IMPROVING WATER PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH BENCHMARKING AND REHABILITATION OF EXISTING SYSTEMS

摘要

In India, irrigated agriculture consumes almost 80% of total developed fresh waterrnresources. With increased demand of water from other sectors, the availability of waterrnfor irrigation is under stress. The water use efficiency in most irrigation systems in India atrnpresent is low due to reasons such as inadequacies in the water delivery system, inequitablernwater distribution to the fields and inefficient water management practices by the endrnusers. Water use efficiency has also reduced considerably in older projects due to improperrnmaintenance and deterioration in their infrastructure. These projects require renovation /rnupgradation. Further, despite the fact that productivity in irrigated areas has increased asrncompared to that of rain fed areas, the increase is still below world standards. Against thernbackdrop of such a scenario, the water resources management has to undergo a deeprnintrospection and a paradigm shift. Benchmarking with appropriate performance indicatorsrncan help in deciding appropriate interventions and in the formulation and implementationrnof policies for improvement of projects.rnThe paper discusses the concept of Benchmarking, its adoption in India, variousrnparameters, data collection requirements and application constraints. The impact ofrnBenchmarking and renovation of old irrigation systems on water productivity is also broughtrnout in detail in the paper.