López-Pérez et al. (2025) A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers

Identification

• Journal: Remote Sensing
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-12-12
• Authors: Esther López-Pérez, Juan Manzano-Juarez, Miguel Angel Jiménez-Bello, Alberto García-Prats, Carles Sanchis-Ibor, Adrià Rubio-Martín, Fatima Zahrae Boubekri, Abdellah Kajji, Paolo Tufoni, Luís Miguel Nunes, Manuel Pulido-Velazquez
• DOI: 10.3390/rs17244019

Research Groups

• Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain.
• Valencian Centre of Irrigation Studies (CVER), Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain.
• AgroParisTech, Paris, France.
• Regional Agricultural Research Center, Meknes, Morocco.
• Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, CERIS, Portugal.

Short Summary

This study develops the Spatial Irrigation Adequacy Index (SIAI) to evaluate irrigation performance by comparing satellite-derived actual evapotranspiration with modeled crop water requirements. The framework identifies distinct patterns of water use across Mediterranean aquifers, revealing near-optimal irrigation in vineyards, systemic over-irrigation in apple orchards, and persistent water deficits in citrus groves.

Objective

• To develop and validate a scalable, spatially explicit framework (SIAI) for assessing irrigation water use and adequacy at the plot level in overexploited Mediterranean aquifers without relying on ground-based flow meters.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Three Mediterranean groundwater-dependent systems: Requena-Utiel (Spain, ~987.9 km²), Ain Timguenay (Morocco, ~68.12 km²), and Campina de Faro (Portugal, ~86.4 km²).
• Temporal Scale: The 2023 irrigation season, utilizing daily reconstructed time series from satellite imagery.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) for actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and the FAO-56 dual crop coefficient approach for crop water requirements (CWR).
• Data sources: Landsat 8 and 9 (thermal and multispectral imagery), Sentinel-2 (multispectral imagery), and ground-based agro-meteorological data from regional networks (e.g., SIAR in Spain) and site-specific soil characterization.
• Key Indicators: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) were used to derive dynamic basal crop coefficients ($K_{cb}$).

Main Results

• Crop Water Requirements: Significant variation was found among perennial crops: Citrus (591.3 mm) > Apple (215.5 mm) > Grapevine (160.9 mm).
• Irrigation Adequacy (SIAI):
  • Grapevines: Achieved near-optimal irrigation (mean SIAI = 0.99%), though with high spatial heterogeneity.
  • Apple Orchards: Characterized by generalized over-irrigation (mean SIAI = -13.24%), with over 60% of plots exceeding requirements by more than 20%.
  • Citrus Groves: Exhibited widespread under-irrigation and water deficits (mean SIAI = 23.14%).
• Governance Impact: Results suggest that regions with structured irrigation advisory services and volumetric monitoring (Spain/Portugal) show different performance distributions compared to regions with informal groundwater management (Morocco).

Contributions

• Introduction of the Spatial Irrigation Adequacy Index (SIAI) as a normalized, transferable metric for plot-level irrigation diagnosis.
• Demonstration of a remote-sensing workflow that bypasses the limitations of fragmented or unreliable flow meter data and self-reporting in groundwater-dependent regions.
• Provision of a scalable tool for water authorities to monitor aquifer pressure and for agri-food stakeholders to support ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) water-use reporting.

Funding

• eGROUNDWATER Project under the PRIMA programme, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (GA No. 1921).

Citation

@article{LópezPérez2025Spatial,
  author = {López-Pérez, Esther and Manzano-Juarez, Juan and Jiménez-Bello, Miguel Angel and García-Prats, Alberto and Sanchis-Ibor, Carles and Rubio-Martín, Adrià and Boubekri, Fatima Zahrae and Kajji, Abdellah and Tufoni, Paolo and Nunes, Luís Miguel and Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel},
  title = {A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers},
  journal = {Remote Sensing},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3390/rs17244019},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17244019}
}

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