Modeling crop water consumption and water productivity in the middle reaches of Heihe River Basin

7 Heihe River Basin is located in the arid inland area of northwest China and is facing 8 serious water shortage problems. Since irrigation is the largest water consumer in the 9 middle reaches of the Basin, it is crucial to study the crop yields and water 10 consumption in order to improve the agricultural water productivity and to support 11 sustainable economic development in this region. Based on field experiments in 2012 12 on typical crops, AquaCrop model was calibrated for seed maize, field maize and 13 spring wheat; the models were validated using monitored data in 2013. Then 14 considering the spatial distribution of soil types, groundwater depth, agricultural 15 management and cropping patterns, ArcGIS was applied for the pre/post processing of 16  Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed Tel.: +86 (10) 6273-8498; fax: +86 (10) 6273-6533; Email: [email protected]