Ingeniería de Sistemas de Riego y Drenaje

A Systems View Towards More Sustainable Irrigation Design

Abstract

Richard V. Scholtz, Eric S. McLamore and Wendell A. Porter

Irrigation systems need to be selected and designed on a new paradigm, a total system cost approach. The true costs associated with new systems are often boiled down to the tangible fixed and variable system outlays. In many cases, alternative decision metrics are employed, but there are times this fails to adequately account for ostensibly intangible costs that are necessary to be both competitive and responsible. This problem is compounded when water is undervalued, or the true costs associated with the withdrawal are obscured, deferred, or even subsidized.