The role of controlled drainage under drought conditions in an irrigated area in NWFP, Pakistan

✍ Scribed by Gul Daraz Khan; Prof. Muhammad Latif; Sibtul Hassan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 198 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1531-0353
• DOI: 10.1002/ird.83

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The River Swat is the source of irrigation for the entire irrigation system of Mardan, Nowshera and Charsadda districts. Reductions of water and overdrainage have influenced the yield of major crops. The impact of reduced supply at the inlet from the source, drought conditions and overdrainage from the area have lowered the groundwater to a disastrous level. Thus the present groundwater level cannot contribute to the crops. A subsurface collector at its exit in drainage unit 106 was controlled to raise the watertable. The study area was divided into 10 zones. Each zone was separately assessed to analyze the groundwater impact in response to the controlled technique adopted for mitigating drought in different strategies of the canal operation. The interaction of groundwater level with irrigation depth, crop yield, water use efficiency and water saving were also studied. During the rotational period of the canal, irrigations applied in section II raised the water level by nearly 1 m. The upslope area of section III also needed a large irrigation depth. The groundwater level on the downslopes of the lateral drains in sections I and V was at the design depth of 1.1 m during the rotational strategy, while it decreased only slightly on the upslopes of the lateral drains for the same positions. Because of effective control by the collector, the watertable on the downslopes of the laterals in sections II and III was affected less while in the respective upslope area of section III it dropped more than 2 m. The water levels in section IV (both in the upslope and downslope areas along the laterals) remained very close to the design level. A significant contribution of seepage in the upslope of the collector drain considerably reduced the irrigation depths. During the canal closure period, the watertables in the study area dropped to the limit from 2.3 to 3.25 m. After the reopening of the canal, the watertables in sections II, III and IV were raised from 2.55 to 0.70 m. During this period the water levels near the canal reached the design level. The maximum yield of 6.5 tons ha^−1^ on the downslopes of the lateral drains in section II was obtained, resulting in maximum water use efficiency of 0.93 kg m^−3^. However, the minimum yield of 3.5 tons ha^−1^ on the upslopes of the lateral drains in section I was obtained, resulting in the lowest water use efficiency of 0.35 kg m^−3^ near the deep surface drain (5 m). The impact of controlled subsurface drainage in zones 2, 3 and 7 resulted in the best maintenance of optimum groundwater level and moisture content. Therefore large amounts of extra irrigation water applied (ranging from 23 to 129% of that actually required) in different zones of the controlled area can be saved for drought conditions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.