Water and soil represent two factors by which life is directly connected to, evolution in time and the whole world's progress, as well. In arid regions with droughty or very droughty climate, the existence of life both for people and other living organisms is almost impossible. This situation also involves the fact that where this precious element - water, resulting from rainfalls, was absent, people by great efforts tried to replace it, where it was possible by artificial means, for example by irrigations.
Irrigation represents a technological link in the work chain of agricultural crops maintenance for obtaining yields closer to their production potential. The irrigation importance also consists in the fact that the absence of water from soil cancels the effect of all other measures that influence the agricultural productions.
Natural resources, especially climate, water and soil, play an essential part in the development of Romanian agriculture. The climatic modifications produced during the latest periods of time emphasized the tendency for intensification of the excessive meteorological phenomena, represented by numerous droughty years and also some excessive rainy years, with negative implications upon agricultural crops production. Droughts especially affect the South and East of Romania, representing about 35% of the country surface. In order to combat such phenomenon and ensure constant agricultural productions, irrigation arrangements were built on about 3.1 million ha, drainage works on 3.2 million ha, soil erosion control on 2.3 million ha and protection against floods on 0.6 million ha.
The researches regarding to the functionality of these systems, starting in most of the cases at the same time with their putting into operation, were developed by some research institutes working under the coordination of the Romanian Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, having as targets the following main objectives: (i) the study of water balance elements in irrigated soils, the watering forecast and the impact of climatic modifications and irrigation on crops; (ii) the monitoring of level and chemical evolution of phreatic water in correlation with rainfalls and irrigation regimes; (iii) the control of irrigated soils evolution from the point of view of chemical and polluting elements; (iv) the development of investigation tools for the monitoring of agro-meteorological parameters evolution and the creation of databases for mathematical models calibration.
Soil controlled water supply by irrigation in accordance with the cultivated plants requirements represents an action that should be understood considering at least two essential aspects. One of them is the immediate effect over the crops and the second one refers to what is going on in time, considering the ameliorating evolution and the fertility of soils from the irrigation arrangements. Operating with water, a vegetation factor of a vital importance for plants and soil, irrigation represents a primordial factor that influences the environmental conditions and the biodiversity.
References
- Grumeza N., Kleps C., 1985 - Methods to increase the efficiency of water use in the irrigation systems, CERES Publishing House, Bucharest.
- Grumeza N., Merculiev O., Kleps C., 1989 - Watering forecasting and programming in the irrigation systems, CERES Publishing House, Bucharest.
- Grumeza N., Kleps C., Tusa C., 1990 - Changes in the level and chemical composition of the ground water from hydroameliorative arrangements in relation with the environment, AGRIS Publishing House, Bucharest.
- Grumeza N., Kleps C., 2005 - Romanian irrigation arrangements, CERES Publishing House, Bucharest.
