Possibilities for irrigation in Croatia by using groundwater reserves

Abstract

Groundwater is an important but under-utilized water resource in Croatia. If compared to other European countries Croatia is one of the richest regarding groundwater and total renewable reserves. In spite of that, water management systems have been built only on approximately 0.5 per cent of the total arable land. As Croatia has been affected by more frequent and longer droughts in the last decade, the scarcity of irrigated areas has become one of the vital issues in Croatian agriculture. On the other hand predominance of inefficientirrigationtechniques, lack or no maintenance of irrigation systems coupled with the absence of adequate government involvement can result in groundwater pollution.