Agricultural Water Supply in the Areas on the Meandering Parts of the Omono River in Akita

Abstract

Kowakubi in Nishisen and Kotane in Kyowa are both located in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, and both of them are situated on the meandering parts of the Omono River. Some marked features of agricultural water supply in these areas are as follows;Before 1925, people depended on river-bed lakes and irrigation ponds for irrigation water. In those days they often disputed about water-rights for want of water supply.From 1926 to 1945, water was pumped up from the Omono River. and land improvement plan was carried out even under the unfavorable situations of the impoverished rural communities and World War II.From 1946 to 1965, a strong desire for an agricultural production, awakened by the Agrarian Reform Policy by the Japanese Government, accelerated the progress of the land improvement plan, with a food supply increase program planned by the government.In these areas, some geographical features had made the natural influx of water from the Omono River difficult. And they spent a great deal of money and labor in exploiting peat bogs and swamps.The completion of both the prefecture-managed Kowakubi Pumping Machine and the main irrigative canal has afforded the ample and constant supply of water, and at the same time, has made the increase of rice production possible.The improvement of agricultural water supply has greatly influenced these areas in their working conditions, habitual practices of water supply and house structures.