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Innovations in Irrigation: Modernizing Water Management for Efficiency and Sustainability

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water, Agriculture and Aquaculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 4184

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Editors

Prof. Dr. Attila Nagy

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Water and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: agricultural water managent; precision irrigation; irrigation scheduling; abiotic stress monitoring; drought monitoring; remote sensing in agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Nikolett Éva Kiss

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Guest Editor Assistant

Department of Water Science and Environmental Informatics, Institute of Water and Environmental Management, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: circular agriculture; environmental impact; plant–soil–water relations; soil moisture management; alternative water sources; nutrient retention

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue explores innovative approaches to modernizing irrigation systems and water management practices, aiming to enhance efficiency, sustainability, and resilience in the face of climate change, water scarcity, and growing food and energy demands. As global pressures mount, integrated solutions that reflect the water–food–energy nexus are essential to ensure long-term resource security.

We welcome original research, case studies, and conceptual papers on advanced irrigation technologies, such as precision irrigation, IoT-based water monitoring, AI-powered scheduling, and data-driven decision support systems. In addition, we encourage contributions on sustainable water sources, including rainwater harvesting, treated wastewater reuse, and managed aquifer recharge, particularly when applied to energy- and water-efficient indoor farming systems.

This Issue seeks interdisciplinary insights that bridge technology, ecology, and socio-economic considerations—especially those aligned with circular economy principles and inclusive water governance. By fostering knowledge exchange across agricultural and urban contexts, this Special Issue aims to promote scalable solutions for optimizing water use while supporting food security, energy efficiency, and ecosystem health.

Prof. Dr. Attila Nagy
Guest Editor

Dr. Nikolett Éva Kiss
Guest Editor Assistant

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Keywords

precision irrigation
smart irrigation systems
water–food–energy nexus
IoT-based water monitoring
AI and decision support tools
indoor farming
water and energy efficiency
water reuse and circularity
sustainable water governance
climate-resilient irrigation systems

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3773 KB

Open AccessArticle

Experiment and Modelling Characterisation of Clay Effect on Soil Water Retention Capacity

by Yu Wang, Amjad H. Albayati, Xingtao Fu, Mhd Naaman Al Brawy, Vincent Uzomah and Miklas Scholz

Water 2026, 18(15), 1898; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18151898 - 4 Aug 2026

Viewed by 325

Abstract

This paper reports a research work on assessing clay content effect on the water retention capacity of clayey sandy soils. At first, experimental tests were conducted to measure the soil water retention curves (SWRCs) of clayey sandy soils. A total of four different soil samples, which have clay content of 0, 15, 30 and 50%, respectively, by total soil sample weight, were measured. Secondly, a revision of a physical–chemical (PC) analytical model previously proposed has been reviewed and adopted to represent the SWRC measurements and compared for its predictive performance against the classic van Genuchten model and the original PC model. The experimental results demonstrated that clay content has a significant influence on soil water retention capacity, showing that a positive correlation generally exists between them. The modelling results showed that the revised analytical model not only produced a good representation for the soil water retention curves over whole range of soil water content, particularly at low water content side, but also provided advanced insight into the fundamental physics underlying soil water retention mechanisms. The analysis of its parametric data highlights the functions of the involved physics and their roles shaping the SWRCs, which intrinsically relate to specific surface area, pore size distribution, and particle size and shape. At last, the model was used to describe the pore size distribution from a revised concept against conventional approach. However, the revised concept and approach needs further wide verification and is open for discussion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Irrigation: Modernizing Water Management for Efficiency and Sustainability)

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26 pages, 4258 KB

Open AccessArticle

Treated Wastewater Use for Fertigation: A Distance-Based and Sodium-Constrained Deterministic Allocation Model in the Semi-Arid Region of Minas Gerais, Brazil

by Adriana Aparecida dos Santos, Augusto Cesar Laviola de Oliveira, Natalia dos Santos Renato, Raphael Bragança Alves Fernandes, Fernando França da Cunha, André Pereira Rosa and Alisson Carraro Borges

Water 2026, 18(7), 853; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18070853 - 2 Apr 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 588

Abstract

The use of treated wastewater constitutes a strategic alternative for agriculture in water-scarce regions. This study developed and applied a distance-based and sodium-constrained deterministic allocation model integrating geoprocessing tools with environmental and logistical constraints to optimize the spatial distribution of treated effluent from 48 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the semi-arid region of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The deterministic allocation algorithm prioritizes geographic proximity and favorable topographic differences as a proxy for reducing potential pumping requirements. Two scenarios were evaluated: (1) full effluent availability and (2) sodium-regulated allocation limited to 300 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ of Na, in accordance with Normative Deliberation CERH-MG 65/2020. Under Scenario 1, cotton demand exceeded (184%), while coffee and sugarcane reached 69% and 24% of annual demand, respectively. Under the sodium-constrained Scenario 2, demand fulfillment changed to 37% for coffee and 42% for sugarcane, while cotton remained above full demand (108%). The proposed model differs from previous deterministic spatial allocation applications by integrating regulatory sodium constraints and dual-scenario regional assessment, providing a spatially explicit and regulation-compliant decision-support tool for sustainable wastewater reuse in semi-arid agricultural systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Irrigation: Modernizing Water Management for Efficiency and Sustainability)

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34 pages, 7152 KB

Open AccessArticle

AI-Driven Integration of Sentinel-1 SAR for High-Resolution Soil Water Content Estimation to Enhance Precision Irrigation in Smallholder Maize Systems, Vhembe District

by Gift Siphiwe Nxumalo, Tondani Sanah Ramabulana, Zibuyile Dlamini, Tamás János, Nikolett Éva Kiss and Attila Nagy

Water 2026, 18(4), 499; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18040499 - 16 Feb 2026

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1092

Abstract

Climate variability threatens smallholder maize production in semi-arid Southern Africa, necessitating accurate irrigation management. We developed an Earth Observation–machine learning framework integrating Sentinel-1 SAR, TU Wien retrievals, and meteorological data to generate daily 10 m resolution root-zone soil moisture estimates (0–100 cm) for South Africa’s Vhembe District (2017–2022). Five algorithms—Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Support Vector Machine (SVM), k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS)—were calibrated using ~50,000 observations from two monitoring stations across six depths and five growing seasons. RF and XGBoost achieved highest accuracy (R² = 0.96–0.97, RMSE < 0.025 cm³/cm³), detecting critical irrigation thresholds (management allowable depletion = 0.23 cm³/cm³, field capacity = 0.35 cm³/cm³) with operational precision (nRMSE < 0.05). Depth-stratified validation revealed strong SAR surface correlations (r = 0.84–0.85 at 10 cm) declining systematically with depth (r < 0.2 below 40 cm), confirming ML models integrate satellite observations at shallow layers with meteorological gap-filling at depth. District mapping showed 79–94% of maize areas required irrigation during dry years (2017–2019, 2021–2022) versus 32% in wet 2020–2021. The framework provides a transferable pathway for precision irrigation in smallholder systems, pending vegetation-corrected retrievals and expanded validation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Irrigation: Modernizing Water Management for Efficiency and Sustainability)

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Review

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26 pages, 5333 KB

Open AccessReview

Advances in Subsurface Drip Irrigation System Design, Water–Fertilizer Synergy, and Sustainable Wheat Production in Xinjiang

by Wenqiang Tian, Shan Yu, Fei Guo, Zhilin Zhang, Yue Liu, Yuntao Wang, Jinshan Zhang and Shubing Shi

Water 2026, 18(7), 852; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18070852 - 2 Apr 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1471

Abstract

Xinjiang, a key grain production region in arid Northwest China, faces severe water scarcity and low agricultural water use efficiency. Although subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) has been widely studied for horticultural crops, a comprehensive synthesis focusing on SDI system design, water–fertilizer management, and soil–crop responses in wheat production under arid conditions remains limited. This knowledge gap restricts the development of optimized irrigation strategies for wheat cultivation in Xinjiang, where extreme aridity, widespread oasis agriculture, soil salinization risk, and the dominance of densely planted wheat create management requirements that differ from those of humid regions and horticultural production systems. Therefore, this review summarizes the development of SDI technology, its system design parameters, and integrated water–fertilizer management strategies, while systematically integrating recent advances in soil–crop–microbial interactions and resource use efficiency under arid conditions, which have rarely been synthesized in previous SDI reviews. Synthesizing current knowledge on the impacts of SDI on soil water dynamics, soil properties, microbial communities, crop root architecture, biomass production, and resource use efficiency, this review further discusses general advances in SDI in the context of their relevance to Xinjiang, with particular emphasis on how regional soil–climate conditions and wheat production practices influence system design, fertigation management, and field applicability. Multiple studies indicate that SDI can simultaneously reduce evaporation and deep percolation, mitigate surface salt accumulation, promote deeper root development, and improve crop productivity and resource use efficiency. However, high initial investment and maintenance costs, along with risks of emitter clogging, still hinder its large-scale adoption. For Xinjiang’s wheat and other densely planted crops, future research should prioritize optimizing subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) systems, as studies have shown that SDI can increase water use efficiency (WUE) by 20–30% and enhance crop yield by 10–15%, particularly under water-scarce conditions. The study’s findings are as follows: (1) optimize SDI system parameters for local soil–climate conditions, (2) elucidate the synergistic mechanisms between water–fertilizer coupling and soil–crop systems, and (3) develop cost-effective and durable system components. Importantly, these findings are particularly relevant for Xinjiang, where extreme aridity, soil salinization, and limited water resources require region-specific optimization of SDI systems. These efforts will support efficient and sustainable wheat production in Xinjiang and other arid regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Irrigation: Modernizing Water Management for Efficiency and Sustainability)

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