The project Kura II - Advancing Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) has implemented pilot projects showcasing water saving potentials such as:

The drip irrigation pilots were implemented starting in 2019, one in Azerbaijan and three in Georgia. While the Georgian sites had already irrigation infrastructure, the Jafarkhan site in Azerbaijan was previously not used for agriculture activities. The Georgian sites were already irrigated to cultivate onions and potatoes. This means that a comparison with/without drip irrigation was not possible at all locations. Therefore, water savings are elaborated by data from the pilot sites and additionally amended with secondary data, published experiences from FAO and modelling results (Lohr, 2021). The locations of the drip irrigation projects including their water balance are shown in Figure 1. The pilot projects on network leak detention and E-learning modules are independent from locations and not shown in the map.

Figure 1: Pilot site for drip irrigation

Drip irrigation or trickle irrigation provides water at very low rates through small diameter plastic pipes to the fields where it drips slowly onto the soil. The plastic pipe or emitter or dripper is designed to deliver flow rates between 2 to 20 litre per hour. The advantage of drip irrigation is that only the rooted part of the soil is wetted. Water savings occur due to reduced evaporation losses, no surface runoff and reduced percolation losses.