ADEAUMIS, a tool for estimating irrigation water demand on a regional scale - Example of use in times of crisis

Abstract

The ADEAUMIS model has been developed in the context of southwestern France, where water management can be difficult during atypical years. It aims at estimating water demand for irrigation for the entire region. The estimation can be carried at any time, starting at the beginning of the irrigation period. To do so, ADEAUMIS couples a bio-decisional model and a geographical database. The credibility of ADEAUMIS was established by replaying the 1998 scenario. As a result, the water manager has used ADEAUMIS to help his decision making process since the hot and dry 2003 summer. ADEAUMIS is a combination of tools and methods for collecting input data, which can evolve toward more complex tools and methods. At the present, ADEAUMIS is being integrated into the tools used for the strategic water management of the Neste system, and may be used for tactical water management. Its use for long-term planning of water resources is under study.