Water reuse in agriculture: a case study of Konya Closed Basin

Konya Closed Basin (KCB) is one of the hot spots in Turkey due to intense agricultural activities and high irrigational demands. Over 90% of the total available water is consumed for irrigation and is predominantly met from groundwater bodies. Therefore, current agricultural practices need to be revised and water reuse should be taken into account to sustain water resources and the ecosystem of the basin. To this end, a case study has been carried out in KCB on reclaimed water use for sugar beet and corn production. The first-term results revealed no adverse impacts on soil conditions irrigated with reclaimed water (RW). Corn production increased by 7% with RW irrigation. Although a drop was observed in sugar beet yield with RW (9%), the overall results obtained for the first-term period, both for corn and sugar beet, indicate better yields could be attained with RW in addition to providing an alternative water resource, especially in water-scarce regions.