Water Rights and Multiple Water Uses – Framework and Application to Kirindi Oya Irrigation System Sri Lanka

The growing attention to water rights inrecent years reflects the increasingscarcity and competition for this vitalresource. Because rights are at the heartof any water allocation system, they arealso critical for any reallocation. Notonly efficiency, but also fundamentalissues of equity are at stake. Tounderstand water rights requires goingbeyond formal statutory law (which may ormay not be followed), to look at the manybases for claiming water. Because of thevital nature of this resource, state law,religious law, customary law and localnorms all have something to say in definingwater rights. Delineating water rights isfurther complicated when we take intoconsideration multiple uses (irrigation,domestic, fishing, livestock, industries,etc.) as well as multiple users (differentvillages, groups of farmers in the head andtail, fishermen, cattle owners, etc.) ofthe resource. These overlapping uses bringin different government agencies, as wellas different sets of norms and rulesrelated to water.This paper provides a framework forexamining the statutory and customary waterrights of multiple users of water andapplies it in the Kirindi Oya irrigationsystem in Sri Lanka, based on amultidisciplinary study conducted in1997–1998. It demonstrates that thestakeholders of an irrigation system go farbeyond the owners and cultivators ofirrigated fields. These groups are notonly claimants on the ongoing management ofwater resource systems, but also need to beincluded in any considerations oftransferring water from irrigation to otheruses.     

Cumulative relative water supply: A methodology for assessing irrigation system performance

This paper discusses the usefulness and limitations of using the concept of Relative Water Supply (RWS) for evaluating the performance of irrigation systems, with special reference to systems irrigating rice. It then describes and demonstrates the use of a modification of RWS called Cumulative Relative Water Supply (CRWS), which can be used in conjunction with RWS. The advantage of CRWS is that it provides a measure of the cumulated RWS throughout a season, both in absolute terms at any given time, and in terms of the overall seasonal trend. It allows comparison of performance of an irrigation system or subsystem both to the target, and to other systems or subsystems. It can therefore be used both as an analytical tool by researchers, and as an operational tool by managers. The use of CRWS in conjunction with RWS is illustrated with examples from Sri Lanka.     

Modernization of irrigation systems: A case of research,oriented to improve management

In recent years, the traditional concept of an irrigation project has been changing. From just a physical structure for the storage, conveyance and distribution of water, it is now being regarded as a more complex system, including farmers' participation. This implies an improved management in all phases, from reservoir operation to farm management, and therefore the change from simple operation and maintenance to operation, maintenance and management.To face this new challenge, existing projects must be modernized. The Sorraia Irrigation Project is one of those projects. In this paper major problems are identified and it is showed how research (namely through modelling) can be oriented towards an improved management, regarding the conveyance and distribution systems as well as the on-farm systems.Finally it becomes evident that beyond the technical problems to be solved, the involvement and participation of farmers must be improved at all levels of management. Hence, there is also a need for implementing programs on education, training and extension.     

From on-farm solid-set sprinkler irrigation design to collective irrigation network design in windy areas

In this paper, a contribution to the design of collective pressurised irrigation networks in solid-set sprinkler-irrigated windy areas is presented. The methodology is based on guaranteeing minimum on-farm performance, using a historical hourly wind speed database and a ballistic solid-set irrigation simulation model. The proposed method was applied to the Montesnegros Irrigation District (central Ebro basin, Spain). The district irrigates an area of 3493 ha using an on-demand schedule. The average wind speed in the area is 2.8 m s⁻¹. An analysis of district water records showed that farmers often reduce water demand when the wind speed is high, but their irrigation decision making is limited by the capacity of the irrigation network and by the unpredictable character of local winds. Simulations were performed for 11 irrigation seasons, 2 triangular sprinkler spacings (18 m × 18 m and 18 m × 15 m), and 2 sprinkler models. The percentage of monthly suitable time for irrigation was determined for four management strategies. The first one was based on a wind speed threshold (3 m s⁻¹), while the other three were based on three levels (standard, relaxed and restrictive) of two irrigation performance parameters: the Christiansen Uniformity Coefficient (CU) and the Wind Drift and Evaporation Losses (WDEL). The standard strategy classified the time as suitable for irrigation when CU ≥ 84% and WDEL ≤ 20%. The thresholds limits of the irrigation parameters for the relaxed strategy were CU ≥ 80% and WDEL ≤ 25%. Finally, the restrictive strategy used thresholds of CU ≥ 90% and WDEL ≤ 15%. The suitable time for the first strategy (56%) was always lower than for the standard and the relaxed strategies (with respective average values of 75 and 86%), and higher than for the restrictive strategy (30%). In order to design the collective network, the hydrant operating time was equalled to the suitable time for irrigation. The differences in the cost of the collective network plus the on-farm equipment were particularly relevant between the restrictive strategy and the other three. Differences in suitable operating time were clear between sprinkler spacings, and less evident between sprinkler models. The application of the proposed methodology may be limited by the availability of historical wind speed records and CU estimates for different combinations of sprinkler models, sprinkler spacings and wind speed.     

Sensitivity analysis of optimal operation of irrigation supply systems with water quality considerations

A model for optimal operation of water supply/irrigation systems of various water quality sources, with treatment plants, multiple water quality conservative factors, and dilution junctions is presented. The objective function includes water cost at the sources, water conveyance costs which account for the hydraulics of the network indirectly, water treatment cost, and yield reduction costs of irrigated crops due to irrigation with poor quality water. The model can be used for systems with supply by canals as well as pipes, which serve both drinking water demands of urban/rural consumers and field irrigation requirements. The general nonlinear optimization problem has been simplified by decomposing it to a problem with linear constraints and nonlinear objective function. This problem is solved using the projected gradient method. The method is demonstrated for a regional water supply system in southern Israel that contains 39 pipes, 37 nodes, 11 sources, 10 agricultural consumers, and 4 domestic consumers. The optimal operation solution is described by discharge and salinity values for all pipes of the network. Sensitivity of the optimal solution to changes in the parameters is examined. The solution was found to be sensitive to the upper limit on drinking water quality, with total cost being reduced by 5% as the upper limit increases from 260 to 600 mg Cl l^–1. The effect of income from unit crop yield is more pronounced. An increase of income by a factor of 20 results in an increase of the total cost by a factor of 3, thus encouraging more use of fresh water as long as the marginal cost of water supply is smaller than the marginal decrease in yield loss. The effect of conveyance cost becomes more pronounced as its cost increases. An increase by a factor of 100 results in an increase of the total cost by about 14%. The network studied has a long pipe that connects two distinct parts of the network and permits the supply of fresh water from one part to the other. Increasing the maximum permitted discharge in this pipe from 0 to 200 m³ h^–1 reduces the total cost by 11%. Increasing the maximum discharge at one of the sources from 90 to 300 m³ h^–1 reduces the total cost by about 8%.     

Developing an improved operational strategy for the Thup-Salao irrigation system,Thailand

A combined monitoring-modelling analysis of the past operation of the Thup Salao irrigation scheme (Thailand) is performed with a view to developing an improved operational strategy. The IMSOP computer model was used to simulate the operation of the delivery system using monitoring operational data since its commissioning (1988–1991). Temporal deviations of up to 80% are observed between the planned irrigation supply, the requirement irrigation delivery and the actual irrigation delivery in the wet season and up to 20% in the dry season. A real-time rainfall adjustment of the planned delivery scheduling resulted in a substantial improvement in the ability to match crop water demand and use rainfall more effectively. This suggests that a dual scheduling strategy consisting of seasonal (tactical) planning and real-time adjustment is required to improve operational performance.     

Multiple-Use Management in a Large Irrigation System: Benefits of Distributed Secondary Storage

Large-scale canal irrigation projects are commonly seen as profligate users of water. Their low water productivity has been attributed by many authors to deficiencies in management or to actions by farmers to circumvent management control over water distribution. Inadequate design has sometimes been cited as a contributing factor, but the relationship between design and manageability has received too little attention. In most conventional large-scale irrigation systems imperfect matching between water supply and demand is an inescapable fact of life that leads to operational spillages and low efficiency. Provision of auxiliary storage reservoirs at strategic points within the canal system can buffer this mismatch and improve service delivery and also aid recovery of return flows. Such reservoirs may bring additional benefits in that they provide opportunities for multiple-use management and increased productivity of irrigation water. This paper presents a case study of Mahaweli System H in Sri Lanka, which incorporates a large number of secondary reservoirs within its 25000 ha command area. The paper examines current operational performance and considers scope for and constraints to multiple-use management.     

Performance assessment of Doroodzan irrigation network by steady state hydraulic modeling

There is a need for improvement in the operation and management of many irrigation and drainage systems worldwide. Computer models are used widely for better management. One of such models is HEC-RAS that was applied to Ordibehesht Canal at the Doroodzan irrigation network, northwest of Fars province in the southern Iran. The model was calibrated and validated for two irrigation seasons during 2001 and 2002. The present gate opening rules used to control the offtakes were simulated by the model and the discharge reductions were evaluated. Discharge reduction of offtakes due to discharge reductions at system source were evaluated by the model. Results show that the present rule is not appropriate for the present system. Fluctuations of discharge at the beginning of canal show considerable and nonuniform changes in discharge of offtakes along the Ordibehesht Canal. The head offtakes show more reductions in the water delivered than middle and tail offtakes. A new sensitivity indicator was defined and used to show the response of offtakes due to discharge changes at system source. The study also shows that HEC-RAS model can be used successfully for a large and complex irrigation system for evaluation of its performance in the absence of observed flow data and improvement of irrigation management plans.     

Irrigation timeliness indicators and application in smallholder irrigation systems in Zimbabwe

Timing of supply of irrigation water is an important measure of water management performance. Yet despite this widely accepted importance of timeliness, few studies have attempted to quantify this performance indicator. This paper suggests a methodology for quantifying timeliness. The indices thus generated are used to compare the performance of some types of smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe. Results indicate that applying measures of timeliness helps to assess water management practices across scheme types.The methodology given in this paper differentiates between timely irrigation deliveries which meet Crop Water Requirements (CWR) and surplus water supplies due to poor timeliness which cannot be used by the crop, hence denoting wastage. The timeliness indices provide more information regarding management practices than simple measures of total water applications over a given season.     

大型灌区渠道闸门一体化测控系统

基于自动化控制、网络通信和测量等技术,设计并研发了能够实现信息采集-处理-决策-信息反馈-监控-共享一体化的灌区闸门测控设备,并在甘肃省景电灌区进行了应用和验证.结果表明:渠道闸门一体化测控系统实现了灌区流量数据自动监测、收集和计算分析,提高了计量精度;能够对数据进行存储、查询与展示,实现了数据的共享,形成了灌区水资源管理数据库;实现了渠道流量远程自动控制与调节,提高了管理水平和管理效率;实现了智能手机远程操作,提高了办公效率.灌区闸门测控一体化测控系统的实施减少了灌区现场维护的次数,降低了设备运行成本,极大地提高了灌区水资源管理效率.研究成果可为中国大型灌区水资源科学管理提供有力的技术支撑,对闸门量水测流技术进步进行了有益的探索.     

The financial viability of irrigation management companies: A case study of Cu Chi irrigation system,Vietnam

A crucial, yet little understood, element in the economic studies of irrigation is the role played by companies who manage the supply of water. Many of these companies are publicly managed as they have the potential to act as monopolists. Possibly as a consequence of their ownership structure, analysts have questioned the economic viability and management of these firms. The case is made that many of these companies do not run profitably, that they rely on government subsidies to survive, that they do not spend enough on maintenance and that they run down their capital base. The purpose in this paper is to specify the measures that allow analysts to examine the financial viability of a publicly owned irrigation management companies and to apply these to a scheme in Vietnam. Of concern and contention in any irrigation scheme is the price that a company should charge for water in order to recover costs in the short-run. It was found that the company under investigation could not operate without subsidies and did run down their assets. It was found that a great disparity exists between what the consumers were charged for water and what the company received for supplying it. To ensure the sustainability of the Irrigation Management Companies in long term, they may have to increase the water fee by 3.75 times the current rate set by the provincial government (US$ 20 per ha).     

Changes in system performance in two Chinese irrigation systems as a result of organizational reforms

Drawing on a study of two irrigation systems in Hebei Province, this paper documents the impacts of rural economic and organization reforms on irrigation system performance. In the two systems, prior to development of irrigation, farmers consumed all their grain within the household. However, at present both districts are selling grain, with annual output of 11.9 tons/hectare in Bayi and 8.5 tons/hectare in Nanyao. However, due to the use of groundwater in Bayi, output per unit of water is 1.5 kg/m3 in Bayi and 1.3 kg/m3 in Nanyao. In Bayi, farmers have augmented declining surface water supplies with groundwater and purchased water – using funds from sideline enterprises – and have increased output. In contrast, in Nanyao both income and grain output increases have reached a plateau. Nanyao, with its weak resource base, will probably need to develop additional income sources to be able to improve water management in order to reach the next plateau of productivity.     

Analysis of Manual and Centralised Supervisory Control Operations to Improve Level of Service: A Case Study of Pyramid Hill No 1 Channel, Victoria, Australia

The current challenge facing irrigation inAustralia is tofind ways to improve the operationalperformance of existing systems rather thanconstructing new ones. Unsteady flowsimulation models are often used as keytools to study and test improvedoperational scenarios for existing systems.While these models are generally notrecommended for real-time control, researchhas shown that they are able to simulatecanal response for different test scenariosfor operations planning. This paperpresents the results of two alternativemodes of operation for the Pyramid Hill No.1 Channel in northern Victoria, Australia.The channel is currently under manualoperation. Centralised control is the mostimmediate option considered by theirrigation authority to enable remotesupervision and control of the canal toimprove the channel operation and level ofservice standards. This type of control istermed Supervisory Control and DataAcquisition (SCADA). The two alternativeoperational scenarios were simulated andanalysed using the unsteady flow-simulationmodel DUFLOW. Specific performanceindicators were defined to compare the twomodes of operations based on the simulationresults. The results show that SCADAoperation has considerable potential toclosely match the discharges at thedownstream regulator with those ordered byfarmers while maintaining the water surfaceelevations within allowable fluctuationtolerance throughout the length of thecanal.     

Performance of agency-managed and farmer-managed irrigation systems: A comparative case study at Chitwan, Nepal

Management reforms are considered one of the best alternatives in increasing efficiency of the irrigation systems. Transfer of day-to-day operation and maintenance to farmers is not a new concept. However due to lags, even now it is a hot issue in developing countries and Nepal is not an exception. In this context of growing argument about the transfer of management of public irrigation systems to the Water Users' Group, this paper examines the comparative performance of farmer-managed and agency-managed irrigation systems. Khageri Irrigation System in the Chitwan district of Nepal was taken as the study site where complete management transfer has been done in 1996. The situations before and after complete transfer were compared. Intensive case studies of the selected farmers showed that equity in distribution of water and leakage had significantly improved after management transfer. Logit analysis revealed that age and education level of the household head, distance from main canal, leakage of the canal and equity in distribution are significantly related to the satisfaction level of the beneficiary farmers from FMIS compared to AMIS. However, landholding size of the respondent farmer has no significant effect. Similarly results from t-test revealed that rice productivity and overall profits from agriculture has also increased significantly due to irrigation management transfer.     

灌溉泵智能运行监测系统的研发

为了实时获取农业灌溉泵的性能参数信息以及农业灌溉用水水质信息,以达到优化灌溉泵运行,降低灌溉泵能耗,减少灌溉泵安全隐患,保证灌溉用水水质,防止农作物污染的目的,研发了一种基于STM32F103ZET6单片机设计的灌溉泵智能运行监测系统.该系统主要包括MCU核心控制模块、水质监测模块、驱动电动机电压电流信号采集模块、GP...     

On reliability in irrigation service preliminary concepts and application

Without doubt the performance indicator that has so far received least attention in irrigation is the reliability of irrigation service. A review of reliability approaches as reflected in the literature is made and the analysis leads to propose a new conceptual framework for reliability of irrigation.The reliability of irrigation service is defined as the degree to which the irrigation system, and its water deliveries, conform to the prior expectations of its users. The perception of the user is central to the process of defining expectations and to the process of making strategic and tactical choices for the cropping pattern, the quantity of inputs, etc.It is proposed here to use a composite reliability approach, combining two key aspects: the variability and the predictability of the service characteristics. The methodology consists firstly of defining a set of three, non-overlapping, first-order indicators which fully characterize irrigation deliveries. These indicators are: Adequacy, Timeliness and Steadiness. Then the variation (in time or in space) of these indicators leads to Second-order indicators of performance. One second-order indicator is the well-known Equity, which assesses the spatial distribution or the distribution between shareholders.Variability and predictability are the two main aspects of the proposed concept of reliability. The variability is the temporal variation of the first-order indicators while the predictability defines the extent to which irrigation can be forecast. Low variability means high predictability, whereas high variability does not necessarily mean low predictability, as patterns of variation can possibly be deduced from past events.The reliability is inversely proportional to the frequency and the magnitude of failure. Here the magnitude of failure in irrigation service is measured by the deviation of the actual from the expected delivery.Existing approaches and the proposed conceptual framework are applied to a case study in the Punjab-Pakistan. It shows that reliability indicators proposed so far are not doing any better than the classical approach of adequacy. The new proposed approach for reliability, based on the combination of variability and predictability, seems more promising.Finally this preliminary analysis also identifies several key domains for which further investigations should be undertaken to increase the general understanding of reliability.     

Modern analysis of surface irrigation systems with WinSRFR

WinSRFR is a new generation of software for analyzing surface irrigation systems. Founded on an unsteady flow hydraulic model, the software integrates event analysis, design, and operational analysis functionalities, in addition to simulation. This paper provides an overview of functionalities, interface, and architectural elements of the software, and discusses technical enhancements in version 2.1, released in late 2007, and version 3.1, scheduled for release in 2009.     

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.     

Yield measures of irrigation performance in Pakistan

Customary evaluations of irrigation performance based upon crop yield per unit area do not reflect an adequate assessment of performance in water scarce environments such as Pakistan. Yield per unit water is a complementary and sometimes more appropriate measure. This note illustrates the different evaluations based upon yields of irrigated wheat and rice in Pakistan.     

Effects of alternative water distribution rules on irrigation system performance: a simulation analysis

Based on a simulation model reflecting physical and economic conditions typically found in rice irrigation systems in Asia, the irrigation performance implications of alternative water distribution rules for dry season irrigation are evaluated under varying degrees of water shortage. The rules examined reflect differing water distribution strategies designed either to maximize conveyance efficiency, economic efficiency, or equity; or to achieve a balance between efficiency and equity objectives. Irrigation performance is evaluated using several efficiency measures reflecting the physical, agronomic and economic productivity of water, and one measure of equity. Economic efficiency and equity among farmers within the portion of the irrigation system that is on in any given season are shown to be complementary, and not competing objectives. Economic efficiency and equity among all farmers within the command area of the irrigation system are largely complementary strategies at the lower levels of water shortage, but with increasing shortage, significant tradeoffs develop between these objectives. An operational rule for water distribution under a goal of maximizing economic efficiency is developed, and the data requirements for its implementation are shown to be modest. Under the model's assumed conditions of dry season rice production dependent solely on surface irrigation for water, the distribution strategy designed to maximize conveyance efficiency results in only modestly lower levels of economic efficiency and equity than could be achieved by the strategy designed to maximize economic efficiency.