Evaluation and Analysis of Water Management Strategies on the Punjab Irrigation Canals System

Abstract

In this paper, we made a comprehensive analysis of water management strategies implemented within irrigation canal systems across three distinct zones in Punjab, Pakistan: Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan (DG Khan), and Faisalabad. The evaluation focused on two primary indicators: 1. The effectiveness of civil works, capacity building & institutional reforms. The effectiveness of civil works is assessed through a multi-dimensional approach, incorporating visual inspection (evaluating the quality of civil works and operations & maintenance practices in selected regions) and the assessment of hydraulic efficiency. The pertinent Data on civil works are collected in collaboration with the respective Punjab Irrigation Departments. Information on capacity building and institutional reforms is collected via a structured questionnaire survey. While the study partially achieved its overall objectives across the selected zones, the civil work component demonstrated comparatively satisfactory performance in terms of quality and hydraulic efficiency for the selected reaches of distributary and minor canals. The obtained Terminal Distributary Improvement (TDI) success index for civil works obtained at selected zones is 69% for Bahawalpur, 62% for DG Khan, and 67% for Faisalabad. Overall, the civil work component seems partly successful.