Utilizing Groundwater Contributions to Resolve Irrigation Water Shortages at Al-hassa

Abstract

This thesis accepts the views of earlier workers that the agriculture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is utilizing fossil and non-renewable water and that apparent water shortages are already affecting farmers. Whilst other workers have argued for more efficient water usage by employing soil-moisture sensors, computer controlled irrigation systems, or for recycling drainage waters for treatment and re-use, this author sees these as inappropriate solutions at this point in time. Instead it is argued that stabilizing the local ground water table at an optimum near-surface depth will itself reduce the irrigation water needed during the critical summer months by about 50% and so give time for other improvements to be introduced. Defining the likely crop water addition from a near surface ground water table calls for a knowledge of the moisture transmitting properties of the local soils, and much of the present work is taken up with:- Measuring the necessary soil properties. Devising methods of predicting these soil properties accurately. Devising predictive mathematical models to mirror the processes that occur in irrigation cycles. Whilst the model has been substantiated on water supply ground, further work may be necessary to confirm that salinity effects will not prove a problem.