Ideal historical river water use systems - Paper presented at the National Seminar on Water and Culture (2007)

The Phad system of irrigation which has been going on for centuries, is found in the northwestern parts of Maharashtra in the three river basins of Panjhra, Mosam, Kan and Aram. Weirs were constructed on these rivers to divert water for agriculture use. These weirs are locally called Bandhara. Each independent Phad system comprises of a diversion weir, a canal on the bank and distributor channels for irrigation.

The author elaborates on construction and working of the Phad system and says that the average size of each Phad was 100-125 ha. In olden times, the king of the region supported the construction of the Phad, but the maintenance work was the collective responsibility of the irrigators. Such systems were largely developed in the Mauryan period.

Discussing the water management practices of such systems, the author elaborates on the management structure that looks after the system. There is a village level committee who are elected, whose members are also irrigators. The committee has staff that include a supervisor, canal inspectors and water guards. The staff are paid in cash and kind. Wages are calculated on the basis of number of irrigators per unit area of land and per crop season.

Issues of crop management, such as crop rotation which are key to water management in such systems, are also discussed.

One of the key conclusions of this paper, is that the flexibility, equity and ease of management of this system has made this system sustainable.

This paper was presented at the National Seminar on Water and Culture organised by Kannada University and Sahayoga in 2007.

Download the paper here: