EN
The great expansion of irrigated lands using groundwater has caused in many cases the overdraft of aquifer reserves largely beyond their recharge capacity. The development of management tools which can harmonise resource exploitation with reserve sustainability must therefore be an objective to be satisfied within applied research projects on this issue. An experience worth to be mentioned is being accomplished in the aquifer 08.29 in Mancha Oriental (Spain). A Project (GESMO) has been initiated to create an integrated and integral management of the aquifer system as well as to prepare appropriate techniques for its adequate exploitation and water use. To be able to attain the goals of the project, several specific objectives are defined: among them we will emphasise in this paper those regarding the development of technologies adapted to the study area, using remote sensing techniques for the analysis of a reduced number of images which allow the permanent monitoring of the irrigated areas water abstraction. This paper aims at describing the results obtained in the monitoring of water abstraction from the aquifer for irrigation in a pilot area during the year 1997. The development of the Project include different milestones: irrigation crops classification and mapping; evaluation of crops irrigation water requirements; evaluation of water abstraction in a pilot area; validation of the results obtained; extrapolation of the results to the whole aquifer.