Serious conflicts have occurred among the water sectors in the Paracatu Basin as a consequence of the intense growth of irrigation used in the 70's. The main objective of this paper was to analyze the water demand by irrigation in the Paracatu Basin considering the climatic changes observed during the year. The water demand by irrigation was calculated considering the climatic conditions of the region and the irrigated areas corresponding to each crop, which were obtained from the agricultural census made by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The annual average water withdrawal by irrigation in the Paracatu Basin conditions was 0.15 L s-1 ha-1 while the water withdrawal in the month with the maximum demand was 0.34 L s-1 ha-1 . The water amount necessary to assist the demand of the irrigated crops in the Paracatu Basin was 0.35 L s-1 ha-1 for the average and 0.50 L s-1 ha-1 for the month with the maximum demand.
evapotranspiration; effective rainfall; water withdrawals by irrigation
