An empirical approach using spatial and nonspatial data for surface water availability along a Canal

Abstract

Why it is necessary for canal administrators to understand what happens after canal water is discharged from a canal branch head? Canal water management involves complex issues of distance from water source, losses during conveyance, land-use pattern, crop mix and other sociopolitical considerations. It may be possible that there is scarcity or abundance of water along the canal length and the amount of canal water cannot meet the farmers ’ water demand. Canal water availability has to be therefore estimated at various points in the canal system. This document presents such an estimation using empirical analysis with spatial and nonspatial data. Sarda Sahayak Pariyojna (SSP) of Uttar Pradesh state, which is one of the largest operating irrigation systems in India, is taken as an example. This document focuses on the analysis using geographic information system (GIS) mapping-based decision support tools, water discharge from different canal branch heads, estimation of conveyance losses and surface water availability in each subdistrict. The sensitivity analysis has been also conducted to capture the variability and uncertainty of many parameters used in this study.