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Remote Sensing
Volume 17
Issue 24
10.3390/rs17244019
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers

by
Esther López-Pérez
1,*,
Juan Manzano-Juarez
2,
Miguel Angel Jiménez-Bello
1,
Alberto García-Prats
1,
Carles Sanchis-Ibor
2,
Adrià Rubio-Martín
1,
Fatima Zahrae Boubekri
3,
Abdellah Kajji
4,
Paolo Tufoni
5,
Luís Miguel Nunes
5 and
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez
1
1
Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
2
Valencian Centre of Irrigation Studies (CVER), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 València, Spain
3
AgroParisTech, Paris, 22 Place de l’Agronomique, 91120 Palaiseau, France
4
Regional Agricultural Research Center, 50000 Meknes, Morocco
5
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univeridade do Algarve, CERIS, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(24), 4019; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17244019
Submission received: 20 October 2025 / Revised: 5 December 2025 / Accepted: 10 December 2025 / Published: 12 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing Applications in Hydrology and Water Resources Management)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Irrigated agriculture in Mediterranean semi-arid regions is increasingly constrained by aquifer depletion and climate change. Enhancing water use efficiency in the irrigation of perennial crops is essential for long-term agricultural sustainability. This study introduces a Spatial Irrigation Adequacy Index (SIAI), a normalized index expressing the deviation between actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and Crop Water Requirements (CWR). The framework was applied to assess irrigation performance in grapevine (Vitis vinifera), apple orchards (Malus domestica) and citrus tress (Citrus sinensis) across three groundwater-dependent systems: Requena-Utiel (Spain), Ain Timguenai (Morocco), and Campina de Faro (Portugal). ETa was estimated using Landsat 8 and 9 imageries processed with the SSEBop model, while crop water demand was calculated with the FAO-56 dual crop coefficient method incorporating site-specific agroclimatic data. Results revealed distinct crop-specific irrigation patterns: grapevines achieved near-optimal water use, apple orchards were generally over-irrigated, and citrus groves experienced persistent deficits. The framework enables scalable, transferable assessments of irrigation performance, supporting sustainable water management and adaptive irrigation under climate variability, with potential applications in digital farm management systems, water authority decision-making, and corporate ESG reporting frameworks.
Keywords: groundwater management; spatial irrigation adequacy index; evapotranspiration; crop water requirements; remote sensing groundwater management; spatial irrigation adequacy index; evapotranspiration; crop water requirements; remote sensing

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MDPI and ACS Style

López-Pérez, E.; Manzano-Juarez, J.; Jiménez-Bello, M.A.; García-Prats, A.; Sanchis-Ibor, C.; Rubio-Martín, A.; Boubekri, F.Z.; Kajji, A.; Tufoni, P.; Nunes, L.M.; et al. A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers. Remote Sens. 2025, 17, 4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17244019

AMA Style

López-Pérez E, Manzano-Juarez J, Jiménez-Bello MA, García-Prats A, Sanchis-Ibor C, Rubio-Martín A, Boubekri FZ, Kajji A, Tufoni P, Nunes LM, et al. A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers. Remote Sensing. 2025; 17(24):4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17244019

Chicago/Turabian Style

López-Pérez, Esther, Juan Manzano-Juarez, Miguel Angel Jiménez-Bello, Alberto García-Prats, Carles Sanchis-Ibor, Adrià Rubio-Martín, Fatima Zahrae Boubekri, Abdellah Kajji, Paolo Tufoni, Luís Miguel Nunes, and et al. 2025. "A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers" Remote Sensing 17, no. 24: 4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17244019

APA Style

López-Pérez, E., Manzano-Juarez, J., Jiménez-Bello, M. A., García-Prats, A., Sanchis-Ibor, C., Rubio-Martín, A., Boubekri, F. Z., Kajji, A., Tufoni, P., Nunes, L. M., & Pulido-Velazquez, M. (2025). A Spatial Framework for Assessing Irrigation Water Use in Overexploited Mediterranean Aquifers. Remote Sensing, 17(24), 4019. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17244019

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