Managing the water resources problems of irrigated agriculture through geospatial techniques: An overview

•An overview of the water resources problems of irrigated agriculture is presented.•The background of water resources problems of irrigated areas is provided.•The integrated use of remote sensing and GIS in water management is discussed.•The case studies of applications of remote sensing and GIS approach are presented.

The intensification of irrigated agriculture is a prerequisite for fulfilling the rising food requirements of the burgeoning global population. But the expansion of irrigated agriculture causes the water resources problems in irrigated areas. The twin menace, i.e., waterlogging and soil salinization of irrigated agriculture can be managed by either adopting preventive measures which decrease the inflow or by employing remedial measures which increase the outflow of water and salt. Remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) are very useful tool and offer a good option to traditional techniques in monitoring and evaluation of waterlogged and saline areas. This paper presents an overview of the applications of remote sensing and GIS techniques for the management of water resources problems of irrigated agriculture. The indication and background of the water resources problems are provided. The integrated use of remote sensing and GIS techniques in the management of water resources problems are also discussed. Finally, the case studies of applications of integrated remote sensing and GIS approach and some conclusions are presented.