Environmental Impact
One of the criteria for developing the technologies is its high environment sustainability, therefore all IDEI promoted technologies are environment friendly; be it the water lifting or water application technologies or sprinklers.
Carbon Offsets:
The use of manually operated treadle pumps results in reducing dependence on expensive fossil fuels and leads to significant reduction of carbon emissions. A recent TERI study calculated that each treadle pump offsets almost half a ton of CO2 emissions from diesel pumps. With the promotion of over 800, 000 treadle pumps (cumulatively) over 602 Million litres of diesel has been saved and over 2 Million tonnes CO2 Equivalent offset or also equivalent diesel saved that Mumbai uses (about 38 million litres per month) over almost 16 months and equivalent of one return flight daily (Boeing 737-800 with full capacity) (Delhi-London-Delhi) for 15 years. These when monetized come to USD 482 Million and USD 15.6 Million.
Water Use Productivity:
In the semi arid regions in India where water resources are scarce, the need to conserve it is very great. Low-cost drip technology enables smallholder farmers to optimize the use of their limited water resources through prudent use, promising ‘more crop per drop’ and also allows for increase in area under irrigation without adding more stress on this precious natural resource. Low-cost drip also raises the productivity of harvested rainwater in these areas, thereby making the watershed projects more economical and successful. Low-cost drip systems, thus lead to substantial water savings and the quality of output is better as there is improved control over timing of irrigation. Water saving of low-cost drip systems is approximately 30-50%, crop yield increase of 30-70%, with shortened crop cycles. Low-cost sprinklers promise additional water savings of 37-78% in comparison to flood irrigation as they deliver water efficiently to the roots of plants and there is no wastage of excess water as in flood irrigation.
Over the years with use of drip irrigation systems over 5 Billion Cu Meters of water has been saved or equivalent of 1 week of Colombo’s household water requirements. When monetised it translates to USD 2.3 Million respectively!
Electricity Savings:
Decrease in input cost and energy use per unit area irrigated is the core issue of the water-energy nexus. It is estimated that 85% (India: Biomass Energy for Rural india;Global Environment Facility, UNDP, Dec1999) of the energy requirement of a village is directed towards irrigation, with the balance 15% of cooking and lighting purposes. Low-cost drip irrigation will go a long way in reducing energy requirements in villages and also fulfill irrigation needs as it more efficient as compared to conventional flood irrigation. Water-soluble fertilizers can be applied through the drip system resulting in targeted fertilizer application, lower fertilizer and energy costs in delivering them to the plants and thus reduced harmful impact on the environment. Treadle pumps are manually operated and do not need any electrical or fossil fuel energy for operations, thus, lowering energy cost per unit area irrigated.
Over the years with use of drip irrigation systems over 700 Million kWh of electricity has been saved or equivalent to 2.5 times the annual energy draw for the state of Sikkim (in India). When monetised it translates to USD 10.5 Million respectively!