Enhancing rice production sustainability and resilience via reactivating small water bodies for irrigation and drainage

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 3794
• Main Authors: Li, Sisi, Zhuang, Yanhua, Liu, Hongbin, Wang, Zhen, Zhang, Fulin, Lv, Mingquan, Zhai, Limei, Fan, Xianpeng, Niu, Shiwei, Chen, Jingrui, Xu, Changxu, Wang, Na, Ruan, Shuhe, Shen, Wangzheng, Mi, Menghan, Wu, Shengjun, Du, Yun, Zhang, Liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 26-06-2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 704/106/694/2739/2807; 704/158/4016; 704/242; Climate change; Crop production; Drainage; Drainage systems; Drainage water; Drought; Extreme weather; Farming; Farming systems; Footprint analysis; Freshwater resources; Humanities and Social Sciences; Irrigation; Irrigation drainage; Irrigation systems; Irrigation water; multidisciplinary; Resilience; Rice; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Traditional farming; Wastewater; Water consumption; Water scarcity; China
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39454-w

Rice farming threatens freshwater resources, while also being increasingly vulnerable to drought due to climate change. Rice farming needs to become more sustainable and resilient to climate change by improving irrigation drainage systems. Small water bodies, used to store drainage water and supply irrigation in traditional rice farming systems have gradually been abandoned in recent decades. This has resulted in a higher water footprint (WF) associated with rice farming due to increased freshwater usage and wastewater release, also leaving rice production more vulnerable to extreme weather events. Here, we propose how protecting and reactivating small water bodies for rice irrigation and drainage can decrease rice production WF in China by 30%, save 9% of China’s freshwater consumption, increase irrigation self-sufficiency from 3% to 31%, and alleviate yield loss in dry years by 2–3%. These findings show that redesigning rice irrigation drainage systems can help meet water scarcity challenges posed by climate change.
Ponds played an important role in ancient rice-growing regions such as China and India. Here, the authors find that reviving small water bodies to recycle drainage water for irrigation can reduce China’s rice production water footprint by 9% and alleviate 2-3% yield loss in dry years.