1996, Proc.

of 14th International Symposium of Sustainable Farming Systems, TWZ/ADDL 1-9

INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

IN TANK-VILLAGE FARMING SYSTEM

P.B. Dharmasena
Field Crops Research and Development Institute
Maha Illuppallama

ABSTRACT

The tank-village system consists of an integrated farming system including rainfed

upland farming (seasonal and homestead), and tank irrigated farming associated in
some places with agro-well cultivation. Although a considerable amount of rainfall is
received by the system, overall water use efficiency is not at a satisfactory level hence
the agriculture is frequently affected with water shortage. The situation can be
improved if a proper integrated approach is adopted for water resource management.

Initially, before integrating the water sources several strategies would be possible to
upgrade the situation. They are: (a) response farming to climate; (b) in-situ use of
rainfall; (c) improvement of water storing efficiency in the tank; (d) improved land
use and land management practices for catchment to generate high runoff; and (e)
methods to achieve optimum water productivity in irrigated lands. Secondly, tank
water budgeting approach has to be adopted for seasonal planning with farmer
participation. Thirdly, information on hydrological situation and ground water
potential must be made available for integrated planning. Finally, an integrated water
management plan can be developed with farmers' participation aiming to increase the
efficiency of water resource use and improve the farmer income. The paper discusses
the pre-requisites for and the process of integrated water resource management
planning which would be applicable for the tank-village farming system in Sri Lanka.

Key words: Tank water budgeting, ground water prediction,

hydrological situations, agro-well farming.

INTRODUCTION

Dry zone watersheds exist as composites of smaller watersheds in varying sizes due to their
topographical formation. With human settlements formed in this region, a water harvesting system
has evolved with man made surface water reservoirs knitting them to form tank cascade systems
(Madduma Bandara, (1985). Most of these reservoirs are small in size and the associated community
even at present is engaged in rainfed as well as irrigated cultivations collectively known as the tank-
village farming system.

Many seasonal food crops are grown under rainfed conditions in the tank catchments from which
runoff water flows into the tank below. Command area of the tank is cultivated mostly with rice.
Mixed homegardens are found around dwelling where perennial fruit trees and vegetables are grown.
Dug well irrigation has been introduced recently for food crop cultivation (agro-well farming) in
certain areas due to inadequacy of water. Land use setting of the tank-village system is illustrated in
Fig. 1.
In rainfed upland farming crop water requirement is met by soil moisture reserve replenished by
rainfall. Crops are grown in both major (maha) and minor (yala) seasons commencing cultivation
according to the rainfall distribution. Continuous cultivation without adequate soil conservation
measures has caused deterioration of the soil resource leading to low moisture holding capacity, low
infiltration and fast evaporation due to soil compaction. Thus, crops are frequently affected with soil
moisture deficit resulting in low yields or complete crop failures. Studies indicated that annual runoff
from rainfed farming lands in tank catchments could be as high as 40 % (Dharmasena, 1994). This
condition is favourable for tank immediately down below but not for rainfed crops in the catchment.
However, studies further indicate that these runoff water transports heavy load of sediment causing
tank siltation problem. Thus, an integrated planning approach is essential to obtain the proper water
balance in tank catchments where requirements of arable land and the tank must be met
simultaneously.

In irrigated lowland farming, sometimes even in major rainy seasons, the cultivation goes abandoned
due to low rainfall. Very often the full extent is not cultivated and crop losses or complete crop
failures occur because of inadequate water supply from tank. Although traditionally, rice is cultivated
in these lowlands tendency for cultivating other field crops at least in yala season has been emerged
as an alternative.

Use of ground water as a supplementary source would be another alternative but many farmers who
own wells tend to depend solely on well water. This practice not only neglects the use of seasonal
rains effectively but also exploits the limited ground water resource beyond its safe level. This
circumstance again stresses the importance of the integration of water resource in tank-village
farming system.

EFFICIENT USE OF WATER

In improving the agricultural sector of tank-village community in the dry zone, conjunctive use of
water resources needs to be well planned to obtain the maximum benefit of water for agricultural
production. In attempting such an integrated effort for efficient use of available water there are
several aspects to be emphasized.

Climatic environment must be favourable for crops to perform well. Although rainfall behaviour is
indeterministic, a general pattern specific to a given locality could be identified and used for phasing
out micro agro-ecological zones. Cropping period need to be matched with the rainfall pattern but
other climatic factors which would affect the pest population and incidence of diseases must also be
given due consideration in planning.

Among three sources of water available for cultivation most abundant source is the soil moisture
reserve which accounts for 65 percent of the annual precipitation onto a catchment. It is freely
available but needs a certain level of management. In tank-village

2
system reservoir stores 25 percent and the balance 10 percent is stored as shallow ground water. In
water management planning in-situ use of rainfall (soil moisture) must be given priority because of its
abundance and low cost for consumption.

Reduction rate of seasonal water storage due to evaporation, seepage and percolation losses is high
in village tanks. This is as high as 60 percent of the storage in an average year (Dharmasena, 1991),
and the loss may not be compensated by any improvement of the on-farm management practices.
Thus, the loss of water from village tanks must be minimized by an appropriate rehabilitation
programme before introducing the integrated water management plan. Investigation made in this
respect indicates that in order to increase the water storing efficiency of the tank, it must be
rehabilitated by improving the tank bund and desilting the tank bed to form a low area/depth ratio.

It is necessary to improve the seasonal tank storage in order to increase the cropping intensity of the
command area. Thus, there is a necessity to generate more runoff from the tank catchment.
However, removing more rain water from the catchment as surface runoff would cause frequent soil
moisture stresses to farmlands in the catchment. Considering the bimodality of the rainfall
distribution, and the wide variation of the monthly rainfall, catchment farming methods must be
developed to promote maximum absorption of rainwater during relatively dry months in tank
catchments.

In almost all the tank-village farming situations, the most critical resource limitation is the availability
of water. When the system productivity is severely constrained by a certain resource it is wise to
attempt optimizing its productivity perhaps at the expense of others. In this context water value
needs to be increased through selection of crops, management, input levels etc. for a given farming
situation.

TANK WATER BUDGETING

Farmers start rice cultivation late in maha season. This is mainly due to wide variation of the
seasonal storage status which can hardly be pre-determined. However, delaying cultivation results in
a high irrigation requirement and reduces the contribution of rainfall to the crop water requirement,
forcing the cultivable extent to be smaller. Thus, it can be suggested that an early cultivation needs to
be promoted at the onset of monsoonal rains (October) at least in a certain part of the command
area. Tank water budgeting is an essential exercise in deciding such a cropping pattern with spatial as
well as temporal scheduling.

In implementing a tank water budgeting based cultivation model, planning and designing of the
cropping pattern with possible alternatives to maximize the farmer income is a pre-requisite.
Development of a more realistic cultivation schedule would be a principal component in this exercise.
The information which will be of great relevance in preliminary planning are (a) basic tank

3
data such as extent of tank catchment, available command area, tank area, storage capacity, FSL etc.;
(b) rainfall and evaporation data and (c) family labour force and other farming activities in the village
community. Irrigation requirements for rice and other field crops can be computed and hence, ex-
sluice water duties for various alternative cropping schedules are estimated. Data required for this
purpose are ETo, effective rainfall and application and conveyance efficiencies (Ponrajah, 1984). A
sample calculation of ex-sluice water duty is shown in Table 1. It indicates that there is a need of
irrigation for land preparation in October, but usually the tank does not have enough water by that
time. Therefore, dry sowing is recommended for seasons where October rains are not satisfactory.

Table 1. Computation of ex-sluice water duty.

Crop : Rice (3 1/2 months) Season : Maha (October - February)

Soil : LHG Location : Maha Illuppallama
Component Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb*
Land preparation (mm) 175 - - - -
ETo (mm) - 109 114 119 32
Crop coefficient - 1.1 1.1 1.1 0.9
ET crop (mm) - 114 133 131 29
Rainfall at 75 % 162 163 104 19 8
Effective rainfall 92 92 53 0 0
Field water requirement (mm) 83 22 80 131 29
Irrigation requirement (mm) 119 31 114 187 41
Ex-sluice water duty 149 39 143 234 51

* - Computed only for the first week.

In tank water budgeting the next requirement is to estimate the water losses from tank. Monthly
tank water losses can be calculated when the storage-loss relationship is developed for the concerned
tank. In general, water loss rate can be assumed as follows for an average tank.

Storage status - Full 75% 50% 25%

Percent loss/month - 10 12 16 27

The cultivation schedule for lowland must be compatible with the overall schedule of farming
activities in the village. An independent schedule will not work due to the interaction of other
activities in the farming community. Thus, it is always advisable to make an integrated farming
schedule and extract the lowland cultivation schedule for the budgeting purposes.

The cultivation schedule can be prepared for a crop or more along with the desirable extent. Tank
storage has to be balanced at least on monthly basis without failing to supply required amount of
water during the scheduled periods. The extent and/or the schedule can be adjusted until an
acceptable water budget is achieved.

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Additional tank storage gained due to unpredicted rains during the season will be used for scheduling
the subsequent yala cultivation. A flow diagram showing the tank water budgeting process is given
in Fig. 2.

The schedule consists of three phases. The first phase is planned at the beginning of the season even
before seasonal rains arrive. This phase is entirely based on past rainfall data. A portion of the
command area is planned for early cultivation with dry sowing or wet sowing depending upon the
magnitude of first rains in early October. Generally, the extent is approximately equivalent to one
tenth of the tank catchment area. All farmers should have somewhat equal extents in this part of the
lowland. Land fragmentation would be a constraint, therefore, a `bethma' approach is recommended
for this early cultivation.

The second phase can be planned during the latter part of November according to the storage status
of the tank. The cultivation would commence at the beginning of December. The extent can be
decided upon the tank water budget.

The third phase can be planned after receiving the December rains and the cultivation would
commence in the latter part of February or early March. The crops and the extent can be decided
according to the tank water availability and the farmers' preference. Tank water budgeting equation
is:

Si+1 = Si + Ri + ROi - Li - Ii1A1 - Ii2A2 - Ii3A3,

where, Si+1 is storage after ith period
Si is storage at the beginning of the ith period
Ri is volume of rainfall during ith period,
ROi is volume of runoff during ith period,
Li is loss of water through evaporation, seepage and
percolation during ith period,
A1,A2 and A3 are extents cultivated as first, second
and third respectively, and
Ii1, Ii2 and Ii3 are corresponding irrigation
requirements during ith period.

Land fragmentation, ownership, lack of capitals, interaction of rainfed cultivation are the main
implications which must need due consideration in implementing the tank water budgeting based
cultivation schedule in command areas of minor tanks.

INTEGRATION OF GROUND WATER

Despite all efforts aimed at intensifying irrigated agriculture derived on surface water, some tank-
village farming communities have resorted to farming with alternative water sources indicating the
state of water crisis. Shallow ground water gathering in lowlying valleys, alluvial deposits and areas
under influence of surface reservoirs, canals and tributaries has been approached in recent times for
cultivation with lift irrigation. This art of agriculture evolved during recent past known as `agro-well
farming' is now spreading over water deficit areas in the dry and

5
intermediate zones of Sri Lanka. The growing enthusiasm of farmers on ground water use has been
surfaced out with financial support schemes introduced by governmental as well as non-
governmental organizations.

Potential of the shallow ground water reserves and their limitation need to be fully realized in order
to layout a properly integrated water resource management plan and for its implementation in a
watershed. As agro-well farming is a new adoption, farmers have no experience, and as usual go on
experimenting through their trial and error approach. Therefore, it is high time to conduct research
studies in their own fields for facilitating their experimenting pathways to obtain fast innovations and
make information on ground water available for the authorities which are engaged in dug well
irrigation development programmes. Under such circumstances it is felt essential that there are two
initial steps to be followed before planning ground water for integrated management. They are: the
identification of hydrological situation and the assessment of ground water potential in the area of
interest.

Hydrological process in micro-watersheds differs due to various reasons such as presence of surface
water reservoirs, trans-basin diversions, streams and tributaries, geomorphology, vegetation,
agricultural water use etc.. Such differences are important in understanding the potentiality of
different sources of water. Major hydrological situations found with tank-village farming systems are
as follows.

i. Presence of a village tank, the catchment of which alone provides runoff water as
inflow to the storage.

ii. Presence of a village tank, which receives drainage water from fields irrigated by a
trans-basin diversion canal in addition to the runoff of its immediate catchment.

iii. Presence of a village tank, which receives drainage water from fields irrigated by an
upstream tank or tanks.

Potential of ground water for agriculture varies from place to place depending up on the
geomorphology, ecology, climate etc. Even within one hydrological situation potential would vary
with various factors such as aquifer characteristics, terrain conditions etc.. For planning of integrated
water management at micro-watershed scale, availability of different water sources and their
fluctuations throughout the year are to be known. In case of ground water the potential can be
described as the availability of ground water in different months where no extraction of water is made
through wells. This can be estimated from rainfall data and annual range of water table fluctuation by
using Ground Water Availability Prediction (GWAP) Model (Dharmasena, 1995). The model can
simulate ground water level situation in the presence of agro-well farming when its extent and the
cropping pattern are known.

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 INTEGRATED PLANNING

Existing land uses such as rainfed farming, forest homegarden irrigated farming etc. in a tank
catchment may not be possible to change much in favour of tank storage improvements. However,
management of rainfed farming areas can be improved in order to enhance the runoff flow into the
tank. The next important aspect is the storage efficiency of tank. This has been discussed early as an
initial planning need.

Mostly the need for an integrated approach is felt a must in the downstream area where tank
irrigation and agro-well irrigation are concentrated. Soil moisture has become a constraint for
rainfed farming while water shortage is the issue of downstream farming. Therefore, integration of
tank irrigation with ground water supply is essential after given due consideration for effective use of
seasonal rains. Nevertheless, conservation of soil moisture at any possible stage for any possible
crop by any means would definitely increase the productivity of water as well as efficiency of water
resource use.

Planning of integrated water management for the downstream area needs information such as the
extent available for cultivation, cropping patterns desired to be practised by farmers, rainfall data,
tank and ground water availability etc.. Estimation of tank and ground water availability has already
been discussed. With this knowledge a water management plan can be developed with concerned
farmers and service agencies with the aim of maximizing the water productivity as well as the farmer
income. A sample water management model is shown in Fig. 3 to elaborate the planning process.

The model would differ according to the hydrological situation and variation of its quantitative
parameters. Thus, it is very difficult to imagine at this stage the agricultural prospects of a micro-
watershed without proper understanding of the situation.

Success of the adoption of improved water management practices mostly depends on nature of water
source and the water user and his environment. It can be envisaged that farming with ground water
through lift irrigation would have additional advantages and provide opportunities for farmers to
adopt improved crop and water management practices which must ultimately increase the water
productivity and monitory return to farmer. When farmers have the access to ground water
following advantages would be gained.

i. Land preparation can be completed in advance without waiting for seasonal rains.

ii. Limited well water available during dry period prior to season can be utilized for
raising nurseries.

iii. Soil moisture deficit; the major problem for establishment of perennial crops can be
overcome through agro-wells.

7
 iv. High monitory return from off season cultivation.

v. Assurance for water is high so that farmers tend to invest more on cultivation.

However, our experience indicates that farmers engaged in cultivation with well irrigation do not
gain much benefits from this water resource and consequently receive less income. Following short-
falls are associated with their farming.

i. Lack of understanding on the availability of well water.

ii. Farmers do not plan their cultivation to obtain maximum benefit of rainfall.

iii. Moisture conservation techniques are not adopted by farmers even if their crops are
suffered with water shortage.

iv. Most of the agro-well farmers are still cultivating according to seasons.

v. Farmers have no experience on irrigation layouts for conjunctive use of water

resources.

Therefore, on-farm water management has to be given priority in research as the farmer alone can
not face the challenge of avoiding conflicts in integrated water management. Future research studies
with respect to on-farm water management may need to concentrate on: (a) irrigation layout and
scheduling; (b) reduction of water conveyance losses; (c) moisture conservation methods; and (d)
crops and cropping patterns aiming at achieving maximum benefits from the integrated management
effort.

In integrated water management planning one should not overlook the fact that the sustainability of
management would rest on farmer participation and their ensured leadership in decision making.
Finally, it is noteworthy that water management planning should not be targeted at keeping water
resources unused, but using them while maintaining the hydrological balance to become the eco-
system sustainable in every aspect.

REFERENCES

Dharmasena, P.B., 1991. A hydrological perspective of village tanks. Proc. of the 47 th annual
session of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science. Part 1:56.

Dharmasena, P.B., 1994. Conservation farming practices for small reservoir watersheds: a case
study from Sri Lanka. Agro-forestry systems. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands.
27:1-10.

8
Dharmasena, P.B., 1995. A model to estimate water availability in agro-wells. Proc. of the 51 st
annual session of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science. Part 1:174-175.

Madduma Bandara, C.M., 1985. Catchment eco-systems and village tank in the dry zone of Sri
Lanka. In Strategies for River Basin Management (Eds.) J. Lundqvist, U. Lohm and Falkernmark,
Geojournal Library, Dortrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company. p 265-277.

Ponrajah, A.J.P., 1984. Design of irrigation headworks for small catchments. Irrigation
Department, Colombo, Sri Lanka. p 21.

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 ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ Past rainfall│ │ Tank │
│ data │ │ hydro data │
└──────┬───────┘ └──────┬───────┘
│ │
│ │
└─────────────┬────────────┘
│
┌──────────┴──────┐ ┌───────────┐
│ Storage at 90% ├─────────┤First │
October │ probability │ │cultivation│
└──────────────┬──┘ └───────────┘
│
│
┌──────────────┐ ┌──┴────────┐
│Rainfall in │ │ Storage │
November │October and ├────┤ status │
│November │ │ │
└──────────────┘ └─┬─────────┘
│
┌──────┴─────┐ ┌───────────┐
│ Additional │ Yes │Second │
│ storage? ├───────┤cultivation│
│ │ │ │
└───────┬────┘ └───────────┘
│
│
┌──────────┐ ┌───────┴─────┐
│Seasonal ├───┤ Storage │
February │rainfall │ │ status │
└──────────┘ └───────┬─────┘
│
┌───────┴─────┐ ┌───────────┐
│ Additional│ Yes │Third │
│ storage ? ├──────┤cultivation│
└───────┬─────┘ │ │
│ └───────────┘
│
│

Fig. 2. Tank water budgeting process.

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 ┌────────────────────┐
│ │
┌───────────┴──────────┐ │
│ │ │
┌─────┴─────┐ ┌────┴─────┐ │
│ Extent │ │ Cropping │ │
│ │ │ pattern │ │
└─────┬─────┘ └─────┬────┘ │
│ │ │
└──────────┬────────────┘ │
│ │
┌────────────┐ ┌──────┴──────┐ │
│ │ │ Water │ │
┌─┤ Rainfall │ │ consumption │ │
││ │ │ schedule │ │
│ └───┬──────┬─┘ └───────────┬─┘ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ ┌──┴───────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ Soil moisture│ │ │
│ │ │ availability├───────┤ │
│ │ └──────────────┘ │ │
│ │ ┌──────┴──────┐ │
│ ┌──┴──────────┐ │ Water │ │
│ │Tank water │ │ requirement │ │
│ │availability │ │ schedule │ │
│ └──────┬──────┘ └───────┬─────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ ┌────────────┐ │ │
│ └────┤ Tank water ├─────┘ │
│ │ budgeting ├─────┐ │
│ └────────────┘ │ │
│ │ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ ┌──────┴──────┐ │
└───────┤Ground water │ │ Additional │ │
│available │ │ irrigation │ │
└────┬────────┘ │ requirement │ │
│ └──────┬──────┘ │
│ │ │
│ │ │
│ ┌────────────────┐ │ │
└─┤Water management├─┘ │
│plan │ │
└───────┬────────┘ │
│ │
┌─────┴────┐ │
│Any water ├─────────────────────┘
│ deficit ?│
└─────┬────┘

11
│
│
│

Fig. 3. Integrated water management plan.

12
 Field Crops Res. & Dev. Institute,
Maha Illuppallama.
March 12, 1996

Symposium Coordinator,
Secretariat,
14th International Symposium on
Sustainable Farming Systems,
P.O. Box 42, Socio-economics and Planning Centre,
Peradeniya.
Thro' Director (FCRDI)/
DD(R)/Maha Illuppallama

SUBMISSION OF PAPERS FOR THE 14th INTERNATIONAL

SYMPOSIUM ON SUSTAINABLE FARMING SYSTEMS

I am sending herewith a paper entitled `Integrated Management of Water Resources in Tank-

village Farming System' prepared under the theme of `Environment and Agricultural Resource
Management' for the above workshop. In addition to the hard copy, a diskette in WP 5.1 and 6.0 is
also sent herewith.

Dr. P.B. Dharmasena,

Research Officer,
(Land and Water Management).