Rice Irrigation Deficits under Monsoon-Dominated Hydrology: A Water Balance Study of the Bila Catchment, Indonesia

Reza Asra, Ahmad Munir, Hazairin Zubair, Mahmud Achmad

Abstract

Food security in monsoon-dominated regions is threatened by mismatches between water availability and rice irrigation demand. Most water balance studies focus on annual availability, often masking critical intra-seasonal deficits. This study aims to analyze the intra-seasonal alignment and misalignment between water supply and rice irrigation demand in the Bila Watershed, Indonesia, a key rice-producing catchment. The novelty lies in the integration of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) CROPWAT model to provide a quantitative reliability assessment using the Irrigation Reliability Index (IRI) and Irrigation Deficit Severity Index (IDSI), which are metrics that are rarely applied in this region. The calibrated and validated SWAT model showed very good performance (NSE 0.77 calibration, 0.76 validation). The model revealed that the basin’s hydrology is dominated by subsurface flow (81.7% of total water yield), providing a stable but slow release. Conversely, rice irrigation demand is concentrated during land preparation and vegetative growth (>80% of total demand). Despite a large annual water surplus, we identified a significant temporal mismatch (IRI 0.75; IDSI 106.12 mm) concentrated in April, October, and November. This finding highlights that the primary water management challenge is not overall water scarcity, but rather a critical temporal mismatch between slow-releasing hydrological supply and concentrated agronomic peak demand.

 

Keywords: food security; hydrological modeling; rice fields; sustainable irrigation; water balance.

 

DOI：https://doi.org/10.62321/issn.1000-1298.2025.10.2

 


 

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