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Aquaculture and Irrigation Water-Use Model (AIWUM) Version 1.0—An Agricultural Water-Use Model Developed for the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, 1999–2017

Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5011
Prepared in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District, and the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission
By:
https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215011

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Abstract

Water use is a critical and often uncertain component of quantifying any water budget and securing reliable and sustainable water supplies. Recent water-level declines in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP), especially in the central part of the Mississippi Delta, pose a threat to water sustainability. Aquaculture and Irrigation Water-Use Model (AIWUM) 1.0, one of the first national agricultural water-use models that provides water use at the scale of most groundwater models, was developed and compared to other reported and estimated aquaculture and irrigation water-use values within the MAP study area for 1999 through 2017 to improve water-use estimates needed as input to a hydrologic decision-support system in the MAP. Results indicate annual total water-use estimates from 1999 through 2017 ranged from about 5 to 13 billion gallons per day and, on average, a majority of the water use was applied to rice (about 51 percent), followed by soybeans (about 26 percent), and less than (<) 10 percent each was applied to aquaculture, corn, cotton, and other crops. Comparisons indicated that annual total water-use estimates from AIWUM 1.0 were smaller than or comparable to all other sources of water-use data. Although there is disagreement at the monthly timescale in estimates in the Mississippi Delta within each part of the growing season, the annual total water use is comparable between AIWUM 1.0 and the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study groundwater model 2.1. Estimates from AIWUM 1.0 could be used in models at all scales (for example, local, regional, national) and could provide a nationally consistent methodology in estimating water use driven by regional crop-specific withdrawal rates.

Suggested Citation

Wilson, J.L., 2021, Aquaculture and Irrigation Water-Use Model (AIWUM) version 1.0—An agricultural water-use model developed for the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, 1999–2017: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2021–5011, 36 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20215011.

ISSN: 2328-0328 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Comparisons of Estimates with Other Models
  • Aquaculture and Irrigation Water-Use in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, 1999–2017
  • Strengths and Weaknesses of AIWUM 1.0
  • Summary
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Aquaculture and Irrigation Water-Use Model (AIWUM) version 1.0—An agricultural water-use model developed for the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, 1999–2017
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2021-5011
DOI 10.3133/sir20215011
Year Published 2021
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Central Midwest Water Science Center
Description Report: viii, 36 p.; 3 Data releases; 2 Datasets; 1 Software release
Country United States
State Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee
Other Geospatial Mississippi Alluvial Plain
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional publication details