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Design, construction and performance evaluation of small tile drainage systems in the Indus Basin
Author(s) -
Kahlown Muhammad Akram,
Marri Muhammad Khan,
Azam Muhammad
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.342
Subject(s) - tile drainage , drainage , indus , waterlogging (archaeology) , water table , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , drainage basin , drainage system (geomorphology) , soil salinity control , watertable control , cropping system , groundwater , salinity , forestry , water resource management , geography , soil salinity , structural basin , soil water , crop , geology , soil science , wetland , ecology , geomorphology , cartography , biology , leaching model , geotechnical engineering , oceanography
Waterlogging and salinity in the Indus Basin of Pakistan are major threats to sustainable agriculture. Drainage measures adopted earlier were not only expensive and non‐environmentally friendly but also failed to involve the farming community. During the last three decades, 13 small tile drainage systems were designed and constructed on farmers' land on a cost‐sharing basis. Of these, the performance of three systems (NIA, Bughio and Nawazabad farms) was evaluated for a period of over 10 years. The parameters selected for evaluation included groundwater table, drainage coefficient, root zone soil salinity and agronomic outcomes. The drainage system successfully controlled the groundwater table at the designed depth of 1 m from the soil surface. Monitoring of drainage coefficients of three selected drainage systems revealed that observed values were very close to the designed value of 3 mm day −1 and the systems decreased soil salinity in root zones and improved land productivity. Consequently, there was a shift of cropping pattern to grow higher‐ value crops like rice, cotton and sugarcane. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.