Energy, Irrigation And Water Supply

Description

This new perspective of irrigation management has been applied to both projects as well as policies and has greatly expanded our understanding of why some irrigation systems work better than others. It is not only a physical problem; irrigation also involves a much broader set of management issues. For example, how is the system financed? What type of monitoring is carried out and how is this fed back into the O&M process? Indeed, if we do a straight line projection of what is happening, we would perhaps predict that the state will eventually disappear entirely from the irrigation over the next several decades. Such an instance is however unlikely but it does hint towards the smaller involvement of the state in this regard. What is happening is a rationalisation of the respective roles of government and users. The pendulum that had shifted far towards the direction of strong government involvement in all aspects of irrigation management is now swinging the other way, towards a more sensible equilibrium.
If the water availability is inadequate because there is poor supply, then there are clear limits within which to suggest improvements. However increased transparency by the state towards the farmers would result in minimising the likelihood of intentionally breaking gates to increase water supply. The contents of the book will help scientists and academics to examine, modify and suggest improvements for this field.