Enhanced Water Management for Muang Fai Irrigation Systems through Remote Sensing and SWOT Analysis

The areas of northern Thailand rely heavily on water management by Muang Fai irrigation systems. Outstanding features of these typical systems include public participation and acceptance of regulations established by Muang Fai irrigation management; however, the knowledge and application of modern technologies should be promoted in these systems in collaboration with traditional water management. In this study, remote sensing was applied to analyse plant phenology to estimate the planting dates and farming sizes through Sentinel-2 imagery. CROPWAT 8.0 was also used to analyse the crop water requirements in different periods to enable the water management committee to determine the water quantity needed in each period throughout the area. The greatest water amounts were needed by plants during the dry season in March and April each year. In addition, the researcher team adopted strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis to establish guidelines for the potential enhancement of Muang Fai irrigation systems suited to the current social contexts and environment.