A Methodology for Making District Irrigation Plan

A Methodology for Making District Irrigation Plan

R.C. Srivastava

FNAAS, FISAE, FIE, FIASWC, FCHAI

            Prime Minister has initiated an ambitious project ‘PM Krishi Sinchai Yojna” to provide irrigation to millions of rainfed farmers of India. This project is probably next to execution of Major and Medium irrigation projects in 50s and 60s. Due to very high social and environmental costs of major and medium irrigation projects, this approach has been excluded from this scheme. This program focuses on block and district as implementation unit and therefore emphasis has been made to prepare district irrigation plan. Since the plan has to be implemented at village and block level, the methodology of making plans should be able to downscale to village and block level. With this in view, I tried to make a computer program in MS Excel to prepare a plan which can be both upscaled as well as down scaled. To make plan, I have divided districts in two categories: One which has alluvial aquifer, i.e. unconsolidated aquifer having potential of using ground water as major source, and second which has hard rock aquifer where irrigation can be provided by a combination of tanks and wells with tanks being used both as water source as well as recharge source for ground water to be exploited through open dug wells. In this region ground water can be economically  used  only through open dug wells having upstream structure (This observation is based upon my personal experience of working for 9 years in such an area of North Odisha). I have developed separate methodology for both types of topography and now working to develop an user friendly software so that field officials can use it for preparing irrigation plan.

                The methodology first assesses the water resources of the study area as well as estimate water requirement for different irrigation intensification scenario. It also examines potential of augmentation of existing resources. In case of alluvial aquifers, it estimated shortfall in water availability if irrigation requirement by spreading irrigation facility to a larger area is taken up and then estimate how much of this shortfall can be met up by artificial recharge  by harvesting  particular amount of runoff. For hard rock aquifer, the methodology gives design of Tank cum Well system developed by this author to irrigate plateau areas of eastern India to provide irrigation to maximum possible area. To evaluate whether the program can be used for planning at micro watershed level, data of a micro watershed of just 110 ha (as provided by official of watershed management program of Odisha Government) was used and it worked perfectly.

The methodology provides irrigation plan for different scenarios. For alluvial aquifers area, three plans have been conceptualized: Plan A- Providing irrigation to present rainfed areas in kharif and rabi; Plan B- roviding irrigation to rainfed areas of kharif and rabi, fallow areas of karif and rabi in BAU scenario, i.e. no enhancement of irrigation efficiency  in command areas of existing irrigation systems and no additional ground water recharge; Plan C- Providing irrigation to rainfed kharif and rabi, fallow kharif and part of fallow rabi with ground water recharge. For hard rock aquifer, four plans have been conceptualized with four levels of runoff, i.e. 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% being harvested for storage and recharge. The input parameters will be same for both areas, the output parameters will vary. The input and output parameters are given below. The irrigation plan can be further improved by adding provision of pressurized irrigation in part of irrigated area.

	List of input data	Unit
1	Land utilization pattern
1.1	forest	000 ha
1.2	Misc trees & Groves	000 ha
1.3	permanent pastures	000 ha
1.4	Cultivable waste	000 ha
1.5	land in non agri use	000 ha
1.6	Barren & unculturable land	000 ha
1.7	Current fallow	000 ha
1.8	Other fallow	000 ha
1.9	Net cultivated area	000 ha
2	Total geographical area	000 ha
3	Runoff coefficients for different land uses
3.1	forest
3.2	Misc trees & Groves
3.3	permanent pastures
3.4	Cultivable waste
3.5	land in non agri use
3.6	Barren & unculturable land
3.7	Current fallow
3.8	Other fallow
3.9	Net cultivated area	000 ha

4	Land scenario
4.1	High	000 ha
4.2	Medium	000 ha
4.3	Low	000 ha
5	spread of paddy area in different landforms
5.1	High	000 ha
5.2	Medium	000 ha
5.3	Low	000 ha
6	Total rainfall, mm	mm
7	Expected annual discharge from one tubewell per annum multiplying dischrge per second*3600*24*expected number of days of operation (normal 170 days 50 in kharif and 120 in rabi)	ha m
8	Ground water potential, 000 ha m	000 ha m
9	Percent exploitation of Ground water, %	%
10	Net Cultivated area	000 ha
10.1	Cultivated area in kharif	000 ha
10.2	Cultivated area in rabi	000 ha
10.3	Cultivated area in summer	000 ha
11	Net irrigated area, 000 ha	000 ha
11.1	kharif	000 ha
11.2	rabi	000 ha
11.3	summer	000 ha
12	Total area under different crops during kharif,	000 ha
12.1	Rice	000 ha
10.2	Maize	000 ha
10.3	Pulses	000 ha
10.4	Vegetables	000 ha
10.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha

11	Total area under different crops during rabi,	000 ha
11.1	Rice	000 ha
11.2	Maize & wheat	000 ha
11.3	Pulses	000 ha
11.4	Vegetables	000 ha
11.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
12	Total irrigated area under different crops during kharif,
12.1	Rice	000 ha
12.2	Maize	000 ha
12.3	Pulses	000 ha
12.4	Vegetables	000 ha
12.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
13	Total irrigated area under different crops during rabi,
13.1	Rice	000 ha
13.2	Maize & wheat	000 ha
13.3	Pulses	000 ha
13.4	Vegetables	000 ha
13.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
14	Irrigation requirement of different crops during kharif,
14.1	Rice	m
14.2	Maize	m
14.3	Pulses	m
14.4	Vegetables	m
14.5	Oilseeds & others	m
15	Irrigation requirement of different crops during rabi
15.1	Rice	m
15.2	Maize & wheat	m
15.3	Pulses	m
15.4	Vegetables	m
15.5	Oilseeds & others	m
16	Irrigation efficiency of canal irrigated areas
17	Irrigation efficiency of tubewell irrigated areas

	Output parameters
1	PLAN A -Providing irrigation to present rainfed areas in kharif and rabi
1.1	No of tubewells required to be  constructed if present rainfed KHARIF and  RABI is to be brought  under irrigation	no
1.2	Total additional area which can be brought under irrigation in kharif	000 ha m
1.3	Total additional area which can be brought under irrigation in rabi	000 ha m
1.4	Total area under irrigation after execution of plan A,i.e., present area under irrigation + additional area brought under irrigation in kharif	000 ha m
1.5	Total area under irrigation after execution of plan A,i.e., present area under irrigation + additional area brought under irrigation in arbi	000 ha m
1.6	Total percent area irrigated in kharif after execution of Plan A	%
1.7	Total percent area irrigated in rabi after execution of Plan A	%
1.8	Estimate total amount of GW to be pumped additionally,Ha m	ha m
1.9	Estimate annual energy requirement for pumping this amount of water, MILLION Kwh	MkWH
2	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during kharif,
2.1	Rice	000 ha
2.2	Maize	000 ha
2.3	Pulses	000 ha
2.4	Vegetables	000 ha
2.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
2.6	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during rabi,
2.7	Rice	000 ha
2.8	Maize & wheat	000 ha
2.9	Pulses	000 ha
2.1	Vegetables	000 ha
2.11	Oilseeds & others	000 ha

3.1	PLAN B -Providing irrigation to rainfed areas of kharif and rabi, fallow areas of karif and rabi in BAU scenario, i.e. no enhancement of irrigation efficiency  in command areas of existing irrigation systems and no additional ground water recharge
3.2	Percent of kharif fallow which can be irrigated in BAU scenario	%
3.3	Percent of rabi fallow which can be irrigated in BAU scenario	%
3.4	Total additional area which can be brought under irrigation in kharif	000 ha
3.5	Total additional area which can be brought under irrigation in rabi	000 ha
3.6	No of tubewells required  to irrigate rainfed areas of kharif and rabi and kharif fallow and amentioned percent of rabi fallow
4.6	Total area under irrigation after execution of plan A,i.e., present area under irrigation + additional area brought under irrigation in kharif	000 ha
3.7	Total area under irrigation after execution of plan A,i.e., present area under irrigation + additional area brought under irrigation in arbi	000 ha
3.8	Total percent area irrigated in kharif after execution of Plan B	%
3.9	Total percent area irrigated in rabi after execution of Plan B	%
3.1	Estimate total amount of GW to be pumped additionally,Ha m	ha m
3.11	Estimate annual energy requirement for pumping this amount of water, MILLION Kwh	MkWH
3.12	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during kharif,
3.12.1	Rice	000 ha
3.12.2	Maize	000 ha
3.12.3	Pulses	000 ha
3.12.4	Vegetables	000 ha
3.12.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
3.13	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during rabi,
3.13.1	Rice	000 ha
3.13.1	Maize & wheat	000 ha
3.13.3	Pulses	000 ha
3.12.4	Vegetables	000 ha
3.13.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha

4.1	Plan C- Providing irrigation to rainfed kharif and rabi, fallow kharif and part of fallow rabi
4.2	Percent of fallow rabi land which can be brought under irrigation	%
4.3	Best combination of options of ground water recharge, enhancing efficiency
4.4	Estimate total amount of runoff to be recharged, Ha m	ha m
4.5	Estimate total amount of GW to be pumped additionally,Ha m	ha m
4.6	T total number of additional tubewells required to pump this water
4.7	Estimate annual energy requirement for pumping this amount of water, MILLION Kwh	MkWH
4.8	Estimated no of recharge structures required to recharge total amount of runoff to be recharged as in CN7
4.9	Total additional gross  irrigated area,	000 ha
4.1	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during kharif,
4.10.1	Rice	000 ha
4.10.2	Maize	000 ha
4.10.3	Pulses	000 ha
4.10.4	Vegetables	000 ha
4.10.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
4.11	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during rabi,
4.11.1	Rice	000 ha
4.11.2	Maize & wheat	000 ha
4.11.3	Pulses	000 ha
4.11.4	Vegetables	000 ha
4.11.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
4.12	Total irrigated area in kharif, 000 ha	000 ha
4.13	Total irrigated area in rabi, 000 ha	000 ha
4.14	Percent area irrigated in kharif,
4.15	Percent area irrigated in rabi,

Output parameters for hard rock aquifer areas

1	Total amount of tank storage required, ha m	ha m
2	No of open dug wells required to be constructed if present rainfed rabi and equivalent kharif area is brought under irrigation	no
3	Total additional area which can be brought under irrigation in kharif	000 ha m
4	Total additional area which can be brought under irrigation in rabi	000 ha m
5	Total area under irrigation after execution of plan A,i.e., present area under irrigation + additional area brought under irrigation in kharif	000 ha m
6	Total area under irrigation after execution of plan A,i.e., present area under irrigation + additional area brought under irrigation in arbi	000 ha m
7	Total percent area irrigated in kharif after execution of Plan A	%
8	Total percent area irrigated in rabi after execution of Plan A	%
9	Estimate total amount of GW to be pumped additionally,Ha m	ha m
10	Estimate annual energy requirement for pumping this amount of water, MILLION Kwh	MkWH
11	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during kharif,
11.1	Rice	000 ha
11.2	Maize	000 ha
11.3	Pulses	000 ha
11.4	Vegetables	000 ha
11.6	Oilseeds & others	000 ha
12	Total additional  irrigated area under different crops during rabi,
12.1	Rice	000 ha
12.2	Maize & wheat	000 ha
12.3	Pulses	000 ha
12.4	Vegetables	000 ha
12.5	Oilseeds & others	000 ha