broad objective to conduct, manage and coordinate research on waterlogging and salinity. The Dutch Government, through its bilateral cooperation programme, provided support to IWASRI. With a long twelve years (1988-2000) cooperation, IWASRI research was carried...

Although only around 13% of the total cultivated land in North Africa are irrigated, agriculture consumes about 87% of the total available water. As the region is already suffering severe water scarcity, major challenges are needed to ensure the sustainability of agricultural water management. A major part of the irrigated agricultural lands suffer...

The irrigation system in The Fayoum is designed for a continuous supply of water (24 h a day, 7 days a week) to rotational units, which vary in size from about 20 to 500 fe. The Fayoum Irrigation Department is responsible for the delivery of irrigation water to the rotational units. Within the units, the farmers rotate the water in a seven days rot...

Irrigation in a river basin generally implies that the drainage water from upstream schemes is reused in the downstream schemes. The processes of water and salt movement in the schemes (over the soil surface, through the soil profile, and through the substrate) are successfully modeled in other studies. In the model presented here (called RE-USE),...

Data on flows in irrigation and drainage canals and data on climate, crops, and cropped areas are essential for the management of irrigation systems. Only part of these data can be collected with satellite remote sensing (SRS). This paper discusses the possibilities for the practical use of SRS data in the management of irrigation systems. Satellit...

The intended operation of the Rio Tunuyan irrigation scheme in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, is to divide flow proportionately over the entire area in accordance with registered water-rights. The main division of flow is by regulators at the heads of the lateral canals, which serve areas of appr. 15,000 ha. Taking the sub-lateral or secondary...

Charging farmers for irrigation water is generally believed to lead to a more efficient water use. This paper contrasts measured irrigation efficiencies with characteristics of charges and irrigation systems. It discusses, for instance, the relation of field data with the generally endorsed presumption that water charges only influence irrigation e...

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A study of the water balances of The Fayoum irrigated lands and Lake Qarun was made to investigate the management of the irrigation system and the efficiency of irrigation water use. The two water balances are strongly interrelated. The drainage flow to Lake Qarun and the water level of the Lake are in delicate balance. A rise in Lake level causes...

The division of irrigation water in The Fayoum, Egypt, has been measured. Factors influencing this division are discussed: the hydraulic conditions at structures and canals, the operation regime of gates, lack of reliable gauge data for system operation, shortage of labour, and the water level in Lake Qarun. A deviation from uniform supply has been...

Weirs in the irrigation system of The Fayoum Governorate in Egypt have been modified: crests have been widened and pipes have been installed. As a result, the head-discharge ratings became invalid or unknown, and the irrigation system became difficult to manage. To obtain valid rating curves for the modified weirs, a flow-measurement programme with...

The Egyptian-Dutch Advisory Panel on Land Drainage was established in 1976 and is the oldest project under the Egyptian-Dutch Bilateral Cooperation Programme. The construction of the Aswan High Dam in the south of Egypt necessitated large-scale drainage in the Nile Valley and Delta. Egypt has benefited from Dutch expertise in land drainage through...

14.1 Introduction Irrigated agriculture is by far the greatest user of water on earth. Estimates of global annual water use amount to 3000 -3500 lo9 m3, with 2500 IO9 m3 being used for irrigation, 500 lo9 m3 for industry, and 200 lo9 m3 for other purposes, including domestic water supplies (Schulze and Van Staveren 1980). The limits to the availabi...