Author(s)

A. Refsgaard & M. Styczen

Abstract

Limited availability of good quality water increases the need for a strategy for the use of wastewater and other low quality waters for various purposes. Irrigation with low quality water may affect crop quality, crop production and the environment. In the EU-project \“SAFIR” (www.safir4eu.org) the \“open modelling interface” (openMI-protocol) for model interaction is being used to integrate modelling tools handling all issues within irrigation management on a farm level, i.e. water sources, water purification, soil-plant-atmosphere processes, irrigation and fertigation strategy, risk assessment, crop quality and economy. The integrated modelling system will be used as the core of a decision support system to select water sources for irrigation and define purification requirements, based on the demands to crop quality and yield as well as economic issues. Short term and long term effects on concentrations of pollutants affecting crop quality are thoroughly analysed to propose improved practices and determine critical concentration levels. The accumulation of pollutants within a single crop cycle and the long term deterioration and degradation of the root zone of the soil will also be addressed. The integrated modelling system will be tested on data from a comprehensive field investigation programme in Denmark, Italy, Greece, Romania and China. Keywords: irrigation, low quality water, decision support system, modelling. 1 Introduction A huge amount of the fresh water resources of the world are used to irrigate crops. However, in many places around the world, clean water is a scarce resource, and waste water, treated or untreated, is used as water source for

Keywords

irrigation, low quality water, decision support system, modelling.