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Water use in aquaculture

Article in World Aquaculture · January 2005

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 Water use in aquacul-tule- ----=-

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the by excavating a basin in which water is stored. So11removed
United Nations has provided an annual series of world during construction often is placed around edges to make
aquaculture production statistics since 1950. The FA0 is embankments to increase storage volume. Excavated ponds.
interested in including information on land and water use usually arecomparable hydrologically toembankment ponds.
in aquaculture in their statistics. An expert consultancy on However, where bottoms of excavated ponds intercept the
land and water use in aquaculture was convened at FA0 water table, inward seepage is a major water source.
headquarters in Rome, Italy, from 7-10 October 2002. It was Water simply passes through raceways. Net pens and cag-
apparent during the consultancy that variables related to es are installed in water bodies, and natural water currents
water use should be defined. The purpose of this paper i5 to pass through them. Water reuse often is practiced in highly
define water use variables for aquaculture, give examples of intensive aquaculture units, but water treatment and some
water use calculations and consider methods and benefits of degree of water replacement is necessary to maintain ade-
water conservation in aquaculture. quate water quality.
Water use in its broadest definition should include all of
the water needed to produce an aquaculture crop. However, Hydrologic - Equation
some of the water introduced into aquaculture production Components of inflow and outflow to aquaculture ponds
units subsequently is discharged and available to down- or farms can be measured on site and used to wa-
stream water users. In cage and net Pen culture, water ter budgets and assess water use (Boyd 1982). Such studies
passes through production units and only a small quantity are time consuming and require special equipment and ex-
is removed in biomass at harvest. Brackishwater or seawater pertise, Thus, it is more practical to use existing information
availability usually is not diminished by coastal aquaculture. on precipitation, evaporation, runoff, site soil characteristics,
Therefore, the greatest concern should be consumptive water farm, design, and production techniques to estimate water
use by freshwater aquaculture, for this reduces the volume of budgets for aquaculture facilities p o y d and G~~~~2000).
water available for other beneficial uses. The volume of wa- The water balance of an aquaculture production unit can
ter per unit product would be a be evaluated with the hydrologic equation (Leopold 1974):
helpful variable, for it would allow estimates of the economic
value of waterjn aquaculture. Inflows = Outfiows?! Change in storage (0s)
There are several inflows and outflows for production units
Hydrologic Features of Production Units as follows (Yoo and Boyd 1992):
Themain types of aquaculture productionunits areponds, Inflows Oufflows
raceways, net pens, cages and intensive water reuse systems. Precipitation (P) Evaporation (E)
Ponds may be of several hydrologic categories. Watershed Runoff (R) Seepage out (Io)
ponds are filled by direct rainfall and runoff, and they are
Seepage in (Ii) Hamest'biomass (B)
sometimes referred to as rainfed ponds. At some sites well
water occasionally is applied to watershed ponds to supple- Intentional additions Intentional discharge (water
ment water supply in dry weather. Watershed ponds dis- (wells, streams, reservoirs, exchange and draining) (D)
charge during periods of rainy weather, and the amount of etc.) (A) Overflow (OF)
overflow depends upon the area of the watershed relative to The fully developed hydrologic equation is:
the pond volume. Embankment ponds consist of dikes con-
structed around the area into which water was pumped from
a stream, well, or other source is impounded. Watersheds of The amount of water removed in biomass is small. Most
these ponds are small consisting of the insides and tops of aquaculture species are about 75 percent water (Boyd and
embankments. They discharge much less in response to rain- Tucker 1998). Thus, one ton of biomass contains about 0.75
fall than watershed ponds, and if managed to maintain stor- t or 0.75 m1 water. In a I-ha pond, 0.75 m' of water would
age volume, overflow usually can be avoided. A combination represent a depth of 0.075 mm. This is a small amount that
of embankment pond and watershed pond also is possible. can be ignored in most situations. Assessment of seepage
Such ponds usually are sited in gently rolling terrain and have usually is problematic, but suitable values for other terms in
embankments around three sides. They capture runoff, but the equation normally can be found without great difficulty
they also must be supplied with water from wells or other (Boyd 1982, Yoo and Boyd 1992).
sources during dry weather. Ponds also can be constructed
 Definitions of P r o p o s e d W a t e r U s e Variables Table 1. Assumptions used in calculating unit water
Total water use should refer to the amount of water ap- budgets for aquaculture ponds.
plied to an aquaculture system in rainfall, runoff and other
natural processes and by management intervention, such as Hydrologic data
water added by pumping or other mechanical means. This P = 145 cm/yr E=117cmlyr
variable could be calculated with the following equation: R = 50 c d y r lo = 108 cmlyr
B = negligible (om~tted)
Total water use = P + R + 1; + A.
Pond data
Consumptive water use should represent the reduction
Pond area = 1 ha.
in surface runoff caused by an aquaculture facility on a wa- Pond depth when filled to Intake of overflow structure =
tershed. Less runoff equates to less stream flow for down- 150 cm.
stream water users. In addition, all freshwater withdrawn For embankment ponds, watershed area is negligible.
from aquifers by wells should be included as a consumptive For watershed ponds. watershed:pond area ratlo = 10:l.
use, because this water would not be available to other us- Ponds are filled to depth of 140 cm and water is not added
ers of groundwater in the area. Although groundwater is re- when storage capacity less than 10 cm.
charged by infiltration, it sometimes is removed by wells at a Ponds do not ovetflow after rains.
rate exceeding recharge. This diminishes the amount of water Ponds are dra~nedat time when water levels are 10 cm
available from wells in the area. Groundwater depletion usu- below drains.
ally is more serious in arid than in humid climates, but even
in humid climates, availability of water from wells may be re- nel catfish culture is common. Data and assumptions nec-
duced during the dry season and especially during droughts. essary for making these calculations on an annual basis are
Consumptive water could be determined as follows: providedin Table 1. Thecalculations are for a one hectare wa-
Consumptive water use = Reduction in stream flow + Water ter surface unit and the quantities of water are computed in
withdrawn from wells. centimeters of depth over the unit. Multiplication by 100 will
convert values t o cubic meters.
The amount of groundwater pumped or derived by arte-
Water is intentionally added to ponds initially to fill them
sian flow from wells should be indicated as a separate vari-
and afterwards to maintain water levels. The amount of wa-
able for groundwater use is a major issue in many regions.
ter applied to fill ponds (A,) is estimated from pond area and
Spring flow should not be included, for springs discharge
average depth. The quantity of water necessary to maintain
onto the land surface naturally. One method of estimating
water levels (A,) is:
groundwater use is:
A, = (E + Io)- P.
Groundwater use (m3) = Well discharge (m31hr) x Hours of Thus, we have:
pump operation or artesian flow.
Total water use = P + R + I&+ A, + [(E + IQ)- PI
Non-consumptive water use should refer to water that = 145 + O + O + 140+[(117+ 108)-145]=
passes through aquaculture facilities and is still available to 365 cm.
other users downstream. l t could he calculated as follows:
- Pond discharge (Qp) may be calculated as follows:
Non-consumptive water use = Total water use -
Qp=OF+D.
'Consumptive water use.
If Qpis less than the amount of surface runoff (R) that would
A water use index relating the amount of water used in an
.have occurred from the original area now occupied by the
aquaculture facility to production could be useful. Although
pond water surface, stream flow reduction (SFR) occurs. In
this index could be calculated for both total and consumptive
the example, the pond did not overflow, but 140 cm of water
water use, the consumptive water use index would be most
were released at draining. Normal runoff would have been
meaningful. The index could be calculated as shown below:
50 cm, so the unit discharged 90 cm more water than would
Consumptive water use (mi) have occurred before the pond was constructed. This resulted
Water use index (ml/t) =
Production (t) because some of the well water (Aw)applied to fill and main-
tain the pond was released at draining. Thus,
An index of the economic value of water used in aquacul-
ture should be available. This variable could be determined Consumptive water use = SFR + A, + A,
with the following equation: = 0 + 140 + 78 = 218 cm.
Production (t) x Crop value (Sit) The increase in stream flow would be available to down-
Water value index ($lml) = C,n~u,~tive water use (mj) stream water users. Nevertheless, the consumptive use
should be taken as 218 cm (21,800 m3 for the one hectare
Calculating W a t e r Use pond unit) because this volume of groundwater was with-
drawn for aquaculture and is no longer available to other us-
-- The water use calculations below are illustrated by es- ers of groundwater in the area.
limating total and consumptive water use for ponds in the Similar calculations were made for drained and undrained
Blackland Prairie region of westcentral Alabama wherechan- embankment and watershed ponds (Table 2). Total water
 Table 2. Water use Der hectare unit of ~ 0 n surface
d area and resulting reduction in surface runoff in Alabama,
- -- -

~ -~ -~
- - ~~~~ ~~
Water use (cm) . - ~ - -~

Pond Water Total Consumptive Ground Q~ SFR'

type source water (4 (m3)
Embankment
Drained Well
Undrained Well
Drained Stream
Undrained Stream
Watershed
Drained Rainfed
Undrained Rainfed
'0,= pond discharge; SFR stream Raw reductian.
5

use can be reduced considerably by not draining embank- ly, but it was similar for other options. Consumptive water
ment ponds. Nevertheless, when embankment ponds are value index followed the same pattern as the consumptive
drained, there will be a greater reduction in downstream water use index (Table 3).
water availability than when they are not. Consumprive Ponds supplied by wells in an arid climate have slight-
water use in embankment ponds filled from wells can be ly less total water use but much greater consumptive and
greatly reduced by operation without draining, but when groundwater use than similar ponds in a humid area (Table
embankment ponds are filled from streams, there is no 4). As a result, the consumptive water value index is con-
difference in consumptive water use between drained and siderably less in the arid climate.
undrained options. Likewise, no water is conserved by not Consumptive water use in aquaculture tends to be
draining watershed ponds. This results because undrained greater than for typical agricultural crops (Table 5). How-
ponds remain nearly full all year and runoff cannot be ever, fish and shrimp have greater economic value per unit
stored. Siiapajarn et a/. (2004) showed that annual stream weight than these crops. Thus, the consumptive water value
Row from a 44,290 h a watershed in Alabama containing index is much greater for aquaculture crops than for tradi-
3,001 ha of channel catfish ponds was no less than before tional crops.
ponds were constructed. However, runoff is detained in It would not be practical to estimate annual water use
ponds and does not flow through them as quickly as it for each individual aquaculture operation in a region or
would flow over an equal expanse of land. Detention of nation. Nevertheless, it is possible to estimate unit, annual
water in ponds dampens hydrographs in receiving streams water use by species and production systems. These unit,
and can reduce flooding (Schoof and Gander 1982). Of annual estimates.could be expanded for total production
course, if too many ponds are constructed on a flood area or total annual production to provide estimates of an-
plain, they can block flow and increase flooding. nual water use efficiency by aquaculture.
Total water use in raceways is huge compared to that The expansion of unit water use estimates over an area
of ponds. For example, the typical water requirement will be illustrated with data for channel catfish production
for trout culture is 80,000 m'lt or more (Yoo and Boyd in Alabama for 1997 (Boyd e t a / . 2000). The total produc-
1992). Water passes through trout raceways and the only tion area was about 10,000 ha, of which 8,940 ha were
difference in inflow and outflow is biomass harvest and devoted to growout of food fish and 1,060 ha were used
evaporation. A 300-m' culture unit might produce 9,000 to produce fingerlings to stock in foodfish ponds. Roughly
kg trout per year. The fish would contain about 6.75 mJ 24 percent of ponds were embankment ponds filled from
water and evaporation should not exceed 1 m (300 m'). wells and the remainder was watershed ponds supplied by
Thus, the consumptive data loss would be 306.75 m1 or rainfall and runoff. Fry and fingerling ponds were drained
34 m'lt trout. Of course, if water is pumped from wells annually, and food fish ponds were drained about twice in
for use in raceways, the consumptive use will be several 15 years - 13.3 percent of food fish ponds were drained
orders of magnitude greater than if spring or stream wa- annually. Using data on production area from Boyd et 01.
ter is used. (1000) and water use data from Table 3, the total.water
use for catfish farming in Alabama in 1997 was 551.3 x
Water Use Variables 106mJ and the consumptive water use was 134.9 x lo6 m'.
Water use indices for channel catfish culture are provided Total production of food fish was reported to be 40,800
in Table 3. The total water use index is much greater than t in 1997. The fry and fingerling production operations
the consumptive water use index, especially for watershed serve the growout operations, so it is reasonable to com-
ponds. The greatest consumptive water use index was for bine water use for fry and fingerling production with that
embankment ponds filled from wells and drained annual- of food fish growout. The consumptive water use index
 was 3.306 m'lt. The fish price Table 3. Total and consumptive water use index and water value index in
was around Sl.541kg or $1,5401t. pond culture of channel catfish in Alabama.
-Thus, t h e c o n s u m p t i ~ ~ w a & ~ k i a l ~
ue index was $0.47/m3. 1 Water use index Water value I
Pond Water Total Consumpt~ve index'
M e t h o d s a n d Benefits of type source (m3/t) (m3/t) ($/my
W a t e r Conservation Embankment
Water is a scarce resource Drained annually Well 6,080 . 3,667 0.390
in many regions, and adopting
methods t o use water more effi- Stream 6,080 2,167 0.660
Undrained Well 3,750 2,167 0.660
ciently in aquaculture can spare Stream 3,750 2,167 0.660
water for other purposes. Effi-
cient water use also lessens the Watershed . ~

Drained annually Rainfed '10,750 2,167 0.660

possibilities for conflicts with
~

Undrained Rainfed 10,750 2.167 0.660

other water users. Water for aqua-
'Production of 6,000 kglhalyear with crop value of $1.43ikg.
culture ponds often is -pumped -

from wells, streams, reservoirs

or other water sources. Where water for Table 4. cornparkonof water usevariablein undrained, embankment
aquaculture is taken from an irrigation ponds filled by well water and used for channel caffish
system, there may be a volume-based culture in humid and arid climates.
charge. In such cases, water conserva-
tion will reduce the cost of aquaculture variable-..^ ... . .. Humid
.. . . . , ~ ~
climate
.. . .~ ~. Arid
.... climate'
~ . . . .~
production. Finally, there is a n effort in Total water use (cm) 225 252
most countries to reduce the ainounts of Consumptive water use (cm) 130 234
nutrients, organic matter, suspended sol- . .. . - -
round water u s e (cm)' -~
~ ~~

"" 80 234
ids and toxic substances discharged into
natural waters. Conservative water use Runoff reduction (m3 5,000 500
lessens effluent volumes and pollution Consumptive water use index (m3/mt) 2,167 3,900
loads from aquaculture operations. Consumptive water value index ($/m3) 0.660 0.368
Several methods may be implemented 'P = 10 cm; R = 5 cm; E = 152 cm: S = 100 cm; Production = 6,000 kglha; Fish price =
to improve water use efficiency in aqua- $1.43/kg.
culture. In pond aquaculture, a simple
procedure often overlooked by producers
is to maintain a storage volume in ponds and able. 5. -Comparisonof
.-
~
consumptivewateruseand consumptive
prevent overflow following heavy rains (Boyd water value index for selected cropswith those-for
1982). For example, in the southeastern Unit- channel catfish.
ed States, there is much rainfall and runoff - -- - - -
during winter and early spring. Ponds usually Consumptive water Consumptive water
are full or overflowing. In spring, rainfall di- Crop use (cm)' value index ($/m72
minishes, vegetation on watersheds becomes ~i~~ 123 0.091
denser, and rising air temperature favors Alfalfahay * 107 0.068
higher evapotranspiration rates. These factors
Com 88 0.081
prevent or greatly reduce runoff, the greater
water temperature favors more evaporation, 83 0.121
and pond water levels decline (Boyd 1985). If Soybeans 60 0.067
pond managers add water to keep water levels Cattish 130-220 0.390 - 0.660
near the elevation of the intakes of overflow ,Source: van derLeeden et (1990),
structures, rain falling into ponds will be lost ZConsumptive water value for agronomic crops based on average U.S. yield and
mostly as overflow. Normal, monthly rainfal! price as reported in the United States Department of Agriculture (1997).
in this region is 10 to 15 cm between April
and October and there is seldom runoff. Al-
lowing water levels to decline and then maintaining them Seepage can be a major loss from some ponds. Ponds
10 t o 20 cm below the overflow level will prevent overflow constructed in sandy soils should be lined with more im-
and conserve rainfall and the small amount of runoff that pervious soil material or fitted with an impermeable mem-
enters ponds in warm weather. In west central Alabama, brane. Embankments should be keyed t o the ground, and
normal rainfall is 76 cm between April and October. Cap- they should be compacted by acceptable procedures (Mc-
turing it in ponds will greatly reduce the amount of water Carthy 1988). Drain pipes should be fitted with cutoff
needed from wells (Boyd 1986). (Co~?tinurd on page 70)
 (Continued from page 15) Conservation of water is important Boyd, C. E. 1986. Influence of evaporation
devices to prevent water from seeping in aquaculture, but it is not the only excess on water requirements for fish
between the outside of the pipe and water use issue. Non-consumptive farming, Pages 62-64 I n Conference on
the surrounding fill. Large stones and water use in aquaculture should not Climate and Water Management - A
other debris should be removed from impair the quality of water and lessen Critical Era. American Meterologiclll
fill material, because seepage may oc- its benefits to downstream water users. Society. Boston, Massachusetts USA.
cur along the edges of such material Boyd. C. E. and A. Gross. 2000. Water use
Thus, aquaculture managers should
(United States Soil Conservation Ser- and conservation for inland aquacul-
strive to conserve both water quantity ture ponds. Fisheries Management and
vice 1982). and water quality. The Global Aqua- Ecology 755-63.
Water exchange is not necessary in culture Alliance recently developed Boyd, C. E. and C. S. Tucker. 1998. Pond
most types of pond aquaculture (Boyd standards for certification of shrimp aquaculture water quality management.
and Tucker 1998). Reducing or elimi- aquaculture. Certified farms would be Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston,
nating water exchange saves water and required to monitor emuent quality, Massachusetts USA.
reduces pumping costs. Also, less wa- estimate annual water use, and calcu- Boyd, C. E., J. F. Queiroz. J. Lee, M. Row-
ter exchange increases the hydraulic late the cubic meters of water used per an, G. N. Whitis and A. Gross. 2000.
retention time in ponds. This allows kilogram of shrimp and the kilograms Environmental assessment of channel
natural processes to assimilate wastes catfish, Ictr~lrrruspuncrutlis, farming in
. of various potential pollutants dis- Alabama. Journal of the World Aqua-
more completely and reduces loads of charged per ton of shrimp production. culture Society 31:511-544.
potential pollutants in eRuent. This is an example of how water use Leopold, L. B. 1974. Water a primer. W. H.
Water reuse also should be encour- efficiency and pollution reduction can Freeman and Company, San Francisco,
aged. Traditional ponds often can be be followed from year to year by sim- California USA.
operated to reuse water. For example, ple indices. Aquaculture has become McCarthy, D. F. 1988. Essentials of soil me-
in channel catfish farming, ponds once one of the world's major food pro- chanics and foundations. Prentice Hall,
were drained annually for fish harvest. duction activities. We should strive to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey USA.
Today, fish are harvested by seining improve efficiency, conserve resources Schoof, R. R. and G. A. Gander. 1982.
and ponds are drained at six or seven necessary for production, and lessen Computation of hydrograph reduction
year intervals (Tucker and Robinson negative environmental impacts. caused by farm ponds. Water Resources
1990). Where ponds must be drained Bulletin 18:529-532.
annually, water can be transferred to Notes Silapajarn, O., C. E. Boyd, K. Silapajam
adjacent ponds o r to a reservoir and and P. L. Chaney. 2004. Effects of
'Department of Fisheries and Allied channel catfish farming on water qual-
reused. In areas of gently rolling to- Aquacultures, Aubum University, Ala-
ity in Big Prairie Creek, west central
pography, ponds' can. be constructed bama 36849 Alabama. Special Report Number 2 for
in series so that overflow from upper Alabama Catfish Producers, Alabama
ponds passes into lower ponds (Yoo Acknowledgment
Agricultural Experiment Station, Au-
and Boyd 1992). This research was a component of burn University, Alabama USA.
Production levels can be raised in the Aquaculture Collaborative Re- Tucker, C. S. and E. H. Robinson. 1990.
ponds to increase the amount of fish search Support Program (CRSP), sup- Channel catfish farming handbook.
produced per unit of water. Integra- ported by USAID Grant No. LAG-G- Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York,
tion of intensive production units such 00-96-90015-00 and by contributions New York USA.
as cages or raceways with irrigation from the participating institutions. The United States Department of Agriculture.
Aquaculture CRSP accession number 1997. Agricultural census 1997. USDA
systems is particularly water efficient.
is 1286. The opinions expressed herein National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Water can be passed through aquacul- Washington, D.C.USA.
ture units and returned to the irriga- are those of the author(s) and do not United States Soil Conservation Service.
tion system by gravity flow. The only necessarily reflect the views of the US 1982. Ponds - planning, design, and
consumptive water use will be evapora- Agency of International Develop- construction. United States Department
tion and water removed in biomass at ment. of Agriculture. Agriculture Handbook
harvest. Nutrients added to the water Number 590, Washington, D.C. USA.
by aquaculture inputs can be used by References van der Leeden, F., F. L. Troise and D. K.
crops to which the water is ultimately Boyd. C. E. 1982. Hydrology of small ex- Todd. 1990. The water encyclopedia.
applied. However, in intensive produc- perimental fish ponds at Aubum, Ala- Lewis Publishers, Chelsea. Michigan
tion, good feeding practices and suffi- bama. Transactions of the American USA.
Fisheries Society 11 1:638-644 Yoo. K. H. and C. E. Boyd. 1992. Hydrolo-
cient mechanical aeration must be ap-
Boyd. C. E. 1985. Pond evaporation. gy and water supply for pond aquacul-
plied to maintain high quality water in
Transactions of the American Fisheries ture. Chapman and Hall. New York.
grow-out units. Society 114299-303. New York USA.

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