IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF KALAKHO IRRIGATION

PROJECT IN RAJASTHAN

by

BABULAL MEENA Centre for Rural Development & Technology

Submitted

in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

to the

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI HAUZ KHAS, NEW DELHI 110016

July, 2001

I ft '?

i■ 6** 0.<

4$ Tfri

c) ) ( 1-1,

Nip yr 4 k. r-C•C‘11)

°

ti

CERTIFICATE

It is certified that the thesis entitled IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF KALAKHO

IRRIGATION PROJECT IN RAJASTHAN being submitted by BABULAL MEENA,

to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi for the award of the degree of Doctor of

Philosophy is a record of the bonafide research work carried out by him. Babulal Meena

has worked under our guidance and supervision in conformity with the rules and

regulations of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

The results contained in the thesis have not been submitted in part or full to any

other university or institute for the award of any degree or diploma.

Dr. Ashok K. Keshari

Assistant Professor Department of Civil Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016

j.)AP-C4 Dr. Dil Bagh Kaur

Senior Scientific Officer - I Centre for Rural Development and Technology

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110016

Date: 3t,_ pc

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is my great pleasure and privilege to express my deep sense of gratitude and

profound indebtness to my supervisors, Dr. Dil Bagh Kaur and Dr. Ashok K. Keshari for

their constant and consistent inspiring guidance and utmost cooperation at every stage

which culminated in successful completion of my research work.

I am eternally indebted to Dr. Krishnan V. Pagalthivarthi and his wife for their

loving guidance and support in the last three years. They have opened my eyes and have

given me a new meaning to life. I shall always Cherish my wonderful moments with them

and hope that some day I will be able to come up to the standard of being a genuine

intellectual.

I feel that without the support of my parent institute, College of Technology and

Agricultural Engineering, Udaipur (CTAE), it was not possible to to reach at the height of

qualification and experience. I express my heart felt gratitude to Prof. Pratap Singh, Dean

CTAE, Prof. Raj Veer Singh, Head, Deptt. of Soil and Water Conservation,CTAE, Dr. Sita

Ram Bhakar for deputing me for higher study leading to Ph.D. Degree at I.I.T. Delhi and

for their keen interest and kind support rendered during the research work.

I am very much thankful to Prof. S.N. Sinha, Head, Deptt. of Civil Engineering and

Prof. Rajendra Prasad, Head, Centre for Rural Development and Technology (CRDT), IIT

Delhi, for their academic discussion and encouragement.

397/2v-vi

Bctbu-lizi Neervi

ABSTRACT

Agriculture is the principal sector of the Indian Economy that contributes

over one-third of the national income, provides livelihood to nearly three-fourth of the

population, and supplies bulk of the wage goods and raw materials to the non-agricultural

sector. Further, more attention on agriculture is required to cater the demand of increased

population and also to uplift the living standard of rural people. Therefore, agricultural

production needs to be encouraged steadily in the years to come. This objective can be

accomplished mainly by providing assured irrigation facilities to the farmers and by

protecting the crops from the frequent droughts. Timely irrigation with desired quality and

quantity is very essential for crops to yield at potential level. Keeping these viewpoints,

irrigation has been accorded a high priority in the national development plans.

A huge amount of public money is being invested in the construction and

maintenance of various irrigation projects, but many of our existing medium and major

irrigation projects are presently operating below their potential. It has been seen that in the

past, efforts have mostly been made to create irrigation potential and no attention has been

given towards its efficient utilization, lack of effective water distribution method,

construction of lined canal system, development of under delivery system below the outlet

and on-farm water management have been found to be main causes for immense loss of

water besides seepage field application, excess irrigation etc. have resulted into reduced

availability of water and coverage of area under irrigation (Anonymous, 1983 and 1987).

The primary aim of the present project is to study the impact assessment of Kalakho

irrigation project in Rajasthan. To fulfill the primary aim specific objectives have been

enumerated as (1) Diagnostic analysis of the Kalakho irrigation project to evaluate the

project performance. (2) To assess the environmental impact of the Kalakho irrigation

project in the command area. (3) To study the socio-economic conditions in the command

area. (4) To suggest appropriate measures for the improvement of the project performance.

Kalakho irrigation project is a medium project with CCA of 3039 ha, which was

completed in 1953. An analysis of the project has been carried out to assess the economic

feasibility of the modernization, which was done though lining of canal and minors. Results

of the analysis indicate that the project was found to yield the desired performance. But in

the present situation, it has been observed that the project is not performing as envisaged

under the project report.

Kalakho Irrigation Project is a medium project on the Kharandi river, a tributary of

Banganga river. It is located in Dausa district, of Rajasthan and the dam is about 17 km

from the district headquarter. The storage dam was constructed to store the water during

monsoon flows. The gross capacity of the dam is 13.28 MCM with the dead storage

capacity of 2.47 MCM. Thus, live storage capacity of the dam is 10.81 MCM. The project

benefits for the area are worked out on the basis of this storage. The dam has live storage

capacity of 10.8 MCM (Million Cubic Metres) of water and was designed to serve CCA

(Culturable Command Area) of 3079 ha with an irrigation intensity of 59 %.

A contour canal was designed for a discharge of 1.62 cumecs to cater the irrigation

demand for tigi crops. The total length of canal is 23.2 km. There are eight minors drawn

from the main canal namely, Bhojpura, Girdharpura, Bindrawara, Raipura, Basera,

Sikandra, Bamanpada and Leekly. These minors are taking off at different locations to

cover a total of 1825 ha ICA (Irrigated Command Area) in its command (Anonymous,

1988, 1995, 2000). Out of total length of canal and minors (45.28 km), about 50 percent is

lined and rest is unlined. There are 83 outlets in the canal system, 27 outlets direct from

main canal and 56 from the minors.

The impact assessment methodology of Kalakho irrigation project has been

conceptualized to consist of performance evaluations for water availability, water delivery,

environmental consequences, agricultural production and economic return, and socio-

economic conditions in the command. The approach utilized for analyzing different aspects

of performance indicators necessitates the collection and analysis of hydraulic, hydrologic

and agricultural data, field data measurements and statistical analysis of surveyed data

pertaining to socio-economic attributes.

The study reveals that main causes behind the poor performance of the project are

inadequate capacity of many minors, non-existence of suitable water distribution system,

unauthorized water use, lack of farmer's participation in water management and lack of

proper method of irrigation by the farmers. Besides, there is applicable seepage loss and

evaporation loss. There is large scope for further increasing the crop productivity by using

improved seed varieties and improved water management practices. However, some minors

need expansion of its capacity. Adopting proper remedial measures can increase the

performance of irrigation project. It is very necessary to control the water losses and proper

water management to improve the project performance. The study of environmental aspects

of this project shows that there are both positive and negative impacts on the environment

of the command area. The submergence of the large agriculture and forest area by the

reservoir is very serious concern if indirect benefits are overlooked. However, better water

management practices will justify the project as it has more potential as ICA. There is no

severe threat of salinity and sodicity of soil, however ground water salinity is serious

concern in most areas. It appears that leaching of salt is one of the main sources for salinity

in groundwater. Except few patches, water logging is not posing problem at all. The

positive point is that it has controlled the floods and also problem of soil erosion has come

down. The project has also resulted into better socio-economic conditions in the command.

The socio-economic analysis of the project reveals that there are considerable

changes in social structures and their economic levels. The project has a definite impact on

the cropping pattern as the wheat and gram became the major crops for beneficiary farms.

The yields of major crops like wheat and gram from irrigated area have become doubled in

comparison to that of unirrigated area. The yield has increased three times as compared to

the yield of command area in 1985. This resulted into increased farmers income.

The literacy has also gone up by 26% in beneficiary area as compared to the non-

beneficiary area. The change in structure of family is observed significantly. There is an

increase in number of small size families and a consequent decrease in the large families.

The project has generated some small employment avenues like fishing, regrettable farming

and many small-scale income-generating jobs, which are helpful to remove unemployment

program and to fulfill the basic needs.

The results and recommendations reported in this thesis will be helpful in

developing augmentation and management plans for significantly improving the Kalakho

irrigation project performance and also rehabilitating the groundwater.

ABBREVIATIONS

GCA Gross command area

CCA Culturable command area

ICA Irrigated command area

MCM Million cubic meter

cumec Cubic meter per second

km Kilometer

cm Centimeter

mm Millimeters

m Meter

SHE System Hydrologique European

EC Electrical conductivity

SAR Sodium absorption ratio

ha Hectares

qtl Quintals

RSC Residual sodium carbonate

kg Kilogram

ST Schedule caste

SC Schedule caste

OBC Other backward caste

ASCE American Society of Civil Engineering

LIST OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

1.1 General

1.2 Scope of study

1.3 Objectives of the study

1.4 Organization of thesis

3

6

7

2. Literature review 13

2.1 Performance evaluation of irrigation projects 14

2.2 Environmental aspects in water resources projects 26

2.3 Socio-economic analysis of irrigation command area 32

3. Description of the study area 39

3.1 Kalakho irrigation canal system 39

3.1.1 Bhojpura minor 46

3.1.2 Girdharpura minor 47

3.1.3 Bindarwara minor 47

3.1.4 Raipura minor 47

3.1.5 Basera minor 48

3.1.6 Sikandra minor 48

3.1.7 Bamanpada minor 48

3.1.8 Leekly minor 49

4.

3.2 Hydrology of study area

3.3 Soil characteristics

Methodology

49

50

59

4.1 Primary data 59

4.1.1 Sampling design 61

4.1.2 Profile of Villages 62

4.2.3 Construction of interview schedule 68

4.2 Secondary data 68

4.3 Field data measurement 69

4.4 Project performance analysis 70

5. Diagnostic analysis for hydraulic and hydrologic performance 75

5.1 Water delivery system 75

5.2 Water distribution system 81

5.3 Conditions of field water delivery system 85

5.4 Participation of farmers in water management 85

5.5 Evaporation losses in reservoir 86

5.6 On-farm water management 86

5.6.1 Leveling of the Fields 89

5.6.2 Field Layout for Irrigation 90

5.6,3 Method and scheduling of Irrigation 90

5.6.4 Number of Irrigations and depth of irrigation 93

5.6.5 Conjunctive use of water 96

5.6.6 Drainage System 97

5.7 Irrigation practices

5.7.1 Live storage and irrigated area

5.7.2 Cropping pattern and irrigation demand 1(

5.7.3 Proposed irrigable area

5.7.4 Demand and supply of irrigation water in existing cropped area 1(

5.7.5 Crop varieties 1C

5.7.6 Seed Rate 1C

5.7.7 Time of Sowing - 10

5.7.8 Fertilizer use in different crops 11

5.8 Yield and yield 11

5.9 Conclusions 11

6. Environmental impact assessment 11'

6.1 Impact on physical subsystem 12(

6.1.1 Submergence of land for forest and agriculture lands I 2(

6.1.2 Flood and erosion control 12

6.2 Impact on biological subsystem 12:,

6.3 Impact on social sub system (Rehabilitation) 12:

6.4 Salinity and alkalinity 124

6.4.1 Salinity problem in well/reservoir water in the command 124

6.4.2 Sodicity and alkalinity problems in well/reservoir water

6.4.3 Soil alkalinity 133

6.4.4 Soil salinity 133

6.5 Waterlogging in the command area 143

6.6 Soil fertility 143

6.7 Conclusions 144

7. Socio economic analysis 151

7.1 Change in cropping pattern 152

7.2 Input Use 155

7.3 Crop yield 157

7.4 Farm income 159

7.5 Employment status 163

7.6 Influence of caste system on water 167

7.7 Social values in the command area 168

7.7.1 Awareness 171

7.7.2 Attitudes 172

7.8 Change in family structure 177

7.9 Education level 181

7.10 Conclusions 182

8. Conclusions and Recommendations 189

9. References 199

10 Appendices 209