Offtake Sensitivity, Operation Effectiveness, and Performance of Irrigation System

Analytical relationships between the control of canal water depth, the sensitivity of irrigation delivery structures, and the resulting internal performance are established at the system level. One system sensitivity indicator is derived for both adequacy and efficiency, and two for equity (coefficient of variation and Theil information index). The level of precision which reflects the effectiveness in controlling water depth is defined as a permissible variation of water depth at the cross-regulator (±ΔHR) about the target. The degree of influence exercised by the cross-regulator on offtakes is accounted for through an influence factor between zero and one. The behavior of three different irrigation systems in Sri Lanka and Pakistan is studied with both analytical system indicators and numerical hydraulic simulations. It shows good agreement for a range of precision between 0.02 and 0.2 m. These global system indicators can be used to define the precision level required to achieve a given performance, to estimate actual performance from recorded precision at regulators, and to diminish the system sensitivity, improving the performance for a given precision. Practical operating policies can be inferred from sensitivity information of irrigation systems without the necessity of a complex irrigation operation model.