I am an Irrigation Engineer in the Irrigation Department (ID), the national organization responsible for managing 250 reservoirs and related irrigation systems.
The main responsibility of the ID is to fulfil the demand for irrigation water, mainly for paddy cultivation. Our reservoirs also have to meet the increasing demand for fresh water for domestic and industrial use. This has lead to conflicts between users.
At the same, the increasing degradation of the quality and environment of our water bodies has not yet received due attention from water managers (Meegastenna, 2002). The health of poor farming families is increasingly at risk due to biological and chemical contamination of reservoirs on which they directly depend for their domestic water supply (Bandara, 2007).
This paper discusses how the IHE Masters Program in Water and Environmental Resources Management helped me to develop the view and techniques for changing the attitudes of the farmers and building the capacity of the irrigation staff to handle water resources management in a sustainable manner. It also discusses conflict resolution between competing users and raising the awareness for practicing water saving techniques and preventing pollution.
The story of Muruthawela
In 1999, I was appointed the Irrigation Engineer in charge of the Muruthawela Reservoir Irrigation system, which commands 5,472 hectares of paddy cultivation. The Reservoir is located in the dry southern province of Sri Lanka, in the Hambantota District. The reservoir (capacity 48 Mm3) was constructed in the 1970s to reduce the water shortage in a cascade system of 7 smaller reservoirs and 8 Anicut schemes.
Currently, the Muruthawela Reservoir has to meet both the demand of the existing irrigation systems and the (new) Muruthawela piped water supply project. The water supply project takes 1,300m3/day and this is scheduled to increase to 5,000m3/day in the next 20 years (NWS&DB, 2000).
Farmers using the irrigation schemes were objecting to the provision of water to other sectors as they already experienced water scarcity in dry periods.
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