Web-based decision support system for canal irrigation management

Irrigation plays an important role in agricultural production. In this paper, a Web-based irrigation decision support system (WIDSS) is designed for canal irrigation management in large irrigated districts. WIDSS has many functions including data acquisition and detection, real-time irrigation forecast, dynamic water allocation decision and irrigation information management. It uses technical methods to reduce the need for users' specialized knowledge and can also take users' managerial experience into account. As the system is developed by the Browser/Server model, it is possible to make full use of the Internet resources and to facilitate users at any place with access to the Internet. Two years' application in the Zhanghe Irrigation System (Central China) indicates that the proposed WIDSS can achieve promising performance for canal irrigation.