1. Improving the performance
of
public irrigation
in South Asia
Thierry Facon, FAO
Aditi Mukherji, IWMI

2. Public irrigation in South Asia in short
• India • Pakistan
– Protective irrigation – Indus system
– Low duties: 0.35 l/s/ha – Protective irrigation
– Warabundi – Low duties
– Shejpahi – Warabundi
– Block – Salinization
– Structured design – Waterlogging
-Impact on food security, poverty alleviation and economic
growth
-Equity not achieved, reliability dubious, flexibility very low
-Stagnation/decline
-Low flowrates and poor service push farmers to groundwater
which has allowed intensification

3. Structured design

4. Proportional flow division
• Can you grow
cash crops?
• Can you adopt
water saving
technologies?

5. Multifunctionality
• Multiple Uses of Water is a common practice !
• On a subset of 30 systems only 2 appear as single use !
• Actual water productivity much higher than WP(crop) !
100%
Share of estimated benefits
80%
Power
60% Drainage, Flood control,
transport, environment
Homestead garden & natural
40%
vegetation
Fish
20%
Domestic & Industry (incl
tourism)
0% Animals
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6. Poor water delivery service at all levels

7. Poor service levels
Overestimated by
management
(chaos <1)

8. Applying modern water control concepts helps
especially at main canal levels
• A

9. Improving the main canals assists in
improving service down to the farm

10. • Well-run management outfits help
• Budgets help but are not sufficient

11. Lessons & Issues in short (3)
Multivariable analysis performed to explain L&W Productivity
Model [Log WP] = 3.3-0.642*Log duty -0.287*LogCA
-0.463*ETo-0.238 *Rain
[ 70 % of variability explained]
Duty = Irrigation depth
CA= Command area
Most variability explained by duty !
Land Productivity: No significant model !

12. Log WP = 3.3-0.642*Log duty -0.287*Log CA-0.463*ETo-0.238 *Rain
0.4
0.2
MODEL = f(log Duty, log CA, ETo, Rain)
0
-1.8 -1.6 -1.4 -1.2 -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2
-1.4
-1.6
-1.8
Log Water Productivity

13. Lessons learnt
Significant correlation between
Types of systems for SERVICES & L&W PRODUCTIVITY
Group High High 1965 $/ha 0.18 $/m3
[High service at MC-SC and High at field]
Group Medium Low 1200 $/ha 0.10 $/m3
Group Low Low 924 $/ha 0.073 $/m3

14. Actual Water Service individual unit
AWDS = f[ Employees, MCI, Size of WUA]
explain 45 % of the variability
Partial Regression Plot Partial Regression Plot
Partial Regression Plot
Dependent Variable: Actual WDS to individual ownership units Dependent Variable: Actual WDS to individual ownership units
Dependent Variable: Actual WDS to individual ownership units
Actual WDS to individual ownership units
Actual WDS to individual ownership units
1.5 1.5
Actual WDS to individual ownership units
1.5
1.0 1.0
1.0
0.5 0.5
0.5
0.0 0.0
0.0
-0.5 -0.5 -0.5
-1.0 -1.0 -1.0
-1.5 -1.5 -1.5
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 -5000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Main Canal Indicator Employees Size of WUA hectares

15. • Strength of water
WUA’s strength
users associations
& Services
plays very little role in
improving service to
farmers, productivity
and upper level service

16. Having modern employee management (incentives,
Employee & Services
empowerment, supervision, capacity building) is useful
Note: the less the employees per ha the better for service
4.0
y = 0.5755x + 0.7342
R2 = 0.3165
3.5
Actual WDS to individual ownership units
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
4.0 y = 0.5839x + 1.1763
1.0
R2 = 0.2369
3.5
0.5
3.0
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
MC-SC Services
2.5
Employee
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
EMPLOYEE

17. % Unlined & Services most dowsntream
3.5 Canal lining
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5 y = -0.0036x + 1.747 No influence on
R2 = 0.0437
1.0 performance
0.5
0.0
0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0
productivity and cc lining
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
$/m3
0.6
0.4
0.2 y = -0.0013x + 0.2515
2
R = 0.06
0.0
0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0
% unlined

18. THE PROBLEM OF CANAL LINING
• Canal lining is a very expensive element in canal construction. Cost of
lining typically represents about 40% of total cost.
• Before making such a large investment, there must be a clear idea of the
benefits to be obtained
• Seepage losses typically represent 10 to 40 percent of diverted water
• The reduction of seepage losses is often assumed to be constant for the
expected life of the lining to have a chance of achieving a favorable
economic return
• Most favored by agencies
• There is now strong evidence that hard
surface linings deteriorate within a few
years until seepage losses return to that
for an unlined canal

19. Questions related to decision-
making
• What is the reality do we want to
improve?
• Water scarcity: what does it mean?
• How are decisions made?
• What are our objectives?

20. Virtual water reality …
Officially a dry crop system
Virtual water reality
THE TAIL-ENDER PROBLEM?
Upper reach of a field channel
near Mudhol
Ghataprabha LBMC

21. THE TAIL-ENDER PROBLEM?
End of the same field channel
Ghataprabha LBMC

22. IWMI3. Output per unit irrig. supply ($/cu. m.) .
RID
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
0.50
Lam Pao, Thailand
Dez, Iran
Guilan, Iran
Seyhan, Turkey
Majalgaon, India
Dantiwada, India
Bhakra, India
Muda, Malaysia
Kemubu, Malaysia
Beni Amir, Morocco
GLBC = US$0.23/m3
Office du Niger, Mali
Rio Yaqui Alto, DR
Coello, Colombia
No sugarcane
Saldaña, Colombia
Cupatitzio, Mexico
Rio Mayo, Mexico
ch112
Cam Sun, Vietnam

23. Sanctioned areas
Sanctioned supply
Groundwater pumped from within CA (left)
to outside the CA (right)
Ghataprabha LBMC

24. • Head of WUCS
Wrong hydraulics: they receive much
more than they should
Ghataprabha LBMC

25. West Krishna Delta

26. ency
I TRC10. Annual Pr oj ect I r r i gat i on Ef f i ci .
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
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improve efficiency by 20% if the
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Uncertainty on basic
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performance indicators
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ch125

27. Virtual reality 1: pretend that it
does not exist
Types of problems with virtual reality:
• Policy: maybe what we see outside the window is good but are the
bad aspects? What can be made more sustainable and how to fix it?
• We ignore problems: because infrastructure exists does not mean it is
alright and that the only problem is governance or management
• We invent problems that don’t exist to justify a favored solution
• We ignore opportunities:
• WUAs focused on canal management- can we reduce their
pumping costs?
• Multiple Use Systems: more MDGs per drop, more $/m3

28. Improving productivity or
efficiency?
“As irrigation is inefficient (30% of the water
diverted reaches the plant), we can reduce the
waste and losses and reallocate this to other
users by increasing irrigation efficiency”
Physical water scarcity
• Basin closure
• What is recoverable is recovered

29. Irrigation efficiency
• Confusion between field/system efficiency and
basin efficiency is common and underpins
many policies and investments
• Field efficiency and more efficient
technologies can be very good (energy, water
quality, sometimes in-stream flow, reducing
drainage, money, labor, etc.)

30. River basin closure processes
• overbuilding of river basins
• overallocation of entitlements
• overdraft of reservoirs and aquifers
• double squeeze of agricultural water use, due
to declining water availability and quality and
rising urban and environmental needs

31. Virtual reality 2: “problems are serious but we can
easily save much and/or get additional water”
• Some water can be saved but not as much as is
claimed
• When agricultural water management is moderately
good, things tend to a zero sum game
• Increasing efficiency, more efficient technologies (and
thus water rights and water pricing) often leads to
increased water consumption (ET)
• Problems are becoming wicked

32. Irrigation agencies
• Development ethos
• Bureaucratic top-down management
• Accountability, clientelism
• Rigidity and path dependency:
– How things are seen
– Education
– Management style and incentives
– Standard designs
– Consulting firms
– Vested interests

33. South Asia
• Many trends favor atomistic/informal except energy
prices
• The groundwater crisis and energy prices may generate
a pressure to improve public irrigation
• Need to manage atomistic irrigation within large scale
canal commands
=> Incentives for large-scale effects of individual behavior may be
needed in addition to interventions on the surface side

34. South Asia
A BIG STRATEGIC CHOICE TO MAKE:
ignore or acknowledge atomistic irrigation and groundwater issues
AFFECTS ALL FORMS OF IRRIGATION AND LARGE SCALE
WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
• Existing large-scale to mimic atomistic irrigation

35. Modernization:
From supply-driven to service-oriented
management
Service:
• Equity
• Reliability
• Flexibility
– Rate
– Duration
– Frequency
• Adequacy
• Lift/ pressure

36. Service => Operation
strategy/flow control system =>
Infrastructure design and
management needs

37. Working out evolution paths
• Unbundling
– Different levels, each providing service to the lower level
(this may include recharge)
– At each level:
• Service transactions: water, information, money
• Nature of operator
• Conveyance technology: canal/pipe
• Seepage or no seepage
• Surface/pressure
• Interface: extend or separate management:
» Buffer reservoir or pond/tank
» Pumping

38. Working out evolution paths
• Major decisions:
• Radical or progressive improvement
– Service to farmers and other uses and users
– Service/technology to farmers
– If competition from atomistic or unsustainable atomistic
• Match/mimic
• Conjunctive management
– Energy an increasing factor => surface or lower lift or water
conservation
– How many levels of operators (not PIM committees)
– Costs: Financial or investment strategies at each level
– Final delivery point

39. Improving the decision making process
• Exit the virtual reality
• Water auditing and accounting
• Strategic planning
• Capacity building
• Institutions
• Policy
• Governance
• Monitoring of investments and results

40. Policy
• Acknowledge the nature of the water economy
• Monitoring of investments and results
• Plan B, second-best and lateral options
• Policy/politicians: the art of the possible
• Change the practice on the ground to improve
conditions for feasibility or acceptability of new
policies: build a constituency for change
• Focus on important details

41. Institutions
• Beyond classical IMT/PIM
• Not just PPP
• Improve service to water user federations/associations
• Many institutional innovations in both informal economies
and formal economies
• MASSCOTE, large powerful professional farmer-owned
organizations managing (not necessarily themselves) canal
supply, rainfall and groundwater
• How to combine service orientation and regulation of
atomistic irrigation?

42. Governance
• Can one separate evolution of governance from the
political system?
• From representative democracy to monitory
democracy : a lot of action and political innovation in
the water area (because water is important), e.g.
yellow score cards, mass social movements
(John Keane, Life and death of democracy)

43. CONCLUSIONS
• Existing large scale systems need to transform
• Towards a fluid logic of complementarily, combination and
convergence between public, small scale and atomistic
irrigation
• There are some good ideas and strategies, inspiring
examples, tools/knowledge

44. ONE ISSUE
• Will the present crises and challenges in cluding
food crisis, economic crisis, energy crisis, climate
change … will be met by more of the same supply-
driven top-down responses or by a wholesale
change of management of the sector and innovation?
=> Strategies to bring about this change?
=> What/who can serve as catalysts?

45. Revitalizing Asia’s irrigation
1. Modernise yesteryears’ schemes for tomorrow’s
needs
2. Go with the flow by supporting farmers’ initiatives
3. Look beyond conventional PIM/IMT recipes
4. Build for the future: Expand capacity and
knowledge
5. Look beyond irrigation: Invest outside the water
sector
Combine elements from all 5 strategies for
improving the performance of irrigation