STATUS OF IRRIGATION IN LIGHT OF RECENT HISTORY OF THREE CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES: CZECH REPUBLIC, AUSTRIA AND SLOVENIA

The three central European countries, Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia not only have common culture and share much of the history, they also share experiences with growing more or less the same kind of crops. This paper gives overview for each country individually in pre and post Second World War. It is evident that events of the 20th century, especially second half, greatly influenced the state of irrigation as well as challenges and issues each of the countries are facing. The Czech Republic is facing the need for rehabilitation and modernization of irrigation systems and for that new, economic tools are needed. The process of the building of new, modern irrigation systems is already happening on a small scale and suggests that the future irrigations systems will be small and flexible. For Austria it is expected that the irrigation amount will remain on the same level. Only in the Eastern part of Austria, especially in the Marchfeld Hochterasse and the Wachau region, an increase is expected. The need for irrigation in Slovenia is growing, irrigation becoming a necessary measure to meet the demands of intensifying agricultural production and to ensure quality and yield. In spite of short tradition, the use of water efficient technologies is strongly presented on the market and applied in practice, as well as favored by governmental financial support programs.