Health impacts of small reservoirs in Burkina Faso


Book Description

In Burkina Faso, at least 1,700 small reservoirs have been constructed, most of them during the last 30 years. Numerous and scattered, these beneficial multipurpose systems combine productive with domestic water uses. However, their environmental and health impacts remain insufficiently documented. This report combines data from different sources into syntheses and national maps, with a focus on water-related diseases. The mitigation of negative impacts requires an integrated approach to specifically identify the enhancing and limiting factors that influence environmental impacts and the transmission of diseases around reservoirs. Public awareness campaigns need to accompany the promotion of preventive and curative measures and the development of alternative water sources for domestic supply.




Climate change impacts and adaptation in Nepal


Book Description

The impact of climate change (CC) on water resources is likely to affect agricultural systems and food security. This is especially true for Nepal, a least developed country, where a high percentage of the population is dependent on agriculture for its livelihoods. It is thus crucial for Nepal’s leaders and resource managers to draft and begin implementing national adaptation plans. This working paper aims to create a more comprehensive understanding of how the impacts of CC will be realized at different scales in Nepal, from household livelihoods to national food security, and the many institutions governing the ultimate adaptation process.







Multiple sources of water for multiple purposes in northeast Thailand


Book Description

Many farms in tropical countries suffer from droughts in the dry season and sometimes even in the rainy season. In order to significantly increase the capacity to store water, the grassroots Farmer Wisdom movement in Northeast Thailand innovated pond construction on homesteads. This Working Paper first documents how pond water is mainly used to irrigate crops and fruit trees, and is also used for livestock or fish, and for domestic uses, even if ample piped water is available. Households were also found to harvest rainwater from roofs; take water from canals and streams; lift water manually from shallow wells and with electric pumps from deep wells; channel run-off from roads to paddy fields; use precipitation as green water on fields; and buy bottled water. Most households combine at least six of these nine water sources. The second part describes scenarios and some outcomes of a new simulation model, BoNam. This model provides guidelines for the optimal size and site of such ponds according to biophysical factors (weather, soil and crops), socioeconomic factors (prices, availability of labor and off-farm income) and household aspirations.




Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security


Book Description

This volume reviews the evolution of ten years’ learning and discovery about water scarcity, livelihoods, and food security within the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. It draws on the experiences of over 100 projects conducted in ten river basins in the developing world. The book describes how the program’s design evolved from an emphasis on water scarcity, water productivity, and water access to an emphasis on using water innovations to improve livelihoods and address development challenges in specific river basins. It shows how the research was used to foster change in stakeholder behavior, linking it to improved knowledge, attitudes, and skills, which were fostered by stakeholder participation, innovation, dialogue, and negotiation. The authors describe development challenges, their drivers and their political context, how to address them through technical, institutional, and policy innovations; and the consequences of change at different scales, time frames on equity, resilience, and ecosystem services. Overall, the work represents a major synthesis and landmark publication for all concerned with water resource management and sustainable development.




A Comparative Analysis of the Technical Efficiency of Rain-fed and Smallholder Irrigation in Ethiopia


Book Description

Agriculture is the most significant contributor to Ethiopia’s economy. Most of the agricultural production is under rainfed conditions and thus extremely sensitive to rainfall variability. Irrigation development, including smallholder irrigation, is used by the Ethiopian Government to attempt to mitigate the effects of rainfall variability. In this study, we look at smallholder irrigation – modern and traditional irrigation systems. A detailed description of the cropping patterns is given. The stochastic frontier production function approach is used to estimate technical inefficiency, and constraints to production are analyzed. Since the traditional system is found to be efficient but on a lower production frontier, the study shows that significant gains can be made by raising the frontier of the traditional systems and increasing the efficiency of the modern systems. Among the production constraints studied were land preparation, soil fertility, weed control, pests and diseases, soil erosion, input access and moisture deficiency. The most significant constraints on the irrigated systems were input access and moisture deficiency.




A case for pipelining water distribution in the Narmada Irrigation System in Gujarat, India


Book Description

Thanks to farmers’ resistance to provide land for constructing watercourses below the outlets, India’s famous Sardar Sarovar Project is stuck in an impasse. Against a potential to serve 1.8 million hectares, the Project was irrigating just 100,000 hectares five years after the dam and main canals were ready. Indications are that full project benefits will get delayed by years, even decades. In this paper, IWMI researchers advance ten reasons why the Project should abandon its original plan of constructing open channels and license private service providers to invest in pumps and buried pipeline networks to sell irrigation service to farmers.




Typology of irrigation systems in Ghana


Book Description

Interest in African irrigation investment is growing. However, irrigation is not a monolithic concept, and the opportunities and risks can vary substantially by approach. To help provide an understanding of the variation, this paper builds on previous work to provide a detailed typology of irrigation systems as currently used in Ghana.




Inventory of water storage types in the Blue Nile and Volta River Basins


Book Description

For agriculture there is a continuum of water storage options, ranging from groundwater aquifers, soil water, natural wetlands and small ponds and tanks to large reservoirs. In any situation each of these has its own niche in terms of technical feasibility, socioeconomic sustainability and impact on public health and the environment. Planning storage requires insight into impending needs and also a good understanding of what already exists and what was, and was not, successful, in the past. This report provides an inventory of existing and prospective water storage in the Ghanaian Volta and the Ethiopian Blue Nile basins. It provides as much quantitative data as possible, but highlights both the dearth of readily available information and the lack of integrated planning of storage in both basins. Recommendations are made for improved planning in the future.




The Volta River Basin


Book Description

The Volta River Basin (VRB) is an important transboundary basin in West Africa that covers approximately 410,000 square kilometres across six countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo. Its natural resources sustain the livelihoods of its population and contribute to economic development. This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary review and assessment of the issues and challenges faced. The authors provide a science-based assessment of current and future scenarios of water availability, the demands of key sectors, including agriculture and hydropower, and the environment under changing demographic, economic, social and climatic conditions. They also identify solutions and strategies that will allow available water resources to be sustainably used to improve agricultural productivity, food security and economic growth in the VRB. Overall, the work examines from a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder perspective the solutions and strategies to improve the use of water and other natural resources in the VRB to achieve enhanced food security, livelihoods and economic growth.