The growth of trickle irrigation in England and Wales: data, regulation and water resource impacts

✍ Scribed by J. W. Knox; E. K. Weatherhead

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 288 KB
• Volume: 54
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1531-0353
• DOI: 10.1002/ird.163

✦ Synopsis

Trickle irrigation has become a well-established method for irrigating high-value crops in regions where water resources are scarce and/or expensive. In England and Wales, the use of trickle has increased fivefold since the 1990s, and now predominates in some specialised high-value crop sectors. Under previous water resources legislation, abstraction for trickle irrigation has been an unlicensed activity. The increasing but unregulated abstractions have raised concerns regarding potential impacts on the water environment and other abstractors, and the impact of bringing trickle into the licensing systems under the new legislation.

This paper reviews trends in trickle irrigation use in England and Wales. It presents and compares data variously derived from government irrigation surveys, a survey of the UK irrigation industry and information collected opportunistically by the regulatory authority. The outputs provide a spatial assessment of present trickle irrigation use and expected growth, including the crops and areas irrigated, the split between sectors, and the volumes of water applied. The relevance of the findings to water resource management and regulatory change in England and Wales, and the implications for future growth, are discussed.