A study from the University of Washington suggests that current monitoring tools can be utilized to manage canal systems to better track water resources, prepare for droughts and improve food security. For many agricultural areas where accurate monitoring of the ebb and flow of water through these systems has been difficult, this could be a fundamentally new way to manage irrigation.
Researchers analyzed data from a NASA satellite originally built to track water levels of large bodies of water like oceans, lakes and rivers, to demonstrate that canals could also be measured with fairly high accuracy. Using this satellite’s radar data to track elevation changes in tandem with a global dataset of mapped canal networks, the research team focused on canals in 22 countries across Asia as a proof of concept. The next step for the research team is to build practical tools that further leverage this data to improve water delivery and help with canal management across the globe.