Validation of a Decision Support System for Improving Irrigation System Performance

To address water shortage and improve water delivery operations, decision support systems (DSSs) have been developed and utilized throughout the United States and the world. One critical aspect that is often neglected during the development and implementation of DSSs is validation, which can result in flawed water distribution and rejection of the DSS by water users and managers. This paper presents the results of a significant validation effort for a DSS in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD). The validation resulted in a refined application efficiency of 45%, a refined readily available water for farmers to irrigate to a value of 20%, and a Nash-Sutcliffe modeling efficiency of 0.86 for soil moisture depletion patterns. Overall, the validation and refinement of input parameters resulted in a DSS model that accurately predicts evaportranspiration and can be used to schedule water delivery. The refinement of the DSS input parameters resulted in an increased 15,600 acre-ft diversion suggested by the DSS, indicating that the original DSS input parameters would have adversely affected farmers in the MRGCD. The paper showed that validation of a DSS is crucial if such a program is to be successfully utilized to deliver irrigation water.