Smart Green Water proposes a transnational strategy to accelerate the digitalisation of irrigation in Spain, Portugal and south-west France. It emerges in response to growing droughts that reduce water availability and put it in competition with new urban and industrial uses.
The territorial diagnosis reveals heterogeneity: in France, Occitania and Nouvelle-Aquitaine concentrate irrigation but depend on collective networks; Spain invests in modernisation with tools such as NABIA; Portugal focuses on the Alentejo, where permanent crops occupy 65% of the irrigable surface but fragment data across digital platforms.
Digitalisation is defined as using sensors and technologies to collect, process and analyse temporal/spatial data that improve the management of the water–energy nexus, manage soil–plant–atmosphere variability and optimise efficiency, productivity and sustainability.
Four levels are scaled up: irrigation scheduling, installation monitoring, precision irrigation and intelligent systems with predictive models and digital twins. This includes the SAIH of River Basin Authorities, the management of Irrigation Communities, network remote control (GIS/EPANET/SCADA), soil–plant–atmosphere sensors, water quality monitoring and predictive platforms.
The PESTEL and SWOT analysis identifies barriers — lack of training, weak rural connectivity, limited interoperability, uncertain ROI — but also drivers: institutional support, European funds, profitability of high-value crops and climate pressure.
Success cases such as Baix Ter (Catalonia), A3P (Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and the Water Efficiency Intervention (IEA Portugal) show that digitalisation is already delivering real results. The strategy proposes a RIS3 roadmap: promotion, pilot projects and data-driven management to modernise traditional irrigation towards pressurised and sustainable systems.
Download the strategy here (in Spanish): Estrategia SGW ES
