BILANCIO IDRICO DI UN CANALE IRRIGUO DOTATO DI PARATOIE MOBILI IN CONTROLLO REMOTO GUIDATE DAL SERVIZIO IrriNET DI PROGRAMMAZIONE DELLE IRRIGAZIONI

The optimal use of water resources is a strategic objective that justifies research efforts for methods, application techniques and field investigations aimed at concretely influencing even irrigation practices, with particular attention to all the environmental functions produced, directly or indirectly, with the irrigation activities. In recent decades, several water-saving techniques have been proposed, in particular in the drinking water sector, such as network leakage control, demand management, pressure management and improvement of the efficiency of water equipments. In irrigation systems, unlike drinking water systems, demand presents a very complex "structure", as it strictly depends on the seasonal climate, crop rotations, as well as on economic factors such as market trends. Furthermore, in a context of conflicting needs, such as economic development, environmental sustainability, agricultural production and food security, irrigation water demand also depends on the availability of water at the source. Therefore, it is necessary to pursue water saving in agriculture also, but taking into account both the environmental aspects of the water body and those of the territory and of the ecosystems that are fed by these withdrawals through releases and water returns. The purpose of this work is to show how the canal operational technique, combined with a service for irrigation scheduling and crop demand management, influences the withdrawal from the source and water releases to environment and returns to rivers