Major Irrigation Projects Research Articles

Identification of groundwater prospects in the Khammam district

Water is our most precious natural resource. It is imperative need to human life and is a vital necessity for plant and animal life. Due to increase in population and industrial activities, water is gradually becoming a scarce commodity rather than a freely available natural resource. Even in areas where normally there is an abundant surface water supply through major, medium and minor irrigation projects, groundwater is playing an increasingly vital role in supplementing surface water. The primary objective of this paper is to identify groundwater prospects in Khammam district using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System techniques. The present work involves creating a database both spatial and non-spatial with the help of Survey of India toposheet to a scale of 1:2, 50,000 and Remote Sensing imageries. Various thematic maps like base map, drainage map, slope map, soil map, hydrogeomorphology map, water table fluctuation map and landuse landcover maps are prepared. After integrating all thematic maps using Arc GIS 9.1 software, groundwater prospects map is generated for the study area.

EVALUATION FOR MEASURING IRRIGATION SERVICE PERFORMANCE USING A SCORECARD FRAMEWORK

ABSTRACTThe present study has been proposed for scorecard‐based framework for measuring irrigation service performance using a few key selected indicators suggested by the Indian National Committee for Irrigation and Drainage and uses categories such as technical performance, agricultural production performance and financial performance to group the indicators appropriately. The work involved measuring project performance in terms of selected performance indicators and their integration into a scorecard. The methodology adopted for the study is to assign weights to indicators in conjunction with their scores on a devised scale, and evaluates category and performance scores by employing a spreadsheet. This methodology has been used for the Samrat Ashok Sagar major irrigation project, Madhya Pradesh, India, which is performing suboptimally and suggests the need for reforms in order to ensure that the irrigation services demonstrate sustainable operational performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Large-scale Investments in Agriculture in India

Public investment in agriculture has significant poverty-reducing effects. This article attempts to analyse trends in agricultural investments in India between the 1950s and the 2000s. It argues that public investment and expenditure on agriculture in India have grown only slowly and have not decisively increased even after more than 60 years of independence. While public capital formation and expenditure do show a moderate rise in the 2000s, a revival of India's agricultural growth requires a far greater thrust to public spending. Major and medium irrigation projects require special attention, as irrigation is instrumental not just in raising yields, but also the number of days of employment for labourers. Increasing public investment in agricultural research and extension is central to bridging the yield gap that persists. Formal credit flows to agriculture have to specifically target small and marginal farmers, and emphasis should move away from generating agricultural growth by channelling credit to agri-business firms and corporate players in agriculture. If India's second green revolution has to contribute to an accelerated reduction of poverty, hunger and malnourishment, it undoubtedly has to be a state-led project.

Are we over-estimating irrigation subsidies in multipurpose water resources projects in India? methodological issues and evidence.

Irrigation subsidies have become a highly contentious issue over the years and alternative approaches and conventions have been evolved in measuring the magnitude of these subsidies. Given the fact that the capital cost is a sunk cost, this paper has used the O&M cost of the project and the gross receipts in computing irrigation subsidies. Further, the paper has suggested an improvement in the subsidy estimation methods by adjusting the O&M cost of the projects to multiple benefits of the irrigation projects using the Separable Cost Remaining Benefit (SCRB) method in three major multipurpose irrigation projects in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The study has revealed that currently irrigation subsidies are over-estimated. For example, the estimated average irrigation subsidy in Nagarjunasagar Project (NRSP) Right Bank canal based on currently practised methods, works out to be 428 per ha, whereas using the SCRB approach, it come to be 111/ha. The irrigation subsidy for NRSP is thus being currently over-estimated to the tune of almost 286 per cent. Similar is the case with the other two projects studied, though the magnitude of subsidy over-estimation could differ. The study has demonstrated how through the use of appropriate accounting methodologies, more informed and transparent estimates of irrigation subsidy can be derived. The inference from this paper is that reliable information about subsidies actually going to the irrigation sector could help in framing better pricing policies for irrigation water and in promoting more efficient use of irrigation water and utilization of subsidies. The outcome from the study will also be useful in finetuning the subsidy related discussions in the 12th Five-Year Plan documents.

Evaluation of irrigation efficiencies for water users' associations in a major irrigation project in India by DEA

PurposeThe quantity and quality of available water resources have been recognized limiting factors in development of most of the arid and semi arid regions. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency, for water users' associations (WUA), of irrigation project Samrat Ashok Sagar (Halali) in India, using benchmarking by data envelopment analysis as the performance evaluation tool and to integrate the outcome of the benchmarking process for planning, design and effective management of available water resources.Design/methodology/approachTo collect information or data required to calculate indicators, there was personal interaction with water users and executive engineers in‐charge of the project, and competent authority for WUA (sub‐engineers), with other technical staff and with establishment staff and the purpose of the study explained. In the analysis, the performance gap was compared within the scheme. The causes of the performance gap and the action required for closing the performance gap were explored. Data envelopment analysis was done for different sets of input output by input‐oriented model through software. The data collected were real time and validated from Samrat Ashok Sagar Irrigation and Drainage Project Authority.FindingsIt was found that the majority of WUAs as per model I to model VI had efficiency below 70 per cent, which is a matter of serious concern. It is evident that considerable variations occur amongst the various WUAs in terms of the operational characteristics reflected by the independent variables.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates that it is evident that considerable variations occur amongst the various WUAs in terms of the operational characteristics reflected by the independent variables.

Short-Term Real-Time Reservoir Operation for Irrigation

AbstractThe development and management of irrigation facilities has been recognized as the key to national development in India. Despite their high priority and massive investments, the performance of major irrigation projects has been disappointing. Substantial benefits can be achieved from relatively small increases in operating efficiencies. The main objective of this study is to develop a short-term, real-time reservoir operating policy in a multicrop, multiseason environment integrating reservoir release decisions with field irrigation requirements. A real-time reservoir operation model defines the set of releases to be made into each offtake on the main canals of a reservoir for a known set of release targets, reservoir storage state, and forecasted inflow in the current period, minimizing the deficit function. An intercrop allocation model allocates reservoir releases of the current period among competing crops. On implementing the irrigation decisions of the intercrop allocation model for the curr...

An Analysis for Incompatibility in Demand-Supply of Irrigation Water in Salandi Irrigation Project, Orissa, India

Normally for an average to good catchment, ratio of command area to catchment of an irrigation project varies from 0.3 to 0.5. But in case of Salandi Irrigation project, the first major irrigation project of Orissa commissioned during 1967, the ratio exceeds unity, i.e., 1.276, which is extraordinary. The theoretical crop water requirement considering the cropping practice in vogue over the command and adopting the parameters considered in the project report works out to 0.858m in Kharif and 1.296m in Rabi. But, it is found that in practice the actual water supplied in the distribution system for the period from1985-86 to 2005-06 during Kharif and Rabi is 0.283m and 0.929m, respectively. This less quantity of water supply for irrigation in the command than the theoretical requirement has not affected the crop yield but has made the agriculture successful. Various aspects of the Project such as the geophysical features of the catchment, hydro-geological formation of the command, soil characteristics, percolation rate through the top soil, amount of rainfall and its distribution, cropping pattern in the command and unusual phenomenon of irrigation practice in the Salandi irrigation command and probable reason for success of this project in providing irrigation over the years with much less quantum of water has been analyzed and presented in this paper.

IMPROVING EXISTING PRACTICES OF WATER DELIVERY IN A RUN‐OF‐THE‐RIVER BASED CANAL SYSTEM FOR BETTER WATER USE EFFICIENCY

ABSTRACTA model was developed to modify the canal delivery schedule of a major irrigation project of eastern India for both monsoon and dry seasons that adopted the procedure of daily water balance/moisture balance simulation in the root zone depth. In addition to the prevailing continuous schedule, four alternative rotational schedules during the monsoon and five alternative rotational schedules during the dry season were considered for simulation. Daily water balance simulation was performed for 17 and 15 years for the monsoon season and the dry seasons, respectively.Simulation results for the monsoon revealed that a 15‐day rotational schedule (15 days canal operation followed by 15 days canal closure) was the best alternative over the prevailing continuous schedule. To agree with the findings of the study model, field experiments were conducted during the monsoon season for three consecutive years. Highest rice grain yields of 4.92 t/ha (Swarna) and 4.46 t/ha (Surendra) were recorded in plots with 15‐day rotational schedules. During the dry season, considering both paddy and other dry season crops grown together in the command, a 7‐day canal operation followed by a 7‐day canal closure rotational schedule was found to be the best alternative. Besides creating a favourable water regime and better crop evapo‐transpiration (ET), this schedule saved about 10.3% of water over actual water supplies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sectoral Conjunctive Use Planning for Optimal Cropping under Hydrological Uncertainty

The canal command of the Hirakud multipurpose major irrigation project of Orissa in eastern India is under severe threat of waterlogging in the monsoon season and acute shortage of irrigation water in the nonmonsoon season. An irrigation scheduling model (ISM) and a linear-programming optimization model (LPM) under hydrologic uncertainty were developed with a view to manage the available land and water resources of the canal command effectively. The ISM was used to predict actual crop yield under different irrigation strategies—namely, full and deficit depths of irrigation. The crop yield obtained by the ISM under different irrigation management strategies was used in the LPM to optimize the land and water resources of the canal command at different probability of exceedances of net irrigation requirement and canal-water availability. The net annual return was found to decrease with the increase in the level of deficit with maximum return under full irrigation strategy. Hence, from the benefit point of vi...

Why invest in minor projects in sub-Saharan Africa? An exploration of the scale economy and diseconomy of irrigation projects

It is well-known that major irrigation projects have a strong scale economy, handicapping irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) because of the difficulty in formulating large-scale projects. Using project-level investment cost and performance data of major and minor irrigation projects, this paper examines the causes of the economy of scale phenomenon. We find that strong scale economy exists not only for major but also for minor projects, i.e., small- and micro-scale, projects. This is largely because of the existence of indivisible overhead costs such as high-opportunity-cost human resources for planning, designing and engineering management and supervision. We also find that large differences between major and minor projects in the absolute level of overhead as well as construction costs creates a strong scale diseconomy and results in better performance of minor projects. The advantage of minor projects holds even when their higher risk associated with the water source is taken into consideration. We argue that there is an urgent need to promote irrigation development in SSA through developing minor projects, and to reduce the heavy burden of overhead costs by developing the capacity of human resources at the national, local and farmer levels in the fields of irrigation engineering, irrigation agronomy, institutional development, and micro water management technologies.

Strategies and engineering adaptions to disseminate SRI methods in large-scale irrigation systems in Eastern Indonesia

The system of rice intensification (SRI) developed in Madagascar has been controversial in part because there have been no large-scale, long-term evaluations of the impact of its alternative methods. This paper summarizes experience with the dissemination of SRI practices across eight provinces in Eastern Indonesia over nine seasons from 2002 to 2006 under a major irrigation project. The Decentralized Irrigation System Improvement Project (DISIMP) was financed by the Japanese Government with project management by a Nippon Koei consultant team. SRI has been introduced in Indonesia via several organizations and in different parts of the country starting in 2000. The evaluation reported here, made by the DISIMP technical assistance team, is based on data from 12,133 on-farm comparison trials that covered a total area of 9,429 ha. Under SRI management, average paddy yield increase was 3.3 t/ha (78%). This was achieved with about 40% reduction in water use, 50% reduction in chemical fertilizer applications, and 20% lower costs of production. The farmers whom DISIMP was assisting to take up SRI were usually cultivating their paddy fields individually within irrigation systems where it was difficult to reduce water applications as recommended for SRI. Accordingly, innovations had to be made in soil and water management to create relatively aerobic soil conditions so that farmers could get the more productive rice phenotypes expected from SRI practice. This article describes the modifications made to adapt SRI concepts, pointing to the value of introducing in-field ditches, which was confirmed through paddy tract surveys. This experience and analysis showed how SRI methods could be utilized within irrigation systems where water management was not (yet) tailored to SRI production practices. Subsequently, modifications in irrigation system management are being made to be more supportive of SRI cultivation.

Need of benchmarking for socially and environmentally sustainable development of a major irrigation scheme

It is a proven fact that the quantity and quality of available water resources have been recognized as limiting factors in development of most of the arid and semi arid regions. The function of the conveyance and distribution systems and services should be providing sufficient water in a timely manner so that it can be used efficiently for crop production. Reliability, flexibility and efficiency are the keywords for a modernization plan. Optimal use of available surface and groundwater, in any canal command area would result in their better utilization by maximizing the benefits from the crop production and the environmentally sustainable development and management of water resources in an integrated and participatory approach. Irrigation sector is the highest water consumer; therefore it is a sector where performance assessment is necessary to ensure optimum utilization of water. The major system deficiencies are low canal carrying capacity, over utilizations of water in rabi irrigation, flooding irrigation practices, low yield per unit irrigated area, low cost recovery in the Samrat Ashok Sagar irrigation project. This paper presents a need of benchmarking of major irrigation projects for socially and environmentally sustainable development in India based on integrated and participatory approach. Key words: Benchmarking, participatory approach, environmentally sustainable development, water management.

Rainwater Management for Smallholder Irrigation and it’s Impact on Crop Yields in Eastern India

A tank cum open dug well system suitable for plateau region of eastern India has been developed for providing reliable irrigation to croplands. The system comprises of a series of tanks with open dug wells in the recharge zone of the tank that reharvest back the seepage water. Thus, the rainwater remaining in the tank as well as partial seeped water is used for providing round the year full irrigation. This system was evaluated in field in Keonjhar district of Orissa of eastern India with six tanks and five wells in two drainage lines. The total command area of the system of six tanks and five wells in both drainage lines is 23 ha and the total irrigation potential is 44.5 ha. The total cost of the system is US $19,180 making the cost of irrigation resource creation as US $426 per ha which is much less than about $2,220 per ha for major and medium irrigation projects in the last decade of 20th century. The system increased the rice yields from 1.92 t ha − 1 to a range of 2.25 to 3.8 t ha − 1 depending upon the package of practices or the amount of inputs. The farmers went for crops in post-monsoon and summer season and the cropping intensity rose to 112% in the first year, 126% in the second year and 132% in the third year. The internal rate of return from the system was 13.4% at the present level of utilization, which is about 2.4% more than the prime-lending rate of Indian banks, and 3.4% more than the lending rate for agricultural purposes.

Alternative Rotational Delivery Scheduling for Better Water Regime in Canal Command

A model for modifying the canal delivery schedule during the dry season has been formulated to overcome the problem of low irrigation efficiency in a major irrigation project in India. Phulnakhara Distributary of the Puri main canal system (a run-of-the-river scheme) in the state of Orissa was chosen for this study. The model adopts a procedure of daily water balance simulation in paddy field and daily moisture balance simulation in nonpaddy crops field in the crop root zone. The historical canal flow data show that the prevailing delivery schedule is continuous. In addition to prevailing a continuous delivery schedule, five alternative rotational (variable discharge, constant duration, and constant frequency) schedules were considered. The alternatives considered are: 7 days canal operation followed by 7 days canal closure (7_7); 10 days canal operation followed by 10 days canal closure (10_10); 15 days canal operation followed by 15 days canal closure (15_15); 10 days canal operation followed by 7 days canal closure (10_7); and 15 days canal operation followed by 7 days canal closure (15_7). Considering both paddy and nonpaddy crops to be grown in the command during the dry season, 7 days canal operation followed by 7 days canal closure rotational schedule were found to be the best alternative. The alternative schedule 7_7 has registered weighted average seasonal evapotranspiraton (ET) of 354 mm in comparison to 347, 342, and 352 mm in 10_10, 15_15, and 10_7 schedules, respectively. In the paddy field, schedule 7_7 registered maximum of 4 days of disappearance of water as compared to 5 days and 6 days for 15_7 and 10_7 schedule, respectively. Besides creating a favorable water regime and better crop ET, this schedule saves about 10.31% of water over prevailing (actual) water supplies.

Development and Application of Hydraulic Simulation Model for Irrigation Canal Network

Improving the performance of the major irrigation projects is one of the economically viable options in meeting the growing water demands and sustaining the productivity of irrigated agriculture under present financial, environmental, and physical constraints. Hydraulic simulation models offer unlimited opportunities for improving the performance of the irrigation systems by studying the flow behavior in a large and complex canal network under a variety of design and management scenarios. This paper presents a hydraulic simulation model developed for steady and unsteady flow simulation in irrigation canal network. The model uses the implicit four-point Preissmann scheme for discretization of the Saint-Venant equations and solves the resulting equations using the sparse matrix solution technique. The model is applicable for simulating flow in a series of linearly connected reaches, and branched as well as looped canal networks. The different boundary conditions that can be modeled are discharge hydrograph at the source node(s) and stage hydrograph, rating curve, uniform flow, and discharge hydrograph at the terminus node(s). The model is capable of handling different hydraulic structures such as weirs, sluice gate, drops/falls, pipe outlet, and imposed discharge. It also allows computation of gate opening for a given full supply level and discharge at the cross-regulator and offtaking points, respectively. For entering and editing canal network description and boundary conditions, including different hydraulic parameters and displaying the results, a user friendly graphical user interface has been provided. Accuracy and numerical stability of the model tested using the mass conservation test and test with ramp discharge as inflow hydrograph, indicated that the model performs satisfactorily. Comparison of simulated and observed discharges at the tail regulator of the Right Bank Main Canal of Kangsabati Irrigation Project showed that the model performs satisfactorily for most of the irrigation events. Further, comparison of the model simulated stage and discharge with that of the HEC-RAS model showed that the results of both the models are almost identical. The different simulation results, thus, suggest that the developed model can be successfully used as a tool for hydraulic simulation of canal network.

Water Scarcity Effects on Equitable Water Distribution and Land Use in a Major Irrigation Project—Case Study in India

In many river basins, upstream development and interannual variations in rainfall can cause both episodic and chronic shortages in water supplies downstream. Continued rapid development of surface and groundwater throughout the Krishna Basin in southern India resulted in historically low inflows to the main canals of the Nagarjuna Sagar irrigation project 8,955 km 2 during a recent drought 2002-2004. This paper presents an integrated approach to assess how cropping patterns and the spatial equity of canal flow changed with water supply shocks in the left canal command area 3,592 km 2 of Nagarjuna Sagar. We combined 3 years 2000-2003 of canal release data with census statistics and high temporal resolution 8-10 days moderate resolution imaging spectrometer MODIS 500-m resolution satellite imagery. The impact of water scarcity on land use pattern, delineated by MODIS images with moderate spatial resolution, was comparable with the census statistics, while the MODIS data also identified areas with changes and delays in the rice crop area, which is critical in assessing the impact of canal operations. A 60% reduction in water availability during the drought resulted in 40% land being fallowed in the left-bank canal command area. The results suggest that head reach areas receiving high supply rates during a normal year experienced the highest risks of fluctuations in water supply and cropped area during a water short year compared to downstream areas, which had chronically low water supply, and better adaptive responses by farmers. Contrary to expectations, the spatial distribution of canal flows among the three major zones of the command area was more equitable during low-flow years due to decreased flow at the head reach of the canal and relatively smaller decreases in tail-end areas. The findings suggested that equitable allocations could be achieved by improving the water distribution efficiency of the canal network during normal years and by crop diversification and introduction of alternative water sources during water shortage years. The study identified areas susceptible to decreases in water supplies by using modern techniques, which can help in decision-making processes for equitable water allocation and distribution and in devel- oping strategies to mitigate the effects of water supply shocks on cropping patterns and rural livelihoods.

A review of on-farm evaluations of system of rice intensification methods in Eastern Indonesia.

Abstract The system of rice Intensification (SRI) developed in Madagascar has been controversial in some agronomic circles, in part because there have been no large-scale, long-term evaluations of the impact of the alternative methods recommended. This review reports on on-farm comparative evaluations conducted over nine seasons between 2002 and 2006 across eight provinces in Eastern Indonesia under a major irrigation project (SSIMP-DISIMP), with project management by a Nippon Koei consultant team. It summarizes the results of 12 133 comparison trials that covered a total area of 9429 ha. Average yield increase was 78% (3.3 t/ha) with reductions of 40% in water use, 50% in fertilizer applications and 20% in the costs of production. While the controversy will not be resolved by any single evaluation, these results support the previous reports that SRI practices, when used in combination, can achieve significantly higher output of rice with a reduction in inputs, enhancing simultaneously the productivity of the resources (land, labour, water and capital) used in irrigated rice production.

Irrigation Service Delivery in Canal Systems

Irrigation has always been a priority for India, for which bulk of expenditure has been spent on creation of major and medium irrigation projects. To provide superior irrigation service to the farmers, it becomes important to know at the outset how the farmers perceive the current irrigation service delivery system. For this, we did a study. Our results show that only 69 per cent reported canal irrigation as the dominant source of irrigation. Only 56 per cent of the total irrigation needs of an individual farmer come from the canals. Accountability of the service providers towards the farmers is currently lacking and needs major attention in the future. Quality of the service delivery varied across different sections of the command of a system, with the tail reaches receiving the worst service, effectively shrinking the actual command.

Development and Application of an Integrated Optimization-Simulation Model for Major Irrigation Projects

A nonlinear, constrained multivariable optimization routine is developed for deciding the optimal canal water release and linked to a canal hydraulic module (MIKE 11) and command hydrological module (MIKE SHE). The optimization routine is solved using the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) technique. The hydraulic and the hydrological modules are calibrated and validated independently, and the results are found to be satisfactory. The integrated optimization-simulation model is applied to the Right Bank Main Canal System of Kangsabati Irrigation Project, West Bengal, India. An improved rotational delivery schedule based on long-term field data analysis is also developed. Three simulation scenarios are considered. These are (1) MIKE 11 and MIKE SHE simulation, (3) integrated optimization simulation, and (3) integrated optimization-simulation with improved schedule. Simulations were performed for Kharif (rainy) irrigation periods for 3 different years (1995–1997). The intercomparison of the three simulation scenarios showed that the application of the integrated optimization-simulation model reduced the gap between irrigation water supply and crop water demand and improved the spatial distribution of supply, thereby, minimizing the tail-end deprivation.

Pehur high-level canal, NWFP, Pakistan

This paper describes the design, construction and commissioning of a major irrigation project in Pakistan. It is the final stage of the Tarbela Dam project and follows two centuries of irrigation development in the Indus Valley. The Pehur high-level canal (PHLC) is now operational after a five-year construction period which began in 1997. The purpose of the project is to bring 30 m3/s of water from the Indus River at Tarbela Dam to the lower reaches of the existing Upper Swat canal (USC) system. This not only alleviates water shortage in the existing 100 000 ha Upper Swat scheme but will allow additional areas totalling about 25 000 ha to be brought under irrigation upstream of the confluence with PHLC. The combined system Tarbela–PHLC and Swat river–USC is a complex one that is aimed at optimising water use from the two different sources, which are in restricted supply at different times of the year. Accordingly the design philosophy of PHLC is different to all other major canals in Pakistan. The project included several novel principles of design, construction and operation, such as automatic downstream control, large parabolic canals and low-pressure pipelines for irrigation distribution. The main project comprises two tunnels totalling 6 km, two large inverted siphons, each over 3 m dia. and about 2 km long, 26 km of concrete-lined parabolic canal (the largest of its kind in the world) and reconstruction of the existing 45 km long Maira branch canal. Cross-regulation of main and branch canals is provided by 13 pairs of self-regulating float-operated gates. The rugged terrain necessitated about 40 cross-drainage structures in the form of culverts and super-passages. Also included was rehabilitation of the existing minor canal system covering 40 000 ha and the development of about 5000 ha of new irrigation based on a buried pipeline distribution network. Commissioning was delayed by difficult tunnelling conditions, and several design modifications were required in commissioning the canal control gates. The more unconventional facets of the project's design were initially met with scepticism by the engineering establishment, but have been mostly vindicated by the project's successful completion.