Learning from Research

Water abstraction monitoring maps

This tool monitors water abstraction by producing maps of irrigated areas and maps of irrigation water consumption and abstracted volumes.

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Output Description

DIANA combines Earth Observation (EO) data provided by various satellites, meteorological data and complementary data derived from different data sources (e.g. soil maps) to meet the spatial, temporal and spectral resolution needs and the operational requirements of the services. EO data capture a seasonal pattern of changes in the Leaf Area Index (LAI) or Vegetation Indices such as the Normalised Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Fraction of Absorbed Photo-synthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR). 

The Leaf Area Index (LAI) is defined as half the total area of green elements of the canopy per unit horizontal ground area. The satellite-derived value corresponds to the entire green LAI of all the canopy layers, including the undergrowth, which may substantially contribute to the estimation of the LAI, particularly for forests. Practically, the LAI quantifies the thickness of the vegetation cover. LAI is an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) for the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is an indicator of the greenness of the biomes. Even though it is not a physical property of the vegetation cover, its very simple formulation makes it widely used for ecosystems monitoring.
NDVI = (REF_nir – REF_red)/(REF_nir + REF_red)
where REF_nir and REF_red are the spectral reflectances measured in the near-infrared and red wavebands, respectively.

The Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) quantifies the fraction of the solar radiation absorbed by live leaves for photosynthesis activity. Then, it refers only to the green and alive elements of the canopy. The FAPAR depends on the canopy structure, vegetation element optical properties, atmospheric conditions, and angular configuration. To overcome this dependency, a daily integrated FAPAR value is assessed. FAPAR is an Essential Climate Variable (ECV) for the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

These data supported by meteorological data are developed to map irrigated areas and establish crop water requirement maps. Algorithms and spatially distributed models transform these maps into operational maps such as: 

  • maps of irrigated areas; 
  • maps of irrigation water consumption and abstracted volumes. 

The water abstraction and monitoring service targets two kinds of non-compliance: 

  • irrigated areas that do not have the necessary water rights (non-authorised irrigation and/or abstractions related to ownership rights); 
  • irrigation water consumption does not remain within the legally allowed or assigned water volume (non-authorised irrigation and/or abstractions related to volume). 

For the Sannio Alifano Consortium case study in Italy, a thematic map of ‘traffic lights’ was obtained by intersecting the map of the irrigated areas as derived from EO data and the cadastral parcels. This ‘traffic light’ map permits the identification of irrigated areas with regular authorisation (Green = Compliance), without the necessary water authorisation (Red = Non-compliance/authorisation) and the irrigated areas which exceed the declared surface (Yellow = Non-compliance/volume).

These two maps enable management personnel and inspectors from Paying Agencies, Managing Authorities and water associations to: 

  • monitor irrigated areas and the abstracted volumes on a systematic basis; 
  • better target field inspections aimed at assessing compliance with legal water allocation; 
  • ensure the legitimacy of self-declared irrigation water abstractions. 

Estimating the irrigation water requirements combined with the knowledge of the water provided through irrigation networks allows the regional authorities to estimate the abstracted volume from groundwater and assess the likely stress on water resources.

Relevance for monitoring and evaluation of the CAP

Water abstraction detection and monitoring focus on water management and compliance with water regulation rules and water rights. It is linked to evaluation through the potential re-use of its data products. Evaluators can re-use the data provided by the tool to support evaluation purposes. 

Estimation of the water abstraction indicator: The maps of irrigation water consumption and abstracted volumes can serve as alternative water abstraction recording mechanisms. This is especially true in areas with no metering devices or if there are no other ways of getting a safe water abstraction estimate at the parcel level. This estimation can calculate the current water abstraction impact indicator (I.10) and the PMEF indicators related to water use (I.17 and R.22). For the result indicator R.22, the tool can offer an additional evaluation check and a better approximation of the number of hectares actually not irrigated.  

Estimation of policy effects: The maps of irrigation also can evaluate the effectiveness of water-saving measures. Since abstractions are linked to the LPIS and IACS, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of various irrigation and water abstraction measures are known. Such data can support the adoption of more sophisticated and advanced evaluation techniques to approximate the net impacts of the assessed actions. Furthermore, water abstraction maps can be combined with IACS/LPIS data for macro evaluations using geostatistical analyses or quasi-experimental methods at the macro (landscape or regional) level.  

The water abstraction monitoring maps have been validated at the stage of ‘proof-of-concept’ in three case study areas in Spain, Romania and Italy. Their use has been tested by The Andalusian Federation of the Irrigators Communities of Andalucia (FERAGUA), the National Authority ‘Romanian Water’ (NARW) and the Consorzio di Bonifica Sannio Alifano, which is the largest water association in the Campania Region of Italy. The latter also tested the tool in combination with IACS/LPIS that permits identifying irrigated areas compliance with regular authorisations. The maps and associate material generated by the tool for the case study areas during the validation stage is provided by the lead partner’s contact person upon request. 

Relevance of the output per CAP Objectives

  • Specific Objective 4 – Climate change action 
  • Specific Objective 5 – Environmental care

Additional output information

Data collection systems used:

  • IACS/LPIS
  • Copernicus
  • WFD-Waterbase or relevant water inventories

Type of output:

  • New / improved data for M&E

Associated evaluation approaches:

  • Desk research
  • Data analysis
  • Impact evaluation ex post
  • Impact evaluation ongoing

Spatial scale:

  • Parcel
  • Farm holding
  • Regional (River basin level)

Project information

Diana Logo

Detection and Integrated Assessment of Non-authorised water Abstractions using Earth Observation

DIANA aims to:

  • To capture and analyse the needs and requirements of DIANA users and stakeholders, including water managers and authorities, farmers’ associations, agricultural cooperatives and agricultural consultants. 

  • To implement an Earth Observation methodology and production line for detecting irrigated areas and estimating irrigation requirements and possibly actual water use. 

  • To design the overall information technology architecture, which realised the project’s suite of demand-driven services based on Earth Observation, on-site observation and model output data.  

  • To monitor the pilot studies' operation and performance, co-evaluate users’ experiences, and validate the pilot studies’ results.  

  • To design a commercially viable and suitable business model to fit the needs of the potential customers as well as the interests of the project’s partners 

Project’s timeframe: 2017 – 2019

Contacts of project holder: Dimitra Perperidou, AGRO APPS (dperperidou@agroapps.gr)

Website: DIANA: https://diana-h2020.eu/en/ 

DIANA deliverables: https://diana-h2020.eu/en/public-deliverables/ 

CORDIS database: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/730109 

Territorial coverage: Belgium, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain

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