Competition for water is increasing, in particular for agriculture. Droughts are more frequent and intense due to climate change, causing income and yield losses to farmers. Climate services are now available, based on longer time scales than standard weather forecasts, and can be applied to improve irrigation water use and reduce related energy demand.

Water Requirements for Irrigation (WRI) is a climate service developed within the CLARA project by Arpae, Bologna, Italy, providing users with seasonal and daily 7-day forecasts of irrigation needs, on a GIS platform. Early seasonal irrigation forecasts are helpful for irrigation water management (e.g. for water procurement and allocation agencies). Repeated forecasts during the irrigation season can help to fine tune water procurement and distribution to farming districts, in order to optimize supply and distribution of water to irrigation districts and farmers.

To run WRI crop maps, soil data, climate data and forecasts are needed.