An assessment of water consumption patterns and land productivity and water productivity using WA plus framework and satellite data inputs

The Water Accounting Plus (WA+) framework uses open access remote sensing and GIS data and hydrological model output. This framework uses Budyko hypothesis and thus makes use of 'green' water and 'blue' water accounting. We applied the WA+ framework to the Subarnarekha basin, India, to assess the total water consumptions and land productivity (LP) and water productivity (WP) for a period of 12 years from 2003 to 2014 by using satellite and open data sources. The total water consumptions in the basin for 2013-14 (wet year) and 2010-11 (dry year) are 27.1 BCM/year and 23.1 BCM/year, respectively. The LP in the basin is found to vary from 1575 to 2141 kg/ha/year (with an average of 1921 kg/ha/year) and 1315-2325 kg/ha/year (with an average of 1948 kg/ha/year) during the period of 2003-04 to 2013-14, respectively for rainfed and irrigated cereals. Similarly, the WP is found to vary from 0.34 to 0.49 kg/m3 (with an average of 0.42 kg/m3) and 0.38-0.69 kg/m3 (with an average of 0.59 kg/m3) during the period of 2003-04 to 2013-14, respectively for rainfed and irrigated cereals. This study shows that the WA+ framework can be successfully applied for analyzing water consumption patterns, land productivity and WP of irrigated and rainfed crops individually. The results are available in map form, it is easy to identify the places/farmers with low LP and WP and work with them to improves these. Such efforts will ultimately lead to efficient management of water resources in the basin and poverty alleviation.

Automated summary

The study utilizes the WA+ framework to assess the total water consumption, land productivity, and water productivity in the Subarnarekha basin in India. The results are presented in map form, enabling the identification of areas/farmers with low land productivity and water productivity, facilitating improvements in water resource management and poverty alleviation.