PIM and Drainage

Issues and opportunities. Irrigation is about dealing with problems of too little water, while drainage deals with too much water, in the wrong place, at the wrong time or with wrong qualities. However not only do both deal with the same substance, often in the same places, but they require similar forms of cooperation among farmers and others trying to control the availability of water for growing crops. Development of canals to dispose of excess water is often combined with construction of infrastructure such as bunds, levees gates and pumps. More elaborate systems may include polders completely surrounding protected lands. In the development of irrigation systems, drainage has often been deferred or neglected, imperiling the sustainable of irrigated agriculture. The distinct characteristics of drainage services have significant implications for organization and participation. Drainage and irrigation. Frequently irrigation systems need improvements in drainage. Efforts to improve participation in irrigation management may provide a platform for those within an irrigation scheme who are affected by excess water to voice their concerns and seek solutions. More accurate and timely water delivery, with better mechanisms for feedback from farmers, may play a major role in reducing problems with excess water. However, there may also be farmers who have come to rely on drainage flows to irrigatie their crops, even if this was not part of the originally planned design for an irrigation system. As such they are stakeholders who may be affected by changes in water management and need to be consulted. Where drainage networks were not built, or are no longer effective, the improvement of drainage infrastructure may be a priority for improving irrigation system performance. Thus drainage needs to be part of the scope of issues addressed in irrigation development, including reforms to increase participation.

Changing paradigms. As in other aspects of water resource development, past efforts often concentrated on construction of infrastructure according to technical standards, without adequately understanding local conditions and concerns, and with institutional arrangements that relied on state budget and bureaucracies. Changing policies and expectations about decentralization, democracy, and participation, as well as budget constraints and awareness of the limitations of bureaucratic agencies in delivering services, now lead to concern to increase participation and decentralize management to local organizations. Drainage schemes built to deal with salinization, as in Pakistan and elsewhere, may benefit from increased participation by users. Similarly, in polder schemes users may also want to take a large role in ensuring that services are improved, and governments may seek to increase the role of local beneficiaries.

Local public goods. While the delivery of irrigation water is highly visible, drainage is usually less visible and more easily taken for granted. Drainage canals, and related infrastructure such as bunds and levees, are shared, requiring coordination in construction and use. Once infrastructure has been built it serves all those within a particular area. While irrigation water is a common pool good divided among users, with one person's use subtracting from the water available to others, drainage has more of the characteristics of a public good. Once infrastructure is built, it is difficult to withhold or exclude the benefits of drainage services. One person's use of drainage services usually does not subtract from the benefits to others and there are strong economies of scale in building drainage infrastructure. Drainage typically constitutes a local public good, benefiting a specific area and set of people. In addition to agricultural fields, drainage usually serves homes and villages, including a wider set of stakeholders. As a local public good, with benefits less visible and less clearly defined and more difficult to withhold than irrigation water, ensuring that all beneficiaries contribute may be more of a challenge. If water users are already cooperating to provide irrigation services, then this may provide a good basis for providing drainage. However if the need is just for irrigation, then there may need to be a greater need to draw on governmental authority in ensuring that all beneficiaries contribute.

Sources for additional information:

1. Several recent papers on drainage institutions are available from the World Bank webpage on Irrigation and Drainage Institutions
2. Hooja, Rakesh. 2000. Participation in Drainage vis-à-vis Participatory Irrigation and Drainage Management. New Delhi, India (22 pages) Keynote address delivered by the President of IndiaNPIM, Rakesh Hooja.
3. Lessons learned from 12 years joint drainage research. M.N. Bhutta, M. Ramzan Chaudhry, W.Wolters, A. Schrevel. GRID Issue 17, February 2001.
4. Drainage and Sustainability. Issues Paper Number 3. available from International Programme for Technology and Research in Irrigation and Drainage (IPTRID).
5. Additional documents can be found by searching this website, and through search engines such as Google.