Agricultural use of water, accounting for 70% of water use worldwide, both contributes and is confronted to water scarcity. This problem becomes more urgent as world's population continues to grow and climate change accelerates. Improving the efficiency of wateruse is usually presented as an opportunity for large water savings in the agricultural sector. However, recent literature has pointed out that the introduction of more efficient irrigationsystems may actually increase water catchment depletion. This is explained by the so-called`rebound effect' or Jevons paradox, a phenomenon widely study in the energy sector. The price reduction following the efficiency improvement leads to an increase in water use whichends up eroding, completely or partially, the savings expected from the new technology. Inthis paper we would like to contribute by developing a theoretical framework that explains irrigation behavior. The aim is to assess the yield response to irrigation water for different irrigation techniques and the incentives to save water on intensive and extensive margins. We would like to evaluate the main tools used in EU to manage water scarcity for instance water reuse.