Remote Sensing for Irrigation Water Management—The State of the Art and Prospects for Near‐Future Operations

Abstract

A recent UN report describes many regions as facing ‘water bankruptcy, ’ a condition in which available water resources can no longer meet existing demands. In practice, this means irrigation will likely bear the greatest burden of future water‐use reductions, a complicated and fraught decision to make given its critical role in food security. This review paper highlights the growing range of information now available through remote sensing technologies to support planners, irrigation managers and farmers. These data include cropping patterns, crop yields, water consumption, farmgate water and tubewell water deliveries, soil moisture and root‐zone water storage, among others. The paper also reviews current applications of remote sensing, which remain too often constrained to the scientific community, and recommends the development and dissemination of standardized irrigation analytics and diagnostic tools. Government irrigation and water agencies are encouraged to integrate these emerging spatial data sources into both strategic planning and real‐time management from field to scheme scale and provide a stronger foundation of key performance indicator (KPI). Bridging this information gap will require startups and technology providers to translate advanced data products into practical, user‐friendly tools tailored to the needs of the irrigation sector.

Bibliographic Information