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After reading this article you will learn about the delivery of water to farms through rotation delivery or warabandi system.
In the rotation delivery system, water is delivered from a watercourse to various farms situated along the watercourse according to a pre-decided time roster. Accordingly, this delivery system is also known as warabandi system, which can be defined as an integrated management system from source (river or reservoir) to the farm gate, i.e., nakka.
The main objective of the warabandi system is to attain high efficiency of water use by imposing water scarcity on every user. The system ensures equitable distribution of water and safeguards the interest of the farmers whose fields are located at the tail end of the conveyance system.
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In the warabandi system (Fig 1.1), water from the source is carried by the main canal which feeds two or more branch canals that operate by rotation and may not carry the total required supply. This is the primary distribution system which runs throughout the irrigation season with varying supplies.
The secondary distribution system consists of a large number of distributaries which too run by rotation but carry full supply. The branch canals supply water to the distributaries which, in turn, feed watercourses through the outlets. The watercourses form tertiary distribution system and carry their full supply when the supplying distributary is running.
The distributaries generally carry their supplies in eight-day periods. The number of these periods would depend upon the availability of water and crop requirements. The eight-day period of distributary running ensures a minimum of seven days running for all watercourses including those which are at the tail-end of the distributary. The distributaries of the Bhakra project generally carry water for 18 periods during the Kharif season and 16 periods during the Rabi season.
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The distribution of water flowing in watercourse is done on a seven-day rotation basis with the help of an agreed roster (of turns) which divides 168 hours of seven days in the ratio of holdings of farmers who are to be supplied water by the watercourse.
Whenever a distributary carries water, its watercourses receive their share of water at a constant rate round-the-clock, and water distribution proceeds from head to tail-end of a watercourse.
Each cultivator on a watercourse is entitled to receiving the entire water in the watercourse only on a specific weekday and at a specific time (including night time). There is no provision in this system to compensate a defaulting farmer who has failed to utilise his turn for any reason whatsoever.
Before a farmer receives his share of water, some time is spent in filling up the empty watercourse between the point of taking over and the beginning of his holding. Likewise, the tail-end farmer continues to receive water (though at a decreasing rate) for some time even after the supply to the watercourse has been stopped. All such factors are suitably accounted for in deciding the flow time per unit area and the flow time for a farmer.
