Rehabilitation of canal irrigation schemes in India: a qualitative analysis

Abstract

The article describes a brief history of canal irrigation development and rehabilitation measures taken up in the past. The processes leading to deterioration in the condition of canal irrigation systems, necessitating rehabilitation, have been described. Based on a survey of several irrigation commands in different agro-climatic zones, the problems in aged irrigation projects are presented. The purpose is to identify the technical and non-technical factors limiting the performance of canal irrigation systems. Regarding rehabilitation of canal irrigation systems, several policy issues have been raised and discussed. The importance of the issues raised pertaining to canal rehabilitation and the solutions have also been discussed in this article. HIGHLIGHTS Canals have been an effective source of irrigation for several centuries in India, given its unique monsoon weather conditions.; Old canal systems face several challenges due to poor design, technical defects, demand -supply mismatch, hydrological alterations, malfunctioning of flow control structures, and poor irrigation efficiencies.; The pre-rehabilitation performance evaluation is necessary to obtain the current status of the under-performing canal irrigation systems.; When there were physical constraints to improve the system performance, condition assessment was required.; The condition assessment of irrigation schemes is helpful for identifying the factors which limit the performance of irrigation schemes.;

Keywords

• canal
• canal operation
• irrigation
• rehabilitation
• soil properties