Water use efficiency and its significance in Watershed management
Shortage of water for drinking, irrigation and other purpose in watershed area is becoming a serious problem.
The shortage of water is not primarily because of decrease in rain fall rather it is more due to lack of efficient water management
Watershed management through various watershed harvesting structures like water tank, Pond etc ensures water harvesting. Water harvesting, however is just not sufficient to fulfill the objectives of watershed management.
The second most important step after Water harvesting is efficient and effective water utilization. Hence, it is important to enhance the water use efficiency.
The water use efficiency of water for irrigation can be enhanced by reducing the seepage losses. The irrigation channels that are used for supplying irrigation water to agriculture field are generally made of earthen structures causing much of seepage losses.
It is important to incorporate efficient methods of irrigation. An understanding of water requirement hence becomes significant. The farmers should be aware of number of irrigation required for a particular crop.
Flooding method of irrigation results in wastage of much of water. It important to understand that irrigation is required by crop and not by the land. So, irrigation should be channelized as per the irrigation requirement of the crop. This way flooding method of irrigation can better be substituted by irrigation efficient methods like drip or sprinkler irrigation.
