Comparison of practices

Use of water resources

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Country: Tajikistan

Province: Khatlon Region

District: Jilikul

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: South Kazakhstan Region

District: Maktaaral District

• Located in the valley part of the Vakhsh River Basin (river catchment area);
• Deep (below 3 meters) ground water occurrence;
• Middle loamy soils.

• Upstream (Ferghana) and midstream (Syr Darya) of the Syr Darya River
• Ebb occurrence of highly mineralized ground water

Start date: 01.04.2010

End date: 31.10.2011

Start date: 01.01.1965

End date: 31.12.1975

Uneven distribution of irrigation water, lack of water accounting means to ensure observance of recommended irrigation norms for cotton

Deterioration of reclamation situation: rising of ground water, land salination

Tubular water outlet flowmeter

Technique and technology of land reclamation via a system of vertical drainage wells (VDW)

Actions:

- Construction of tubular water outlet flowmeter with removable nozzles (procurement of polyethylene piping to make tubular water outlets and matching nozzles);
- Installation of tubular water outlet flowmeter along temporary sprinklers. 

Results:

Financial and economic:

saving of irrigation water; low cost of irrigation system automation (total kit cost: $500/ha) with the service life of 5 years. 

Technical:

simple design allowing a more even distribution of irrigation water stream among furrows, thus, ensuring the prescribed water supply mode.

Social:

improved working conditions of irrigators; lower labor needs/costs; enhanced mutual trust among farmers and water users.

Actions:

A VDW system set up. Prior to its installation, the area was drained via a horizontal open-type drain-age network ineffective as to reducing the mass of salinized land.

Comprehensive VDW efforts significantly enhanced drainage.

However, currently due to the absence of a single organization responsible for VDW operation, maintenance and repair, the VDW systems recon-structed under World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects do not perform as effectively as ini-tially.

Results:

Financial and economic:
Increased cotton yields (from 10-15 up to 30-35 dt/ha).

Technical:
Successful response to land salination in 3 districts: ground water table steadily kept at 2-3 m depth leading to a sharp contraction of salinized land area.

Lessons learnt:

Installation and deployment of tubular water outlet flowmeter allows to improve the uniformity of irrigation stream’s distribution among furrows and conduct irrigation water accounting.

Recommendations:

It is necessary to widely use the small-scale irrigation automation means like the tubular water outlet flowmeters which have simple design, are convenient to operate, are low-cost and mobile and ensure supply of the prescribed amount of irrigation water.

Lessons learnt:

In due time, the model proved useful and timely, as the country urgently needed to increase its cotton yields. The practice demonstrated high efficiency of VDW in combatting land salination.

Recommendations:

1. Establish a special VDW System Maintenance and Operation Department;
2. Build personnel capacity:
• Continual training of personnel in the Department and Provincial Hydrogeological and Land Reclamation Expedition;
• Drafting and distribution of training materi-als.

Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

1. Cost of implementation: High

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

1. Cost of implementation: Moderate

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

Project title: Watering technology based on tubular water outlet flowmeters.

Project duration: Apr 2010-Oct 2011.

Project goal and objectives: development and deployment of a crop watering technology for dekhan farms of the Republic of Tajikistan allowing to significantly increase the efficiency of water use.

Project beneficiaries: members of “Istikol” WUA (Water User Association).

Project implementer: Institute of Water Issues, Hydropower and Ecology of the Academy of Sciences of the RTj

Report by the Innovation Technology Department of the IWIHE of the AS of the RTj, Dushanbe, 2012, 45 p.

Reshetkina N.M. et al. “Vertical Drainage”, Moscow: Kolos, 1978. – 319 p.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC