Irrigation scheduling and water availability at watercourse command

A model that simulated the irrigation schedules of a farm at watercourse command was developed to predict net farm return, benefit-cost ratio, water use, percent water utilized, deep percolation, rainfall contribution and net return per unit of water applied including rainfall. Schedules for three selected farms on a watercourse command of Tw #62394L from MONA, Sargodha, Pakistan were simulated with 3 fixed-rotation and 2 demand strategies to evaluate the allowable soil water depletion criteria. Evaluation of the simulations (1973–82) showed that the water availability reduced the net farm return of 15 and 31% at the middle and tail farms, respectively, from that of the head farm. Therefore, the existing water allocation procedure (WARABANDI) should include watercourse conveyance losses to provide equitable water distribution on a watercourse command. Demand water availability can increase the net farm return of 25 and 26% in strategies 4 and 5, respectively, by changing the fixed-rotation system to a demand system. Changing the fixed-rotation system to a demand system requires either the use of existing private tubewells or the installation of new private tubewells.     

Proposal for equitable water allocation for rotational irrigation in Pakistan

A rotational water supply system is designed to deliver a constant flow of water among irrigators along a tertiary canal. Under the existing rotational system in Pakistan transmission losses along the canal are not considered. A constant time per unit irrigated area is allocated to all the farmers regardless of their location along the canal. This results in decreasing volumes of water delivered to downstream farmers. A variable time model is developed which allocates more time to the downstream farmers to deliver a constant volume of water per unit area to all the farmers in the command area of a tertiary unit.     

A study of losses from field channels under arid region conditions

In arid regions, water losses from unlined small field channels are usually high due to seepage and evaporation from open surfaces. These losses are often neglected by many project planners and engineers. A theoretical analysis has been developed to modify the equation usually used to determine the water losses based on the ponding method, where the channel longitudinal slope was considered in the analysis. A field investigation has been carried out in sandy soil to determine and evaluate the water losses for three different types of channels. They are: earthen-uncompacted channel, compacted channel bed and channel lined by jute mats coated with bitumen emulsion on both faces. The last two cases are relatively low-cost, need less skillful labour than lining by cement and are more suitable for temporary field channels. Manning's coefficient was determined for each case. The results show that the process of compating the channel bed reduced the rate of seepage by a considerable value and that lining of field channels by prefabricated bitumen jute mats caused a significant reduction in the seepage rate. The results also show that the evaporation from open surfaces caused a considerable loss and should be considered when studying water losses from irrigation channels in arid regions. Abbreviations A = channel surface area ⋅ A_c = channel cross section-area ⋅ b = channel bed width ⋅ d = observed difference in Class-A pan ⋅ h₁ = original water depth in the canal ⋅ h₂ = canal water depth after a certain time ⋅ k = constant ⋅ L = canal length ⋅ n = Manning's coefficient ⋅ p = average wetted perimeter ⋅ q_evap = evaporation losses rate ⋅ q_s = canal seepage losses rate ⋅ q_t = total losses from the canal ⋅ Q = canal discharge ⋅ R = penetration resistance ⋅ R_h = hydraulic radius of the channel ⋅ s = channel longitudinal slope ⋅ t = time ⋅ V_e = volume of water lost by evaporation ⋅ v_m = channel mean velocity ⋅ v_s = channel surface velocity ⋅ V_s = volume of water lost by seepage ⋅ V_t = total volume of water lost ⋅ w = water surface width of the canal ⋅ y₁ = downstream water depth at time zero ⋅ y₂ = downstream water depth after a time t ⋅ z = canal side slope Received: 6 October 1995     

Conjunctive use of canal and groundwater in Punjab,Pakistan: management and policy options

Data from 41 watercourses commands in Pakistan show that, as expected, farmers in head end reaches of canals receive more canal water than those in tail end reaches. Contrary to conventional wisdom, however, these head end farmers also use more groundwater than those at the tail end. Overall, groundwater plays a more important role in irrigation than surface water, ranging from 65% dependence on pumped water in head end areas to over 90% in tail end areas. This means that groundwater is no longer supplemental to canal water, but is an integral part of the irrigated agricultural environment. However, the cropping choices of farmers appear to reflect the amount of good quality canal water they receive: head end farmers are able to grow more high value basmati rice in the summer and more vegetables in the winter, leaving tail enders to rely on less valuable crops such as fodder and wheat.Tail end areas are not only deprived of their fair share of surface water: they have to pump proportionately more groundwater which shows decreasing quality towards the tail. Typically, head end areas have groundwater with EC values of less than 1.0 dS/m, rising to over 2.0 dS/m in tail end areas. When the quality of both surface and groundwater used by farmers is examined, only the top 40% of the distributary gets water of adequate quality, the next 40% get below average quality, while the tail 20% of farmers irrigate with water that is classified as saline.Because of higher dependence on more expensive groundwater tail enders use less water per unit area, thereby reducing the leaching requirement. The result is a clear increase in soil salinity from head to tail along distributary canals, and there is some evidence of land abandonment in tail end watercourses due to excess salinity.The implications of these results are far reaching. Government policy includes plans to divert significant quantities of fresh canal water to areas underlain by saline groundwater on the basis that farmers already have adapted to pumping fresh groundwater. The results reported suggest that if this policy were implemented, there is a risk that over-dependence on fresh groundwater could lead to an intensification of the rate of soil salinization and deterioration of quality in areas currently classified as fresh groundwater zones.At present, the location and utilization of privately owned shallow tubewells is not monitored, and thus it is not possible for government agencies to determine just how much water of different qualities is being used. Further, canal water deliveries, public deep well monitoring, watercourse monitoring programs, soil salinity measurements, and agricultural performance monitoring are all scattered among different agencies and organizations, making the task of effective conjunctive management of surface and groundwater even more difficult.Conventional wisdom: Groundwater in Pakistan ... where it exists within the canal system ... is used to supplement surface water supplies to meet peaks in demand. (WAPDA, 1990)     

Productivity of Rice—Wheat Cropping System in a Part of Indo-Gengetic Plain: A Spatial Analysis

Investigations were made to study the effect of unequal distribution of canal water in land and water productivity of the rice—wheat cropping system in terms of head—tail relationship in Bhakra Canal command, Haryana. Information on water supply, agronomic practices, crop yield, etc.,were collected from 216 farmers comprising 36 farmers each from the head, middle, and tail watercourses of two minors during year 2000–01. The unequal supply of canal water and presence of marginal quality groundwater creates large variations in the cropping pattern, irrigation application, and land and water productivity of the irrigation system. The groundwater of tail reaches, being saline in nature, was about 25% less productive as compared to head reaches. The unavailability of canal water in the tail reaches creates more dependency on groundwater. Due to its poor quality the crop production in the tail reaches was less by 10 to 20% in case of wheat, and 20 to 40% in case of rice, as compared to head reaches. Groundwater transfer from head to tail reaches and cultivation of low water requiring salt tolerant crops/varieties would be helpful in reducing the productivity gap and increasing the profitability of the farms in the region.     

Economic feasibility of growing capsicum crop under drip irrigation in West Bengal, India

Drip irrigation system has been one of the technical means to improve water use efficiency. In India, this system is gaining popularity among fruit growers and in water scarced area but a substantial area is being covered annually under vegetables crops. One of the major concerns raised by farmers about this system is its economic viability. In present study, the economic viability of drip irrigation system for growing capsicum crop based on discounted cash flow technique (Net present worth and Benefit cost ratio) was explored. Eight irrigation treatments were laid under drip with and without plastic mulch. The irrigation levels were taken as 1, 0.8 and 0.6 of the crop evapotranspiration. The pan evaporation method was used for estimation of reference evapotranspiration and Water Balance Approach was used for irrigation scheduling. The average amount of water supplied under treatment VD (100% irrigation requirement supplied with drip) was found to be 415 mm for whole growing season of the crop. Similarly the amount of water was found to be 332 mm and 249 mm for the treatment 0.8VD (80% irrigation requirement supplied with drip) and 0.6VD (60% irrigation requirement supplied with drip) respectively. Highest yield was recorded in case of treatment VD + PM (100% irrigation requirement supplied with drip plus plastic mulch) followed by VD. Yield under treatments 0.8VD, 0.6VD, 0.8VD + PM and 0.6VD + PM were significant while treatments VD, VF and VF + PM were at par with the treatment VD + PM. Net Present Worth (NPW) was found to be positive for all the treatments. The highest NPW was obtained under treatment VD as Rs. 309,734.90 and lowest was in case of 0.6VD + PM as Rs. 144,172.24. The yield per mm of water used was reported to be at higher side as 35 in both the treatments VD and VD + PM. But the yield per mm of water used was found to be lowest as 18.07 and 19 in case of VF and VF + PM respectively.     

Modelling the effect of canal bed elevation on seepage and water table rise in a sand box filled with loamy soil

The HYDRUS 2D finite difference two-dimensional water balance model was experimentally tested for transient and steady state seepage flux, mound height, and piezometric water level from soil surface as a function of time and horizontal distance from the centre of the canal (half width = 45 cm) under different canal bed elevations (20, 0, −40, −80 and −120 cm denoted as experiments D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5, respectively) and constant water head of 5 cm in a sand box (200 cm × 170 cm × 150 cm) filled with Hisar loam soil. Differences of means between measured and predicted values of infiltration flux, seepage flux and mound height as tested by paired t test were not found significant (P = 0.05). Seepage flux and mound height increased with increasing canal bed elevation. Phreatic level depths were everywhere much shallower than the piezometric water level depths in experiments D1, D2 and D3. However, in experiments D4 and D5 both phreatic and piezometric levels were at similar depths. The seepage parameters and mound height increased, and water table depth decreased, linearly with increasing canal bed elevation. Lowering the canal bed to 120 cm below the soil surface reduced the seepage rate to that of lined canals. The projections in a large flow domain also revealed that lowering the canal to −2 and −4 m below soil surface stabilized the water table at 2.5 and 4.5 m below soil surface, respectively. The practical implications are that open drains should be used for irrigation in areas underlain with a brackish groundwater aquifer and gravity canals may be allowed only where groundwater aquifer is of good quality and sub-surface water withdrawal is practiced for irrigation.     

Adapting to intersectoral transfers in the Zhanghe Irrigation System, China: Part I. In-system storage characteristics

The Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS), in Central China, has drawn attention internationally because it managed to sustain its rice production in the face of a dramatic reallocation of water to cities, industries and hydropower uses. Ponds, the small reservoirs ubiquitous in the area, are hypothesized to have been instrumental in this. Ponds are recharged by a combination of return flows from irrigation and runoff from catchment areas within the irrigated perimeter. They provide a flexible, local source of irrigation water to farmers. This paper assesses the storage capacity and some key hydrological properties of ponds in a major canal command within ZIS. Using remote sensing data (Landsat and IKONOS) and an area–volume relationship based on a field survey, we obtained an overall pond storage capacity of 96 mm (per unit irrigated area). A comparative analysis between 1978 and 2001 reveals that part of this capacity results from a very significant development of ponds (particularly in the smaller range of sizes) in the time interval, probably as a response to rapidly declining canal supplies. We developed a high-resolution digital elevation model from 1:10,000 topographic maps to support a GIS-based hydrological analysis. Pond catchments were delineated and found to extensively overlap, forming hydrological cascades of up to 15 units. In a 76-km² area within the irrigation system, we found an average of close to five ‘connected’ ponds downstream of each irrigated pixel. This high level of connectivity provides opportunities for multiple reuses of water as it flows along toposequences. A fundamental implication is that field ‘losses’ such as seepage and percolation do not necessarily represent losses at a larger scale. Such scale effects need to be adequately taken into account to avoid making wrong assumptions about water-saving interventions in irrigation.     

Irrigation and drainage needs of transplanted rice in diked rice fields of rainfed medium lands

An experiment was conducted in diked rice fields with various weir heights (6 cm to 30 cm at an interval of 4 cm) for three consecutive years in the sub-humid climate of eastern India. The results reveal that about 56.75% and 99.5% of the seasonal rainfall can be stored in 6 cm and 30 cm weir height plots, respectively. Sediment losses of 347.8 kg/ha and 3.3 kg/ha have been recorded in runoff water coming out of 6 cm and 30 cm weir height plots, respectively in a cropping season. Similarly, total Kjeldahl nitrogen loss in runoff water from rice fields ranged from 4.23 kg/ha (6 cm weir height plots) to 0.17 kg/ha (26 cm weir height plots). The available K loss ranged from 2.20 kg/ha (6 cm weir height plots) to 0.04 kg/ha (30 cm weir height plots). Keeping in mind the aspects of conserving rainwater, sediment and nutrient and minimizing irrigation requirement, 22–26 cm of dike height is considered to be suitable for rice fields of the Bhubaneswar region during the Kharif (rainy) season. A lumped water balance model for diked rice field was developed and used for the present investigation. The computed values of runoff obtained from the simulation model are in close agreement with the observed values obtained in an experiment using higher weir heights (22 cm and above). The temporal distribution of runoff and irrigation requirement at fortnight intervals reveal that highest irrigation requirement is found during the first half of November followed by the second half of October and the first half of October. Rice fields up to a weir height of 18 cm produced about 20% of the total runoff in each of the first three fortnights. A gradual reduction in runoff was observed in the remaining fortnights. The least runoff was noticed in the month of November (during the first fortnight).     

Identifying sources of recharge to shallow aquifers using a groundwater model

The poor water quality of sub-surface drainage, hereafter drainage, water generated in the western San Joaquin Valley in California creates management challenges for farmers and water managers. Elevated concentrations of salt and trace elements in agricultural drainage limit the disposal options. In this constrained environment, determining the original source of drainage water is a crucial step in developing appropriate drainage management policies. Numerical modeling results of near-surface water-table fluctuations indicate that the substantial groundwater rise observed in the vicinity of the region's major water supply canal could not be attributed solely to seepage from overlying irrigated fields. An inverse solution approach is used herein to test the theory that seepage from the canal itself and/or that from surface water retention ponds (designed to protect the structure from flash floods) is responsible for an accentuated groundwater mound. The results suggest that canal seepage is the more likely source of non-agricultural aquifer recharge.     

Estimation of water levels in a main drainage canal in a flat low-lying agricultural area using artificial neural network models

The Chiyoda basin is located in the Saga Prefecture of the Kyushu Island, Japan, and lies next to the tidal compartment of the Chikugo River, into which excess water in the basin is drained away. This basin has a total area of approximately 1100 ha and is a typical flat and low-lying agricultural area. The estimation of the water levels at the gates and along the main drainage canal is a crucial issue that has recently been the subject of much research. At these locations farmers and managers need to control the operation of the irrigation and drainage systems during periods of cultivation. An attempt has been made to apply a feed-forward artificial neural network (FFANN) to model and estimate the water levels in the main drainage canal. The study indicated that the artificial neural network (ANN) could successfully model the complex relationship between rainfall and water levels in this flat and low-lying agricultural area. Input variables and the model structure were selected and optimized by trial and error, and the accuracy of the model was then evaluated by comparing the simulated water levels with the observed ones during an irrigation period in July 2007. The water levels at two locations, located upstream and downstream of a main drainage canal, were investigated by using a time series at intervals of 20, 30, and 60 min. At these intervals, rainfall and tide water levels in the Chikugo River were measured, and the backward time-step numbers of the input variables of rainfall and tide water level were searched. For the upstream location, the optimal combination yielding good agreement between the observed and estimated water levels was obtained when the interval of the time series was 60 min. The number of backward time-steps of the input variables of rainfall and tide water level were 5 and 4, respectively. In contrast to the downstream location, the optimal combination was obtained for the interval time series of 20 min with 4 backward time-steps for both the input variables of rainfall and tide water level. The present study could provide farmers and managers with a useful tool for controlling water distribution in the drainage basin, and reduce the cost of installing water level observation points at many locations in the main drainage canal.     

Effect of operating pressures on microirrigation uniformity

The effect of operating pressure heads on water application uniformity in microirrigation submain units was evaluated. Research results show that water application uniformity either increases or slightly decreases as operating pressure head increases in a range when the emission exponent x ≤ 0.5 in most cases. The water application uniformity decreases as operating pressure head increases in a range when the emission exponent x > 0.5. The relationship between operating pressure head and average emitter discharge in submain units can be considered as approximately linear for operating pressure heads in a small range (usually between the allowable minimum and maximum operating pressures of the submain units). These results help to estimate the average emitter discharge rate easily in a submain unit for an increased or decreased operating pressure head when one is attempting to manage emitter discharge dynamically according to the requirements of crop root growth for different periods. Generally, a microirrigation system designed to meet the desired uniformity of water application according to the allowable minimum operating pressure head would be better when x ≤ 0.5 because water application uniformity increases as operating pressure increases if emitter discharges are being managed dynamically. However, a microirrigation system designed to meet the required water application uniformity according to the allowable maximum operating pressure head would be better when x > 0.5 because, in general, water application uniformity increases as operating pressure decreases. Received: 29 November 1999     

基于改进多目标决策模型的大桥水库灌区渠系自适应规划方法

提出基于改进多目标决策模型的大桥水库灌区渠系自适应规划方法,合理规划大桥水库灌区渠系配水,提高水资源利用率,降低无效弃水以及对生态环境的影响。以配水结束后灌区各渠系缺水量、渠道输水损失量以及农作物生产带来的灰水足迹三者最小为大桥水库灌区渠系规划多目标决策函数,以渠道输水能力、水量和时间为约束条件,构建大桥水库灌区渠系规划的多目标决策模型;以栅格法构建路径规划的运行环境,通过移动几率优化、信息素挥发系数自适应调整两方面改进蚁群算法,通过改进蚁群算法寻优获取渠道缺水量、输水损失量、灰水足迹最小的水库灌区渠系规划结果。实验证明：该方法可以有效规划大桥水库灌区渠系的水资源,规划后的灌区渠系在缺水量、渠道输水损失量以及灰水足迹方面都有较好的表现,且效率高、应用性强。     

Elevation and infiltration in a level basin. I. Characterizing variability

Spatial characterization of soil physical properties could improve the estimation of surface irrigation performance. The aim of this research was to characterize the spatial and time variability of a set of irrigation-related soil properties. The small-scale experimental level-basin (729 m²) was located on an alluvial loam soil. A corn crop was established in the basin and irrigated five times during the season. A detailed survey of the soil properties (generally using a 3 × 3 m network) was performed. Classic statistical and geostatistical tools were used to characterize the variables and their interactions. Semivariograms were validated for the studied variables, except for the clay fraction, the saturated hydraulic conductivity and the infiltration parameters. The resulting geostatistical range was often in the interval of 6–10 m. For the three surveys of soil surface elevation the range was smaller, about 4 m. No correlation was found between saturated hydraulic conductivity and the other soil physical properties. Soil surface elevation showed a high correlation between surveys. After the first irrigation, the standard deviation of elevation increased from an initial 9.6 mm to 20.8 mm. The soil physical parameters were used to map the soil water management allowable depletion. In a companion paper these results are used to explain the spatial variability of corn yield and soil water recharge due to irrigation. Received: 24 February 1998     

引黄济津应急调水工程河北段输水能力计算

针对引黄济津应急调水工程河北段的输水能力进行了研究。渠段的输水能力是指渠段所能通过的最大入流量，即渠段的首端断面所能通过的最大流量。根据引黄济津应急调水工程近4年的实测数据，构建了适于干河床水流推进过程渗漏损失的改进模型、小水深情况下的糙率加大模型，并采用均匀试验优选方法对水力参数进行了反演，利用非恒定流模型对引黄济津河北段渠系输水能力进行了计算。结果表明，建立的渗漏损失改进模型、小水深情况下的糙率加大模型是合理的，反演得到的参数是精确的；由于在水流推进与涨水阶段渠床的非稳定渗漏起了较大作用，所以各渠段的输水能力在非稳定输水阶段比稳定输水阶段稍大。输水能力的计算结果可以为引黄济津未来几年的输水规划与调度提供具体的指导。     

Performance assessment of irrigation water management in old lands of the Nile delta of Egypt

This paper provides the methodology and results of a cross-scale diagnostic performance assessment program of the irrigation water management in the old lands of the Nile Delta of Egypt. The analysis was done at three levels; main canal level, branch canals level and on-farm level of the Meet Yazid command (82,740 ha) for the year 2008?C2009 to highlight areas for improvement. At the main canal level the annual average percentage of irrigation water returning to drains and groundwater was 53% of the total water supplied. Since Meet Yazid lies at tail end of the delta, and there is groundwater salinity, opportunities for reuse are increasingly limited moving north to Lake Burullus. This would indicate opportunities for real water savings. The results of monthly relative water supply of the main canal indicated mismatch between demand and supply especially during the winter months, and when supply is low farmers do reuse drainage or groundwater. Also, the assessment of the three branch canals showed non-uniformity of water distribution and mismatch between demand and supply even when comparing improved and non-improved canals. At the on-farm level in paddy fields, the amount of irrigation flows to drains and saline sinks varied from 0.46 to 0.71 of inflow. In spite of these values of non-uniformity and low depleted fraction, the relative evapotranspiration (ratio of actual to potential) evaporation was uniformly high, indicating most crops of most farmers were not water stressed, which is also confirmed by the high yield values. The average values of productivity per unit water depleted by ET_act were 1.04 and 1.05 kg/m³ for rice and wheat fields, respectively, with yields of rice and wheat at 8 and 6 t per ha respectively. On farm and tertiary improvements alone will not yield real water savings, as excess water in the main canal and drains will continue to flow out of the system. Rather the focus should first be on supplies to the main canal, accompanied by more precise on farm and water delivery practices at branch and tertiary levels, and ensuring that environmental flows are met. There is an added advantage of focusing on this tail end region of Egypt that this response would lessen vulnerability to reuse of polluted and saline water.     

Social power,water control and irrigation systems

The principal finding of the study is that social power positions held by Egyptian farmers sharings a common watercourse do not have significant influence in the farmer's ability to control irrigation water distribution. Other variables used to describe irrigation management; location on the water course and farmers' use of more than one source of water to irrigate; also do not yield any explanations as to why particular farmers have more control over their irrigation than others. Farmers who have more control are less likely to be affected by other farmers' actions, physical problems on delivery canals, breakdown in pumps, and government officials actions. While differences in irrigation control among farmers exist, no single cause is identified. Two explanations for the findings are (1) water control is sufficient for a large percentage of Egyptian farmers, and (2) adequately explaining irrigation behavior cannot be done with separate variables.Deceased     

Use of simulation models to evaluate irrigation performance including water productivity, risk and system analyses

 Worsening water scarcity will increase pressure to use water more productively. In the classical view of irrigation research, some important aspects are often ignored: the total water balance approach, productivity of water, food security, and irrigation-system level analyses. These four approaches were evaluated using a detailed agro-hydrological model applied to an irrigation system in western Turkey. Emphasis was placed on the two dominant crops in the area: cotton and grapes. According to the classical point of view, the only result would be to irrigate the cotton with 1000 mm and the grapes with 800 mm. From the water productivity point of view, however, the water productivity of grapes appeared to be maximal without any irrigation; while for the cotton, irrigation at 600 mm maximizes water productivity. To minimize risks and increase yield stability, grapes perform better than cotton. Finally, from the irrigation system point of view, decisions can be made about the desirable cropping pattern and the distribution of water between crops. With limited amounts of water available for irrigation, a cropping pattern consisting mainly of grapes is desired; while with higher water availability, a mixture of cotton and grapes is preferable. The methods presented provide a clear methodology with which to achieve the most productive use of water. Received: 3 June 1999     

渠道密度与渠系水利用系数关系研

为了研究灌区渠道密度与渠系水利用系数之间的关系，首先从分析渠道水的渗漏情况入手,分析了渠系水利用系数与渗漏之间的关系,建立了在相同衬砌条件下渠道密度与渠系水利用系数之间的数学关系。然后提出有关渠道密度概念，这一概念的提出有利于灌区渠道分布合理性的进一步评价。渠道密度与渠系水利用系数两者之间关系式的确立，有助于从理论上评价渠道分布对渠系水利用系数的影响。     

Using a hydro-dynamic flow model to plan maintenance activities and improve irrigation water distribution: application to the Fordwah distributary in Punjab, Pakistan

In secondary canals in Pakistans Punjab, the waterdistribution depends on the hydraulic characteristicsof channels, cross-structures and tertiary outlets.Maintenance of channels and structures plays a crucialrole in upholding equitable distribution of water tothe tertiary units. In the past, maintenance has beenundertaken by irrigation managers based on experienceand observations. In the present study a hydro-dynamicmodel (SIC – Simulation of Irrigation Canals) is usedto assess a priori the impact of maintenance measureson water distribution. Maintenance measures can thusbe selected that remove existing bottlenecks in thewater distribution in the most cost-effective way. The methodology is applied to a secondary canal insouth-east Punjab. The simulation results show thatthe main cause of present inequity in waterdistribution are deviations in dimensions of tertiaryoutlets, which, if restored, would make the mosteffective contribution to improve the waterdistribution. Maintenance of the channel is necessaryif its capacity diminishes.