Irrigation Channels

Needs Address

• Traditional methods of water management
• Irrigation improvement

Adaptation effects

• Increases food and water security
• Enables multiple harvest per year, enhancing crop production, to provide a greater yield for sustained market interactions and, therefore, economic resilience
• Increases cultivatable land area
• Provides income opportunities and employment
• Water can also be used for domestic purposes when other sources are unavailable

Overview and Features

The digging or construction of channels to allow transmission of water for irrigation of crops. The water can also be used for domestic use. Channels are dug into the earth and lined with clay, brick, stone or rubble. Outlet mechanisms enable water to flow out of the channel into new areas. Shutters can be used to control the flow of the water and relieve flood pressure. 

Cost

• Costs of material e.g. in Tamil Nadu, 700m channel length required 7,800 m3 material
• Costs of human resources
• Costs of maintenance and training
• E.g. in Tamil Nadu, 700m channels incurred cost of approximately USD 4,200 for initial assessment, community capacity building, technical support and material and labour costs

Energy source

Human labour

Ease of maintenance

Regular maintenance required, including dredging and unblocking for earthen channels and reparations for brick channels

Technology performance

• Increased ability to cultivate unused areas of land e.g in Thangal Perumpulem, Tamil Nadu, irrigation and drainage channels are enabling cultivation on an additional 300 acres of land
• E.g. 700m channels in Tamil Nadu benefitted over 80 families

Considerations

Ownership of the channel by users can encourage their contribution to maintenance

Co-benefit, suitability for developing countries

• Enables improved water drainage therefore reduces the impacts of floods in monsoon seasons
• Additional environmental benefits including replenishment of groundwater table, development of diverse vegetation, regulation drought, new cultural relationships with nature
• Traditionally used technology therefore socially acceptable in many contexts
• Can be constructed with locally available materials
• Local management necessary for sustainability, though management procedures should account for local power structures to ensure appropriate use and maintenance and equity of access
• Reparation sometimes relies on government funding and management and if this is not adequate, channels remain unrepaired
• Community contribution to financial costs can ensure ownership and therefore enhanced feelings of responsibility for maintenance

Information Resources

AdaptCap, 2012. Drainage and Irrigation Channel Renovation at Thangal Perumpulem, Thiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu. Webpage. Available from: http://www.adaptcap.in/projects/thangal-perumpulem-adaptation-project/ [21 January 2015]

Aspe, C., Gilles, A., Jacque, M. 2014. Irrigation canals as tools for climate change adaptation and fish biodiversity management in Southern France. Regional Environmental Change. Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10113-014-0695-8 [21 January 2015]

Dawa, S., Dana, D. and Namgyal, P. 2000. Water Harvesting Technologies and Management System in a Micro-Watershed in Ladakh, India. In Chalise, S. R.; Banskota, M. (eds) Waters of Life-Perspectives of Water Harvesting in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: Volume II (2000). ICIMOD. Available from: http://lib.icimod.org/record/22407 [21 January 2015]

We Adapt, 2014. Drainage and irrigation channel renovation with assessment of piped water. Webpage. Available from: https://weadapt.org/placemarks/plain/view/1128 [21 January 2015]