Shahaji Manikrao Somawanshi, Bharat Kawale and Sanjay Madhukar Belsare, India, receiving award from President Chandra Madramootoo

SPONSORS

• 2009 - Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (INCID)
• 2008 - Pakistan National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (PANCID)
• 2007 - U.S. National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (USCID)
• 2006 - Malaysian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (MANCID), and Spanish National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CERYD)
• 2005 - Spanish National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CERYD)
• 2004 - French National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (AFEID)
• 2003 - Japanese National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (JNC-ICID)
• 2002 - Canadian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CANCID)
• 2001 - Korean National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (KCID)
• 2000 - Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (INCID)
• 1999 - Cinese National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (CNCID)
• 1998 - Netherlands National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (NETHCID), Directorate General of Public Works & Water Management, and IHE Delft

Winners of Watsave Awards 2009

Technology Award

Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad (Pakistan)

Prof. Dr. Ahmad's 'Wheat Bed Planter' won him the WatSave Technology Award 2009. The bed planting machine develops two beds and three furrows in single operation. It is designed to plant four rows on one bed. A furrow for irrigation separates each bed. There is a buffer zone in the center of four rows on the bed. The machine develops two lines of crop on both sides of the furrow. Each furrow irrigates only 20 cm (8 inches) of the adjacent bed. The center to center distance of two beds is 90 cm (36 inches) with a bed of 60 cm (24 inches). Thus, the machine has provision to plant 4 lines in 90 cm (36 inches) width while maintaining the traditional plant population. This saved 45% of water compared to traditional methods, with 17% increase in yield. The machine has been used for other crops (cotton, maize and rice with different but similarly impressive results). The water productivity improvements were achieved on 815 ha at four locations, but the technology has great potential (8.4 Mha of wheat in Pakistan alone).

The work of Dr. Ahmad can be more succinctly termed as "Bed Planting Machine". Click here for more details.

Innovative Water Management Award

Messrs Shahaji Manikrao Somawanshi, Bharat Kawale and Sanjay Madhukar Belsare (India)

Messrs Shahaji Manikrao Somawanshi, Bharat Kawale and Sanjay Madhukar Belsare's work on 'Transformation of irrigation through management transfer' won them the WatSave Innovative Water Management Award 2009.

Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) was introduced in the project in 1990 with 3 Water User Associations (WUAs). In 2004, 24 WUAs took over the operation and maintenance of the entire irrigation scheme. Water is supplied volumetrically at the head of canal and subsequently the Project Level Water Users Association (PLWUA) distributes the water among 24 WUAs as per their demand and entitlements. The PLWUA collects water charges from its member associations. Management transfer to PLWUA has resulted in to 100% utilization of irrigation potential, saving in water, crop diversification, and 100% collection of water charges. In this way average area irrigated increased from 3,212 ha to 10,750 ha after the management transfer over a period of 15 years.

The big improvement in water productivity appears to have come in the last 5 years with management based on assured entitlements of volumetric bulk supplies that have increased the irrigated area by about a third with more or less the same amount of water at the canal head.

The work of Messrs Shahaji Manikrao Somawanshi, Bharat Kawale and Sanjay Madhukar Belsare can be more succinctly termed as "Increased Productivity from Participatory Management of Bulk Water Entitlements". Click here for more details.

Young Professional Award

Dr. Malcolm Gillies (Australia)

Dr. Gillies' work on 'Development and application of innovative and advanced simulation tools for the evaluation and optimisation of surface irrigation systems' won him the Young Professionals Award 2009. His work was for software (simulation tools) for the inverse solution of the volume required for surface irrigation (furrow, bay or basin) capable of dealing with variable conditions by virtue of being based on measurement of actual advance and runoff.

Performance gains (water savings) in excess of 20% are readily achievable in surface irrigation systems through the process of evaluation and practice change. Surface irrigation remains the dominant irrigation method in Australia at 70% of the total area irrigated (in excess of 1,000,000 ha and 4,000,000 ML). Measurements of performance across the main surface irrigated crops (cotton, grains, sugar and pasture) show application efficiencies ranging from 20 to 90% but averaging about 50%. Selection of more appropriate flow rates and irrigation times better suited to the specific soils can raise average efficiencies to above 70%.

The work of Dr. Gillies can be more succinctly termed as "An Observational Approach to the Optimisation of Surface Irrigation". Click here for more details.

Special Recognition : Mr. Arvind Narayanrao Nalkande (India)

Additionally, the Panel of Judges recommended recognising the farmer initiative on "Rainwater Conservation through Natural Cracks in Deep Black Soils" by Mr. Arvind Narayanrao Nalkande (India). The 4692 sq. km area of the Purna valley of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, India characterized by high clay content (50-70%), alkaline in reaction, calcareous with slow permeability. The soils have low hydraulic conductivity and thus become susceptible to poor drainage. Some areas have sodicity problem in the sub soil. The farmers of the valley face problems like water stagnation in rainy season, poor drainage, deterioration of soil structure, moisture stress and soil erosion. Keeping in view the problems at grass root level, Mr. Arvind Nalkande adopted a simple affordable and efficient technique of rain water management and soil erosion control. He adopted the following steps - (i) Use of natural soil cracks for conservation of rainwater, (ii) Contour cultivation for in situ soil and water conservation, (iii) Use of farm pond for collecting runoff, and (iv) Reuse of water from farm pond as a protective irrigation during prolonged monsoon break. Thus, Mr. Arvind Nalkande practiced the model of in situ rain water conservation in Dhamodi village and achieved the following aspects - (i) Utilization of the land according to its physical properties, (ii) Conserved as much rain water as possible at the place where it falls, (iii) Drained out excess water with a safe velocity and diverted it to storage ponds and stored it for future use, (iv) Avoided gully formation and controlled soil erosion and recharged ground water, and (v) Maximized productivity per unit area and per unit of water.

He practiced these techniques in his own field and after visible benefits, he demonstrated these techniques to the farmers and promoted the practical implementation on the farmers field in his village. Click here for more details.

Hearty Congratulations to all the Award Winners.

N.D. Gulhati Memorial Lecture for International Cooperation in Irrigation and Drainage

Seventh N.D. Gulhati Memorial Lecture for International Cooperation In Irrigation and Drainage

IRRIGATION IN THE CONTEXT OF TODAY'S GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS
Vice President Hon. Chandra A. Madramootoo (Canada)

The 7th N.D. Gulhati Memorial Lecture for International Cooperation in Irrigation and drainage was delivered by VPH Chandra Madramootoo at Lahore Congress. The lecture provided an overview of the challenges facing irrigation and drainage community, and the need to better manage our irrigation and drainage systems to reduce poverty and hunger. The following is a summary of some key aspects of his presentation.

Global Irrigation Development

Of the 1500 million ha of global crop land about 277 million ha (18%) are irrigated. The largest share of the irrigated area is in Asian region (70%), followed by North and Central America (11%), Europe (9%), Africa (5%), South America (4%), and Oceania (1%). During the last four decades the crop land has increased marginally, while population has more than doubled leading to a reduction in the area of land needed to produce food for a person. Irrigation has played an important role in increasing crop productivity. However, the rate of irrigation expansion has declined from 2.3% in 1970-80 to 0.6% in 2000-05 (see figure). Some countries will increasingly face water scarcity. Future needs of water for food are huge and improved water management systems will be required to cope with the demand.

Global Food situation

During the last four decades the crop area harvested has hardly increased, while the world cereal production has increased by about two and half fold. In general, the overall food prices (in USD) are up by 75% since 2000. Cereals, in particular rice and wheat dominate food supply and provide the largest share of energy to the world's population. However, globally, close to one billion people still remain malnourished, of which some 800 million live in least developed countries (LDCs). The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has targeted to reduce this number by half by 2015. In fact the preliminary goal of MDG attempts to highlight this given its importance. This translates into a need of reducing 22 million per year, while current rate is only 6 million per year - posing a big challenge to bridge the gap between the target and achievement.

There are contradictory views as regards the impact of increasing bio-fuel crop production on food availability. Some view that this might cause food shortage and consequent hike in the food prices; while a few others opine that bio-fuels provide LDCs and poor farmers new opportunities for employment to improve their economy and livelihoods.

On-farm Water Management and System Modernization

There has been growing concerns over declining irrigation system performance and investment benefits, especially in the large-scale public irrigation schemes. Improvement in both viz., conveyance efficiency and on- farm water management is a key for increasing the overall irrigation efficiency. Efficiency gains of 14% in gross withdrawal can also be achieved through reuse of return flows. Improved surface irrigation methods like level furrows, sprinkler and micro irrigation methods and use of advanced techniques of irrigation scheduling can help improve on-farm water management. Modernization of irrigation and drainage systems in a broad sense (technical, management, financial, environmental) will be required at a large-scale, especially in emerging countries to achieve the required increase in food production, and also, in some cases, to save water for other uses.

Investment in Agriculture

It is seen that the public spending on agriculture is the lowest in the agriculture based countries, while the share of agriculture in GDP is the highest. National and international investments in agriculture, official development assistance (ODA), and the World Bank's lending in irrigation have been declining steadily and a complacency set in that is a major cause of the recent global food shortage.

The Way forward

In most developing countries, the agricultural sector is considered as an engine of growth and national governments therefore should reinvest in agriculture and associated infrastructure. In order to reduce water withdrawals for irrigation, upgrading of irrigation infrastructure through rehabilitation and modernization should be given priority. Other aspects like timely maintenance of irrigation and drainage infrastructure, investment in water storage and water saving technologies, combating the twin menace of waterlogging and salinity through drainage are required. Public-private investment in infrastructure is to be encouraged. One size does not fit all, and solutions have to be case specific.

Maximizing basin water productivity through multi-objective decision making process, developing a rapid innovative research agenda, capacity building at all levels and building of institutional support for local, regional and international markets will go a long way in achieving food security. External factors, like impacts of bio-fuel production, climate change, virtual water trade, changes in agriculture markets and the prices of commodities will influence agriculture growth and allied activities. Such changes will require additional adaptations in the development of water management measures to sustain global food production to desired levels and avoid the probability of a severe crisis in the coming years.

PowerPoint Presentation

Presented at ICID’s 20th Congress, Lahore, Pakistan
October 2008

Best Performing Workbody Award

The Best Performing Workbody Award (BPWA) was instituted by ICID in 2002. The performance of a workbody is adjudged based upon a set of criteria and its contribution towards the mandate and mission of ICID. The BPWA 2008 was presented to the ICID Journal Editorial Board (EB-JOUR) by the Governor of Punjab on 17 October 2008 on the occasion of the 59th IEC and 20th ICID Congress held at Lahore, Pakistan.

ICID Journal acts as a mouthpiece to communicate to the international water community ICID's sixty years of experience in the promotion and transfer of water and land management technology and related issues. ICID Journal was granted Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) starting with Vol.49, Issue No.1 of 2000 which was the first issue of the quarterly Journal printed and distributed under ISSN 0971-7412. ICID Journal was also selected for coverage in Current Contents/Agriculture, Biology and Environmental Sciences (CC/AB&ES).

The Best Performing Workbody Award (BPWA) was instituted in 2003 to recognize the performance of workbodies between the two Congresses. The first such award has been given to Working Group on History of Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Control (WG-HIST).

The WG-HIST was established in 1980. The Group has published more than 30 volumes of Water History related documents and books, including Historical Dams (ICID 2001), The Danube Valley (ICID 2004), The Indus Basin (ICID 2004), "A History of Water Issues" (UNU 2005), and History of Irrigation and Drainage of various member countries.

Best Paper Award

Drs. S. Khan, S. Mushtaq, Y. Luo, D. Dawe, M. Hafeez, and T. Rana received 'Best Paper Award 2008' for their outstanding paper titled "Conjunctive Water Management Options: Examples from Economic Assessment of System-level Water Saving through Liuyuankou Irrigation System, China" published in Volume 56, No. 5.

Dr. T.B.S. Rajput and Dr. Neelam Patel (India) receiving 'Best Paper Award 2006' from President Lee in recognition of their outstanding paper titled "Enhancement of Field Water Use Efficiency in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India" published in Issue 54.2.

Dr. Hassan Ismail Memorial International Award (Discontinued)