UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND

TECHNOLOGY, SARGODHA

IRRIGATION ENGINEERING

Assignment

SUBMITTED TO: Engr. Owais

SUBMITTED BY: Atif Minhas
ROLL NUMBER: BCEF16E034
 Preparation of Warabandi for an outlet chak

Definition and brief description:

The term Warabandi means “turns” (wahr) which are “fixed” (bandi).
Warabandi is a rotational method for equitable distribution of the available water in an irrigation system
by turns fixed according to predetermined schedule specifying the day, time and duration of supply to
each irrigator in proportion to size of his land holding in the outlet command. (Singh 1981, Malhotra
1982)
The warabandi water allocation method practiced in Pakistan’s large-scale canal irrigation systems offers
some empirical evidence of the relative neglect of water rights as a major issue in agricultural production.
In the current practice of warabandi, the actual water distribution is found to deviate substantially from
the design stage expectations. The implications of this gap between the design and practice of warabandi
are yet to be fully explored.
Malhotra (1982)points out the warabandi is not just distribution of water flowing inside a water course
according to a roster but is an integrated water management system extending from source to the farm
gate.
The warabandi is a continuous rotation of water in which one complete cycle of rotation that lasts seven
days or in some instances, ten days and each farmer in the water course receives water during one turn in
this cycle for an already fixed length of time.

The cycle begins at the head and proceeds to the tail of the water course, and during each time turn, the
farmer has the right to use all the flowing water in water course. Each year, preferably at canal closer, the
warabandi cycle is rotated by twelve hours to give relief to the farmers who had their turns during the
night in the preceding year schedule.

Warabandi Management System:

In the large canal irrigation systems in Pakistan, which are jointly managed by government agencies and
farmers, warabandi rules and traditions act as the binding glue for an agency-farmer interface. A Central
Irrigation Agency/department manages the primary main canal system and its secondary level
“distributories” and “minor” canals and deliver water at the head of tertiary level “watercourse” through
an outlet called “mogha” which is designed to provide a quantity of water in proportion to CA of water
course.

Page | 1
The agency has to ensure a uniform flow in watercourse so that it continuously receives its allotted water
duty. Farmer within the watercourse are expected to manage the on-farm water distribution of water
according to warabandi schedule officially “sactioned” or established solely on the basis of mutual
agreement by the farmers. Once the arrangement of turns has been agreed upon, the agency does not
interfere unless a dispute arises among the farmers and it is brought to official notice. . The dispute is
resolved through an adjudication process (a legal process) according to prescribed rules.
The warabandi system in Pakistan includes the following functions and characteristics, among other
things;
1. The main canal distributing points operate at supply levels that would allow distributory canals to
operate at no less than 75 percent of full supply level.
2. There is rotation of distributaries, in some instances, when the supply in the main canal system
falls further.
3. Only “authorized” outlets draw their allotted share of water from a distributary at the same time
and
4. Outlets are ungated and deliver a flow of water proportion to the area commanded. Cooperative
behavior among agency staff and water users is an overriding requirement to follow an agreed set
of rules.
5. Water users have to maintain the watercourse in good condition.
6. The operating agency has to ensure proper hydraulic performance of the conveyance system.

Objectives of Warabandi:
As an integrated water management system, warabandi is expected to achieve two main objectives,

 High efficiency as well as

 Equity in water use.

 Water use efficiency is to be achieved through the imposition of water scarcity on each and
every user, and equity in distribution through enforced equal share of scarce water per unit area
among all users.

Page | 2
Types of Warabandi:

1. Official Warabandi:
Warabandi schedule officially determined and recorded in official document.
Note: None of the watercourses in the study sample followed the official Warabandi schedules in actual
practice. (D. J. Bandaragoda)

2. Agreed Warabandi:
Agreed Warabandi is a derivative of the official Warabandi and is mutually agreed upon by the
people for their convenience. For instance, a big landowner may divide his water turn into several
component turns with the consent of other farmers. This new schedule is not reflected in the official
schedule.
The reported reasons for these modifications were:
• Changes in water supply
• Changes in the physical layout of the watercourse
• Changes in landownership
• Other power relationships among the water users

3. Actual Warabandi
Field observations of the actual application of water turns by farmers showed that even the agreed
warabandi was not strictly followed, and frequent changes took place on timing and duration of turns
almost on a daily basis. While the reasons for introducing some flexibility in developing a more
functional warabandi on mutual agreement can be easily understood, the divergence between the official
warabandi schedules and what is actually practiced in the field is unexpectedly large.

Page | 3
Two types of warabandi are frequently mentioned in Pakistan

1. Kachcha (ordinary or unregulated) Warabandi:

The warabandi which has been decided by the farmers solely on their mutual agreement, without formal
involvement of any government agency, is known as kachcha (ordinary or unregulated) warabandi,

2. Pucca Warabandi:

The warabandi decided after field investigation and public inquiry by the Irrigation Department when
disputes occurred, and issued in officially recognized warabandi schedules, is called pucca warabandi.

Kachcha warabandi became increasingly unpopular as it was prone to exploitation by large landowners.
Wherever this pressure could be challenged openly, disputes were registered with the canal authorities,
and after prescribed adjudication processes, the kachcha warabandi was converted to official pucca
warabandi schedules. The reason for having kachcha warabandi still in operation in some areas of
southern Punjab and Sindh is attributed to the more skewed distribution of land favoring larger
landowners in these areas. In central Punjab, the majority of watercourses have pucca warabandi.

Benefits of Warabandi:
 Increased cropping intensity
 Irrigation discipline
 Common issues are settled
 Greater economy and dependability
 Simplicity of implementation
 Productivity increment of irrigated agriculture.

Formulation of Warabandi:
The warabandi schedule is framed under Section 68 of the Canal and Drainage Act (VIII of 1873) in
which rights to form and maintain water distribution schedules for watercourses are vested (having the
rights of ownership) with the Canal Officers of the Irrigation Department. Several amendments and
departmental rules were added later.
Theoretically, in calculating the duration of warabandi turn given to a particular farm plot, some
allowance is added to compensate for the time taken by the flow to fill that part of watercourse leading to
farm plot. This is called Khal bharai (filling time). Similarly, in some cases, a farm plot may continue to
receive water from a filled portion of the watercourse even when it is blocked upstream to divert water to
another farm or another part of the watercourse command. This is called Nikal (Drainage time) and is
deduced from the turn duration of that farm plot
The calculation of Warabandi schedule starts with determining by observation, the total of such filling times
(TF) and total of such drainage time (T D). Thus for a weekly Warabandi rotation, the unit irrigation time (TU)
in hours per hectare/acre can be given by

TU = (7x24-TF+TD)/CCA = (168-TF+TD)/CCA

Where: CCA = Command area of an outlet/watercourse

TF = Total filling time = ∑Tf
TD = Total drainage time = ∑Td
The value of TU should be same for all the farmers in the water course.
A farmer’s Warabandi turn time is given by:

Tt = TuxA + Tf – Td
Where: A= farm area/ area of farmer.
Tf and Td are filling and drainage time respectively for a farm area.
Only some of the farms in a watercourse may be entitled to filling time or drainage time, or both. The
warabandi schedule is prepared on the basis of different turn times calculated for each farm plot on the
basis of these values, whenever they occur, and the area of each farm plot.
Warabandi Schedule:
It should be prepared for any one outlet in the irrigation scheme. Divide the whole CCA of outlet into sub
areas of 25 acres (01 square = 1100 ft x 990 ft) preferably.
CCA = Outlet Command area
Q = Outlet discharge
V = 1 ft/sec
Time of filling/emptying the watercourse=L/V

TU= (168-TF+TD)/CCA

Tt=TUxA+Tf-Td

Sr. Land Area Tf Td TU Tt Tt Clock Time Starting Ending

No Owner acre Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Min Starting Ending day day
Name Hrs Min Hrs Min
1
2
3
4

5 Sum TF TD
TF=∑Tf TD=∑Td ∑=168
Step involved:
 Identification of area:
Based on the given contour map of the area, draw it on a larger scale and find out the GCA,
NCCA and CCA in acre.
 Estimation of crop water requirement:
This is done based on the given cropping pattern of the area for Rabi and Kharif season
 Estimation of design discharge
 Determination of water allowance for the area
 Determination of proposed outlet command area and no. of outlets
 Plottation of irrigation scheme
o Show alignment of canals (distributary & minors)
o Alignment of watercourses
o Location of outlets
o RD and command area of outlets and minors
o Designation of canals, outlets
 Design discharge of outlets
 Capacity statement
 Design of canal in reaches
 Design of outlet
 Design of watercourses
 Plotting the typical cross-sections of canal at star mid and end and one typical cross-section of
watercourse
 Command statement
 Longitudinal profile of canals
 Warabandi schedule for an outlet command/outlet chak