Potential rainwater storage capacity of irrigation ponds

Abstract

From antiquity to the present, Japan has irrigated many paddy fields from irrigation ponds. There are some 64,000 such irrigation ponds with a benefit area of over 2 ha each. These irrigation ponds not only function as a water-source for the stable production of food, but also are thought to reduce flooding in lower regions through temporary storage of rainwater and catchment runoff because they are located upstream of paddy fields, upland fields and residential land. Centering our research on Kagawa and Osaka Prefectures, we assessed the potential of rainwater storage capacity created by free space in irrigation ponds resulting from irrigation at a macro level as an indicator of flood mitigation. In these prefectures, potential rainwater storage capacity of irrigation ponds in early September was 2.1 and 1.4 times that of the potential storage capacity of associated paddy fields in an ordinary year.