Impacts of irrigation and nitrate fertilization scenarios on groundwater resources quantity and quality of Almyros Basin, Greece

Aikaterini Lyra, Athanasios Loukas, Pantelis Sidiropoulos
2021 Water Science and Technology : Water Supply  
Irrigation and nitrate fertilization scenarios were combined and simulated for the crop water irrigation demands and nitrogen applications based on experiments on crop cultivation practices. Two irrigation practices of deficit irrigation and rainfed conditions were applied in the main crop types of the Almyros Basin, a coastal basin located in Thessaly, Greece. The groundwater system of Almyros suffers from progressive water balance deficit, nitrate contamination and seawater intrusion due to
more » ... e groundwater abstractions for agricultural irrigation to cover crop water demands in the dry season. The impacts of the irrigation and nitrate fertilization scenarios on groundwater resources quantity and quality were simulated with the Integrated Modelling System consisting of models of surface hydrology (UTHBAL), groundwater hydrology (MODFLOW), crop growth/nitrates leaching (REPIC), contaminant transport (MT3DMS), and seawater intrusion (SEAWAT), for the historical period of 1991–2018. The results of the scenarios were evaluated with the indicators of Crop Water Productivity (CWP) for crop yields and irrigation water, Partial Factor Productivity (PFP) for Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Economic Water Productivity (EWP) for the gross profits of irrigation water.
doi:10.2166/ws.2021.097 fatcat:t4wsognspzdoli4v32g7qrozvu