Irrigation demand and supply given projections of climate and land use change in Yolo County, California

The study uses the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system to model irrigation demand and supply in California's Cache Creek watershed. It finds that climate change will significantly increase irrigation demand, which cannot be fully met by reservoir releases due to legal limits, necessitating increased groundwater extraction. While changing cropping patterns alone are insufficient to offset climate-driven demand, combining diversified, water-efficient cropping with technology improvements can reduce demand to 12% below historical means and lower groundwater pumping.

• Under B1 and A2 baseline climate scenarios, irrigation demand is projected to increase by 26% and 32% respectively during the latter part of the century.
• While upstream reservoir releases are less vulnerable due to higher spring precipitation, legal restrictions on these releases mean that any increase in irrigation demand must be addressed through higher levels of groundwater extraction.
• Climate change increases demand far more than changes in cropping patterns can reduce it; however, the most effective adaptation strategy—combining irrigation technology improvements with diversified, water-efficient cropping—can lower demand to 12% below the historical average and reduce groundwater pumping.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). Irrigation demand and supply given projections of climate and land use change in Yolo County, California. https://www.sei.org/publications/irrigation-demand-and-supply-given-projections-of-climate-and-land-use-change-in-yolo-county-california/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Irrigation demand and supply given projections of climate and land use change in Yolo County, California. 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/irrigation-demand-and-supply-given-projections-of-climate-and-land-use-change-in-yolo-county-california/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Irrigation demand and supply given projections of climate and land use change in Yolo County, California |date=31 January 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/irrigation-demand-and-supply-given-projections-of-climate-and-land-use-change-in-yolo-county-california/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013irrigation, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Irrigation demand and supply given projections of climate and land use change in Yolo County, California}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/irrigation-demand-and-supply-given-projections-of-climate-and-land-use-change-in-yolo-county-california/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }