20th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE
13-18 October 2008, Lahore, Pakistan
Conference Secretariat, 506-WAPDA House, Lahore, Pakistan. Tel : +92 42 9202538, Fax : +92 42 9202154, E-mail : icid@icid2008.org, Website : http://www.icid2008.org.

The Nation, Saturday, 26 January 2008

(QUESTIONS, SPECIAL SESSION AND SYMPOSIUM)

Integrated water resources management is an issue of very high significance as it involves national and global assets of great socio-cultural, ecological and economic values. The prevailing system of uncoordinated water resources management cannot sustain the ever increasing water needs of the various expanding sectors, therefore, a strategy must be sought to integrate the various sectoral needs against the available water resources in order to attain both economic and ecological sustainability. Participatory approach with the stakeholders needs to be established on several key issues. Capacity building of stakeholders on water natural resources management policies, water rights and enforcement of laws would be an important input for a participatory integrated water resources management where roles and responsibilities have to be ironed out.

CONGRESS QUESTIONS

Integrated planning and management provides the most rationale basis for optimal development of water resources. There are large temporal and spatial variations in the three main sources of water i.e. the surface water, precipitation and groundwater. Despite large potential for the development of all the three sources of water, there are some constraints in their optimal development. Specific character of integrating mechanism should be especially identified and highlighted. The policy framework for development of integrated water resources management structure should uniquely suit the nature of water resources, institutional setup, socio economic conditions and cultural practices. Equitable and demand based water availability dictates that integrated management of water resources be carried out.

Water is a limited natural resource. Only about 3% of the world's total water resource is fresh (non saline) water, of which roughly one-third is inaccessible. The rest is unevenly distributed. In many areas, the existing water resources are increasingly contaminated with wastes and pollution from industrial, agricultural and domestic sources. Over the years, rising population, growing industrialization, and expanding agriculture have led to a rising demand for water. South Asia is one of the most densely populated regions of the world. It houses roughly one-fifth of the world's population, and this share is likely to increase to one-fourth of the total world population by the year 2025. The economies of the countries in the region are heavily dependent on agriculture. There is a strong and growing need to ensure sustainable integrated water resources management for agriculture, domestic and industrial needs, as well as for preservation of the environment. Contributions are invited in this question under the following sub-topics.

River basins constitute highly complex interconnected ecosystem. When a dam or barrage is constructed, the water and sediment cycles are changed dramatically. When water is diverted onto deserts, the water and salt balances seek new equilibrium. In systems so massive and complex (e.g. Indus River basin) the generation and smart use of knowledge are the keys to adaptive management. High quality and consistent data is required for sound planning. There are many agencies and institutions collecting land and water-related data in most of the developing countries. Various organizations carry out research on a vast range of topics, particularly on latest techniques and methodologies for optimal use of irrigation water as part of the conservation strategy for the integrated water resource management. However, the data that is collected is not generally consolidated by any one agency and is often not easily available when needed by planning and implementing agencies, project stakeholders and the public. There is need to improve knowledge base by developing a national planning database which will support an integrated information system in order to plan and develop the water resources on a sustainable basis. Such a system needs to be based on modern lines and efficient procedures for collection, processing, retrieval and dissemination.

There is a desperate shortage of fresh water. More water resources must be reserved for drinking each year while growing populations also boost the demand for agricultural products. In an effort to supply the needs of the populations for water, food and produce; gray water, run-off water and saline water resources are being used for farming. The quality natural water resources have generally been degraded by untreated/ partially treated municipal and industrial wastewater, rising watertable resulting in waterlogging and salinity,and inadequate disposal of drainage effluent. These are the major problems that have been infused into the irrigation system. For sustainability of the irrigated agriculture, it is imperative to design and operate the irrigation system based on use of treated and partially treated wastewater, saline water or soils. Considerable research has been carried out on this subject, which needs to be shared to provide opportunities to the affected land to become productive. This has spurred the search for new crops that tolerate saline, brackish and poor quality water. Attempts are being made to introduce salt tolerant, water saving crops which would require to design and operate the irrigation system in a more sustainable manner.

Demand for water is steadily increasing throughout the world with rapid growth in population. Freshwater resources are limited and unevenly distributed. Seasonal variations and climatic irregularities in flow impede the efficient use of river runoff, with flooding and drought causing problems of catastrophic proportions. Dams can make a significant contribution towards efficient management of water resources.

Multi-purpose storage reservoirs play a pivotal role in integrated water resources management by providing water for irrigation, domestic and industrial water supply, hydropower generation, flood control, recreation, inland navigation and fish farming.

There is uncertainty with respect to the prediction of climate change at the global level. Although the uncertainties increase greatly at the regional, national, and local levels, it is at the national level that the most important decisions would need to be made. Higher temperatures and decreased precipitation would lead to decreased water-supplies and increased water demands; they might cause deterioration in the quality of freshwater bodies, putting strains on the already fragile balance between supply and demand in many countries. Even where precipitation might increase, there is no guarantee that it would occur at the time of year when it could be used; in addition, there might be a likelihood of increased flooding. Any rise in sea level will often cause the intrusion of salt water into estuaries, small islands and coastal aquifers and the flooding of low-lying coastal areas; this puts low-lying countries at great risk. The most important impacts of climate change would be the effects on the hydrologic cycle and on water management systems and, through these, on socio-economic systems. Increase in incidence of extremes, such as floods and droughts, would cause increased frequency and severity of disasters. What seems likely is that climate change will increase the variability of already highly variable rainfall patterns, requiring greater investments in managing both scarcity and floods.

Waterlogging and salinity are rendering agricultural land useless all over the world at a very rapid pace. According to the projections of Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations, 25 per cent of the agriculture land in the world will be rendered useless due to salinity in the next 25 years; and by 2050, it is feared that 50 per cent of the land will turn saline. Since reclamation of land is a costly and time-consuming process, efforts are on to develop genetically-engineered crop varieties.

One of the methods is the Bio-Saline Approach which offers better use of saline land and saline water on a sustained basis through the profitable and integrated use of genetic resources and improved agricultural practices. The utilization of saline land and water for agriculture and afforestation is now becoming an important element for the developing as well as the under developed countries with salinity, sodicity and waterlogging problems. The approach has recently been adopted in Pakistan for productive use of degraded lands. This approach involves revegetation of saline and waterlogged land through growing salinity and waterlogging tolerant crops, trees, grasses and saltbushes.

In many countries institutional reforms in irrigation and drainage system management towards stakeholder-controlled management are on-going. Transfers of systems, or of responsibilities are especially taking place in the following regions:

• Emerging developing countries: Asia, Central and South America:
• Central and Eastern European Countries.

These transfers may require quite different approaches. In the emerging developing countries there is generally a farmers population and until recently the main responsibility for operation and maintenance was generally in hands of the Central Government. In such cases the transfers concern the transfer of responsibility and may be of ownership of parts of the systems from the government to the farmers, and /or irrigation or drainage agencies. In the countries with a transition economy, specific problems concern: the layout of the systems, which is mostly based on the former large-scale type of agricultural production, the transfer of irrigation system management from the traditional government agencies towards water management agencies and water users associations, the funding of modernization and resulting operation and maintenance, lack of good governance, unaffordable pumping systems and environmental degradation. In some of the countries there is even not a clear farmers population. These issues make the transfer process quite complicated.

After modernization/privatization irrigation and drainage systems will be operated and maintained under a different environment. Generally there are different responsibilities at main and filed system levels. Also new legislation will generally be applicable. In several cases changes in cropping patterns are being observed. Experience is being developed in various countries how these developments work out in practice. By the end of the day it will have to be verified if indeed yields have improved and the standard of living in the concerned area has risen. Papers are invited that describes cases where experience with the new developments has been obtained in practice. In addition papers are welcomed that show research results or new methods that deal with the issue at stake.

In developing countries agriculture has often been strongly associated with livelihood and one may expect that for the short and medium range future this will remain so. However, one may also observe the development in these countries that agriculture for food production is to a large extent the cause of this. Although in many countries still price regulating mechanisms exist, with the globalization going on, it may be expected that the farmers who are engaged in agricultural production increasingly will have to compete at the world market. This will drive them in the direction of mechanized and larger scale farming, or of specialized high quality crops. Papers are invited that describes the various aspects that are guiding in this topic, or describe cases.

Integrated water in management is widely supported as a principle. However, in practice there are many issues at stake that often make it very complicated to apply this approach. This is general the more so when the river basin is shared among provinces, states or countries. Items that play a role may be of different nature. They concern especially: Technical, technological, economic and legal aspect. In order to achieve an effective integrated water management these items have to be treated in a balanced way with the support of the stakeholders. Papers are invited for this topic that deals with the specifics of the individual items, as well as with the integration of these items ad the modes to reach agreement. In addition cases dealing with certain river basins are invited.

In the coming decades population growth will particularly take place in the emerging and least developed countries. This implies that these countries will be confronted with the need to increase their food supply by a larger production in their own territory, may be in combination with increased imports. Having in mind the required increase in food production in combination with the need for sustainable rural development a wide range of issues is of importance. From the point of view of food production there is a common feeling that 90% of the required increase will have to be realized on existing cultivated land and 10% on newly reclaimed land. From the point of view of sustainable rural development, socio economic and environmental aspects play crucial roles. Developments in agricultural policies, crop prices, mechanization in agriculture, crop diversification, the developments in relation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) will all have to a certain extent their influence on agricultural production patterns.

With respect to water management related to agricultural production there are broadly speaking three agro-climatologic zones, viz: temperate humid zone, arid and semi-arid zone and humid tropical zone. In addition, in principle, four types of cultivation practices may be distinguished, viz: rainfed cultivation, without or with a drainage system and irrigated cultivation, without or with a drainage system. Dependent on the local conditions, different forms of water management with different levels of service will be appropriate. At present still the largest agricultural area is without any water management system. In the rainfed areas without a water management system, improvements can be achieved by water harvesting and water shed management. Such measures may be help to improve the livelihood of poor farm families. However, it may not be expected that the cultivated area without a water management system will significantly contribute to the required increase in food production. Due to this the share of irrigated and drained areas in food production will have to increase. This can be either achieved by installing irrigation, or drainage systems in the area without a system, improvement, or modernization of existing irrigation and drainage systems, installation of irrigation systems in the rainfed drained areas, or installation of drainage system in irrigated areas. In developing appropriate measures the environmental impacts have to be dully considered and compensatory measured may have to be required, especially in the emerging countries.

For this Special Session papers are being invited to deal with the following issues:

• Impacts of the required increase in food production and the need for sustainable rural development on irrigation and drainage system development and management;
• Developments in agricultural policies, crop prices, mechanization in agriculture, crop diversification, the developments in relation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and their impacts on agricultural production patterns and water management needs.
  

Integrated Water Management in the river basin context means focusing on coordinating conservation, management and development of water, land and related resources across sectors with in a given river basin, in order to maximize the economic and social benefits derived from water resources in an equitable manner. Thus water needs to be managed for food and for sustainable urban and rural development at regional and river basin scale.

Global climatic changes have substantially affected the water resources. Some areas are experiencing higher flows due to increased rainfall and snow melt, while some areas are under the influence of droughts. Because of the large variability in river flows across seasons and years, flood protection works and artificial storage are important elements of river basin systems. The degree of control afforded by reservoirs varies enormously. The extreme flood events which many rivers basins experienced with in the last decades have shown that more than in previous times, technical flood protection measures are to be combined with land use changes which results in effective water retention and water discharge retardation and with other non-structural measures, like flood forecasting and evacuation. Such solutions are to be verified for their efficiency with respects to river basins as well as to floodplains. For the future development of sustainable landscapes, existing concepts will have to be evaluated for their monetary and non-monetary impacts and on their functionalities.

Due to the climate change, the irrigation sector has to cope with the higher water requirements and better water use efficiencies, and with the needs for more advanced water saving technologies. Dryness and drought are increasing and result in crop yield losses and restrictions in agricultural production. Due to reduced water availability, economically based decisions have to be taken whether to cultivate crops or varieties of higher dryness resistance, to extend irrigation if water is available or to move to other sites suitable for agricultural production. In relation to the development of irrigation the required increase in storages, either surface water reservoirs, or groundwater reservoirs, will play an important role, especially in the emerging countries.

Also in future, drainage will play an important role to allow agricultural production on sites affected by waterlogging and, under conditions of arid semi-arid climate conditions, to mitigate irrigation caused salinization of soils. Drainage technologies have reached a high level today. Future requirements will concentrate on purification of drain water from nutrients and pollutants as well as on the sustainable integration of drainage systems into the landscape scale.

To understand today's situation and to plan for future needs, knowledge and analysis of the historic development of land and water management is prerequisite. To reach these targets it is of decisive importance to harmonize land use and water regimes at the landscape scale.For this Symposium papers are being invited to deal with the following issues:

• Future water management and flood protection needs in relation to land use and climate changes in the river basin context;
• Role of storages in the development of water management and flood protection schemes in a river basin;
• Case histories.

Development and management of water in large river basins has steadily progressed albeit slowly. However, many of large irrigation systems could not achieve expected performance due mainly to the problems associated with the management of water. Excessive use of water in upper reach and shortage of water downstream, resulting in water conflicts, waterlogging, salinization, and low productivity. On the other hand, the performance of small and traditional systems is comparatively satisfactory and well managed. In the Seminar, historical wisdom and knowledge accumulated in the experiences of managing small and traditional system will be discussed, and the approach of translating these lessons into the management of water of large systems, particularly during the period of drought or water shortage, will be examined.

Topics to be covered are :

Historical lessons and wisdom related to development and management of water in a large river basin -

• Technical Issues (Planning and Design of System, Drought Management)
• Institutional and Legal Issues (Farmers Organizations, Federating Water Users Associations, Water Boards, Participatory Approach, legislations)
• Environmental Issues (Environmental Impact Assessments and Mitigation)
• Social and Economic Issues (Relocation/Resettlement and Compensation, Social Conflicts, Cost Recovery)