WORKING GROUP ON IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT (WG-IDM) | International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage (ICID)

Water from various origins is used to supply irrigation: Surface water from close resource or transported on long distance, groundwater from shallow water tables or from deep aquifers as well. Multiple resources may be available at the same place, differing in operation cost, in quantity and in quality. Other usages may compete with irrigation. Therefore, an assessment of the total amount of water available during an irrigation season is essential for determining the optimal consumptive as well as non-consumptive use, the latter remaining available for a second usage. Dependent on the local conditions, groundwater irrigation may be more efficient than surface water schemes. Both may be used together on the same spot. However, especially in arid and semi-arid conditions, there is often a need to stop over-exploitation and ensure sustainable use by technological and institutional interventions so that, where possible, storages could be used during the drought periods.

Sustainable water management at both resource and system level is not only an important requirement in support of global food production, but also for the livelihood of the rural population and for environment. In addition there is the important aspect of integrated river basin management where irrigation is generally the major water user. In quite numerous systems there is 'over' irrigation, which may result in waterlogging, salinization and wasting of water. On the other hand 'deficit' irrigation may result in yield reductions and salinization of the root zone. Therefore a crucial question is what would be optimal water development strategy and management approach in irrigation under the local conditions. The WG will be exploring the subjects under its scope from perspective of”schemes” and thus is relevant to the Thematic Area.

Scoping Document

Mandate:

(a) assessment of consumptive use of water for irrigation and resulting water balance at system level; (b) water demand management according to available resource(s) and system capacity; (c) assessment of water loss in various components of irrigation systems, appraisal of water made available for another use downstream (non-consumptive); (d) ground water development and management for irrigation including conjunctive use of surface and groundwater in irrigation, artificial recharge of aquifers from canals "losses" and "excessive" irrigation; (e) water measuring methods and devices and relevant technology (flow rates and volumes); (f) drivers for and resistances at system level to improve irrigation management; (g) social issues to be considered along with technical and economical ones; (h) management of multi-use hydraulic systems, and interdependence between uses; (i) performance evaluation of irrigation schemes and benchmarking; (j) ways towards economic performance enhancement (cost reduction and efficiency improvement).

Established : 2015

Membership

Sl. No.	Name	Email	Country	Position
1	Mrs. Mary Jean M. Gabriel	Ma*************	South Africa	Chair
2	Mr. Ahmet Seren	as*************	Turkey	Vice Chair
3	Dr. Katsuyuki SHIMIZU	sh*************	Japan	Secretary
4	Dr. Akie MUKAI	mu*************	Japan	Member
5	Eng. Ali Mohamed Ahmed Elhaj	al*************	Sudan	Member
6	Eng. El Sayed El Yamani Ali Sarkees	y1*************	Egypt	Member
7	Dr. (Ms.) Eman Ragab Mohamed Nofal - Young Professional	em*************	Egypt	Member
8	Dr. Gamal Mohamed Elkassar	ge*************	Egypt	Member
9	Prof. L.B. Roy - Direct Member	lb*************	India	Member
10	Dr. (Ms.) Liu Jing - Young Professional	ji*************	China	Member
11	Ir. Mat Hussin Bin Ghani	ma*************	Malaysia	Member
12	Dr. Ming Young Jan	ag*************	Chinese Taipei Committee	Member
13	Dr. Narges Zohrabi	na*************	Iran	Member
14	Mr. Tariq Altaf	ta*************	Pakistan	Member
15	Dr. Waleed Hassan M. Abou El Hassan	Wa*************	Egypt	Member
16	Dr. Wu Jingwei	ji*************	China	Member
17	Prof. (Ms.) Chen Jing	ch*************	China	Provisional Member
18	Dr. Hwa-Lung Yu	hl*************	Chinese Taipei Committee	Provisional Member
19	Prof. Jiesheng Huang	sd*************	China	Provisional Member
20	Dr. Khumbulani Dhavu	dh*************	South Africa	Provisional Member
21	Mr. Mohamad Radzi Bin Abdul Talib	ra*************	Malaysia	Provisional Member
22	Dr. Sheng-Wei Wang	wa*************	Chinese Taipei Committee	Provisional Member
23	Dr. A. Hafied A. Gany	ha*************	Indonesia	Permanent Observer
24	Mr. Ian William Makin	ia*************	United Kingdom	Permanent Observer