The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP)
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Table of Contents
1. Development of the Schematic Representation of the cascade.......................................... 4
Step 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Step 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Step 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 4
Step 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Step 5 ..................................................................................................................................... 7
2. Data required for the model ............................................................................................... 8
Step 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Step 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Step 3 ................................................................................................................................... 10
Step 4 ................................................................................................................................... 11
Step 5 ................................................................................................................................... 13
Step 6 ................................................................................................................................... 15
Step 7 ................................................................................................................................... 16
3. obtaining results ............................................................................................................... 17
Annexure 1 ............................................................................................................................... 18
Annexure 2 ............................................................................................................................... 20
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This tutorial provides only the basic steps required for the performance of water balance study
for a tank cascade system. The steps can be incorporated with scenario analysis, calculation of
irrigation demand using WEAP, use of key assumptions etc. for obtaining more accurate model
and for easiness of the designer.
1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE
CASCADE
Step 1 – Create a new WEAP Area as a copy of area “Default_SL” and provide a name
(Compulsory) and a description (Optional).
Step 2 – Import the watershed, watershed points and drainage line shapefiles.
Step 3 – Draw the Schematic of the flow path (name as RIV_No) and the location of tanks
(RES_No) with the help of the shapefiles.
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Step 4 –Insert agricultural lands (use symbol ID_No to symbolize the Irrigation Demand) as
catchments and join the tanks with the relevant catchment using transmission links.
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Step 5 – Allocate the demand for the Land Preparation as a demand site (LP_No) and join it
with the tank using a transmission link.
Now the Schematic Representation of the tank cascade system is complete.
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2. DATA REQUIRED FOR THE MODEL
Step 1 – Data View >supply and Demand >select river > Inflows and Outflows>
Headflow >ReadFromFile Wizard > Select the Headflow.csv
Note: Refer Annexure 1 for creating Headflow.csv
Select the Data column containing the data relevant for the tank
Fill the Headflow data as above for all the tanks under the selected cascade.
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Step 2 – Open Reservoir > Physical and insert the data for the following parameters.
1. The Storage Capacity
Represents the total capacity of the reservoir (Enter the capacity of reservoir at High
Flood Level in MCM)
2. Initial Storage
the amount of water initially stored there at the beginning of the first month of the
Current Accounts year. WEAP maintains a mass balance of monthly inflows and
outflows in order to track the monthly storage volume. (Assume as 0.9*Storage
capacity)
3. Reservoir Volume-Elevation Curve
In order to calculate the amount of evaporation and/or the amount of energy production
from hydropower, WEAP must have a function to convert between volume and
elevation. This function is defined by the points on the Volume-Elevation Curve.
Values between the points are interpolated. You must enter at least one point,
corresponding to the total storage capacity of the reservoir. If you choose to model the
reservoir as a box with straight sides, you do not need to enter any other points.
Click on Add () to add a new point. After you have at least one point (other than 0, 0),
you can create or move points by clicking on the graph.
Click on Excel to export the list of volume-elevation data points to Excel.
Tip: You can copy a two-column or two-row array of Volume-Elevation points from
Excel and paste into the Volume-Elevation table in WEAP. Optionally, you can apply
conversion factors to the volume or elevation data. When you do this paste, all existing
data in the V-E table in WEAP will be erased and replaced with the pasted data.
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Step 3 – Open Reservoir > Operation and insert the data for the following parameters.
Reservoir Zones and Operation
Reservoir storage is divided into four zones, or pools. These include, from top to bottom, the
flood-control zone, conservation zone, buffer zone and inactive zone. The conservation and
buffer pools, together, constitute the reservoir's active storage. WEAP will ensure that the
flood-control zone is always kept vacant, i.e., the volume of water in the reservoir cannot
exceed the top of the conservation pool.
WEAP allows the reservoir to freely release water from the conservation pool to fully meet
withdrawal and other downstream requirements, and demand for energy from hydropower.
Once the storage level drops into the buffer pool, the release will be restricted according to the
buffer coefficient, to conserve the reservoir's dwindling supplies. Water in the inactive pool is
not available for allocation, although under extreme conditions evaporation may draw the
reservoir into the inactive pool.
To define the zones, enter the volumes corresponding to the top of each zone.
1. Top of Conservation - Full Supply Level Capacity in MCM
2. Top of Buffer - Same as the Top of Inactive
3. Top of Inactive - Minimum Operating Level Capacity in MCM
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WEAP uses the Buffer Coefficient to slow releases when the storage level falls into the buffer
zone. When this occurs, the monthly release cannot exceed the volume of water in the buffer
zone multiplied by this coefficient. In other words, the buffer coefficient is the fraction of the
water in the buffer zone available each month for release. Thus, a coefficient close to 1.0 will
cause demands to be met more fully while rapidly emptying the buffer zone, while a coeffici ent
close to 0 will leave demands unmet while preserving the storage in the buffer zone.
Essentially, the top of buffer should represent the volume at which releases are to be cut back,
and the buffer coefficient determines the amount of the cut back. Note: The buffer coefficient
determines how much of the water that is in the buffer zone at the beginning of a timestep is
available for release during that timestep. However, this doesn't restrict WEAP from releasing
some or all of water that flows into the reservoir during the timestep. Even if the buffer
coefficient is 0, WEAP can still release any water that flows into the reservoir that timestep if
needed to meet downstream or hydropower demands--in this case, the storage level will not
decrease, but it may not increase either.
Step 4 – Open Demand sites and Catchment > Advanced
For Irrigation Demand Sites choose Rainfall Runoff (simplified coefficient method) for
determining demand
1. Overview of Catchment Simulation Methods
There is a choice among five methods to simulate catchment processes such as
evapotranspiration, runoff, infiltration, and irrigation demands. These methods include (1)
the Rainfall Runoff and (2) Irrigation Demands Only versions of the Simplified Coefficient
Approach, (3) the Soil Moisture Method, (4) the MABIA Method, and (5) the Plant Growth
Method or PGM. You can click on the "Advanced" button at the top of the Data Entry
window for a particular catchment to select among these options. Your choice of method
should depend on the level of complexity desired for representing the catchment processes
and data availability.
2. Irrigation Demands Only Method (Simplified Coefficient Method)
Of these four methods, the Irrigation Demands Only method is the simplest. It uses crop
coefficients to calculate the potential evapotranspiration in the catchment, then determines
any irrigation demand that may be required to fulfill that portion of the evapotranspiration
requirement that rainfall cannot meet. It does not simulate runoff or infiltration processes,
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or track changes in soil moisture. (Any water that would have runoff or infiltrated is lost
from the system.)
3. Rainfall Runoff Method (Simplified Coefficient Method)
The Rainfall Runoff method also determines evapotranspiration for irrigated and rainfed
crops using crop coefficients, the same as in the Irrigation Demands Only method. The
remainder of rainfall not consumed by evapotranspiration is simulated as runoff to a river
or can be proportioned among runoff to a river and flow to groundwater via
runoff/infiltration links.
4. Rainfall Runoff Method (Soil Moisture Method)
The Soil Moisture method is more complex, representing the catchment with two soil
layers, as well as the potential for snow accumulation. In the upper soil layer, it simulates
evapotranspiration considering rainfall and irrigation on agricultural and non-agricultural
land, runoff and shallow interflow, and changes in soil moisture. This method allows for
the characterization of land use and/or soil type impacts to these processes. Baseflow
routing to the river and soil moisture changes are simulated in the lower soil layer.
Correspondingly, the Soil Moisture Method requires more extensive soil and climate
parameterization to simulate these processes.
Note that the deeper percolation within the catchment can also be transmitted directly to a
groundwater node by creating a Runoff/Infiltration Link from the catchment to the
groundwater node. The method essentially becomes a 1-layer soil moisture scheme if this
is link is made. See Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions for more information.
5. MABIA Method (FAO 56, Dual Kc, Daily)
The MABIA Method is a daily simulation of transpiration, evaporation, irrigation
requirements and scheduling, crop growth and yields, and includes modules for estimating
reference evapotranspiration and soil water capacity. It was derived from the MABIA suite
of software tools, developed at the Institute of National Agronomies Tunisia by Dr. Ali
Sahli and Mohamed Jabloun. The algorithms and descriptions contained here are for the
combined MABIA-WEAP calculation procedure.
The MABIA Method uses the ‘dual’ Kc method, as described in FAO Irrigation and
Drainage Paper No. 56 (Spanish version of FAO 56), whereby the Kc value is divided into
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a ‘basal’ crop coefficient, Kcb, and a separate component, Ke, representing evaporation
from the soil surface. The basal crop coefficient represents actual ET conditions when the
soil surface is dry but sufficient root zone moisture is present to support full transpiration.
In this way, MABIA is an improvement over CROPWAT, which use a single Kc method,
and hence, does not separate evaporation and transpiration.
6. Plant Growth Method (PGM)
The Plant Growth Method simulates plant growth, water use, and yield using a daily time
step. It was developed to provide a method for studying the impacts of altered atmospheric
CO2 concentration, temperature stress, season length variability, and water stress on plant
water use and crop yields. It requires specification of parameters that control the rate of
plant development and water use. The growth routines in the model are based on the
approach taken in the SWAT and EPIC models allowing use of their databases for
parameterization of the model. Soil moisture hydraulics are simulated using a 13-layer
model that represents the top 3.5 meters of the soil profile. Outputs from the model include
surface runoff, deep percolation, plant ET, water and temperature stress, biomass
production and yield.
Step 5 – Click Irrigation Demand Site (e.g., ID_1)> Land Use
1. Area
The land area for a catchment or subcatchment, or the share of land area from the branch
above
Set units to Acres or Hectares and Enter the data.
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2. Kc
The crop coefficient, relative to the reference crop, is given here for each land class type.
There is a special case involving Kc and double cropping. In cases where there are two
different crops planted on the same land at different times of the year (double cropping),
you can choose to model this with two separate branches on the demand tree, one for each
crop. In this case, set the Kc = 0 for branch 2 when branch 1 is active and Kc = 0 for branch
1 when branch 2 is active. For example, if winter wheat was planted November through
March and corn was planted May through September, the Kc's may look something like
this:
Wheat: Kc = MonthlyValues( Jan, 1.15, Feb, 1.15, Mar, 0.4, Apr, 0.05, May, 0, Jun, 0,
Jul, 0, Aug, 0, Sep, 0, Oct, 0, Nov, 0.4, Dec, 0.7 )
Corn: Kc = MonthlyValues( Jan, 0, Feb, 0, Mar, 0, Apr, 0, May, 1, Jun, 1.15, Jul,
1.15, Aug, 1.05, Sep, 1.05, Oct, 0.05, Nov, 0, Dec, 0 )
Double cropping could also be modeled with one branch, where the various crop and land
use parameters would change over the year to reflect the two different crops. The important
point to remember is that Kc should not be set to 0 unless you are double cropping. When
Kc = 0, WEAP will ignore that land entirely, including no precipitation, evaporation or
runoff. For fallow land, set Kc to a small but non-zero value, such as 0.05.
Enter kc values using the Kc_values.csv
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3. Effective Precipitation
The percentage of rainfall available for evapotranspiration. The remainder is available for
runoff.
Enter the Effective Precipitation data using RF+Pe.csv
Note: Refer Annexure 2 for creating RF+Pe.csv
Step 6 – Click Irrigation Demand Site (e.g., ID_1)> Climate
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1. Precipitation
Enter the Precipitation data using the created RF+Pe.csv file.3
2. ETref
The monthly reference evapotranspiration can either be read in from a file or entered in
manually.
Step 7 – Click Irrigation Demand Site (e.g., LP_1)> Water Use
1. Annual Activity Level
The annual demand represents the amount of water required by each demand.
Set units to Acres or Hectares and Enter the data
2. Annual Water Use Rate
The Water Use Rate is the average annual water consumption per unit of activity. WEAP
displays the denominator (person, in the example below) to emphasize that this is a rate per
unit, not the total amount of water used by all showers.
Set units to Acre inch / Acre and Enter the data as 7
3. Monthly Variation
In some demand sites, such as industrial sites, water use may remain constant throughout
the year, while other demands may vary considerably from month to month. If the demand
is constant throughout the year, leave this line blank. Otherwise, enter the percentage of
annual water used in each month. The percentages will also be used to convert the annual
pollution generated into monthly amounts. The variation should reflect the weighted effects
of all users within the demand site. In estimating monthly variations for a demand site,
historical patterns can be reviewed. If such records are unavailable, the user can reference
demand sites with similar properties. The twelve-monthly coefficients must sum to one
hundred percent. If demand does not vary, all months are assumed to use the same amount,
according to the number of days in the month. For example, the default annual share for
January is 31/365=8.49%, whereas February is 28/365=7.67%. Depending on the setting
in Basic Parameters, either the monthly variation is the same for all branches underneath a
demand site or each branch within a demand site can have a different monthly variation.
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Assuming water is supplied for Land Preparation in Yala Season in month of April enter
100% for month of April and 0 for others. (Can be changed according to the practice used
in the area)
4. Consumption
Enter the consumptive losses for the demand site water that is lost to evaporation or
treatment, embodied in products, or otherwise unaccounted for. These amounts are lost
from the system. Consumption is entered as a fraction of the demand site inflow (supply).
Use default value 100
3. OBTAINING RESULTS
General >solver and select LpSolve
Click on results tab and the model will run and calculate the results.
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ANNEXURE 1
Calculating Head Flow for river elements in WEAP.
• In HEC_HMS runoff model, find the sub basin in which the cascade of tanks is located.
• Copy the data in the ‘Time Series Table’ in Results tab.
• Find the proportion of the net catchment area of each tank with respect to the total sub
basin area.
Area of the Sub Basin (sq. km) = A
Tank Gross catchment Net catchment Net catchment
Name Area sqkM Area sqkM Area proportion
1 x1 y1 y1 / A
2 x2 y2 y2 / A
3 x3 y3 y3 / A
4 x4 y4 y4 / A
• Then, calculate the head flow for each tank using ‘the Total Flow of the sub basin’ (from
HEC-HMS runoff model) and ‘the Net Catchment Area proportion of each tank’.
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Tank Name 1 2 3 4
Total Flow
Date
(M3/S) Net Catchment
y1 / A y2 / A y3 / A y4 / A
Area %
1-Jan-80 f1 f1 * (y1 / A) f1 * (y2 / A) f1 * (y3 / A) f1 * (y4 / A)
2-Jan-80 f2 f2 * (y1 / A) f2 * (y2 / A) f2 * (y3 / A) f2 * (y4 / A)
3-Jan-80 f3 f3 * (y1 / A) f3 * (y2 / A) f3 * (y3 / A) f3 * (y4 / A)
4-Jan-80 f4 f4 * (y1 / A) f4 * (y2 / A) f4 * (y3 / A) f4 * (y4 / A)
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ANNEXURE 2
Calculating Effective Precipitation for reservoir elements in WEAP.
• In HEC_HMS runoff model, find the sub basin in which the cascade of tanks is located.
• Copy the data in the ‘Time Series Table’ in Results tab.
• In the time series, extract the ‘year’ using the excel formula ‘= YEAR ( )’ and extract the
‘month’ using the excel formula ‘= MONTH ( )’ .
• Calculate the monthly totals of precipitation and effective precipitation using the excel
formula ‘ = SUMSIF ( ) ’
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• Calculate the Monthly Total Effective Precipitation as a percentage with respect to the
Monthly Total Precipitation.
Year Month Monthly sum PCP Monthly sum Pe Pe %
1980 1 p1 pe 1 ( p1 / pe 1 ) %
1980 2 p2 pe 2 ( p2 / pe 2 ) %
1980 3 p3 pe 3 ( p3 / pe 3 ) %
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