Post on 12-Feb-2017
Cover slide option 1 Title Conjunctive Management of Water Resources –
Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation
Jeremy Bird on behalf of
Paul PavelicInternational Water Management Institute
GEF International Waters Conference - 12 May 2016
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Water for a food-secure world
Current Situation – Wet Season
CONJUNCTIVE FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT
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Water for a food-secure world
Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI);
Wet season
CONJUNCTIVE FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT
www.iwmi.org
Water for a food-secure world
Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI);
Dry season
CONJUNCTIVE FLOOD AND DROUGHT MANAGEMENT
Rural Farmers
Urban Flood Managers
Surface Water
Opportunities
Impacts
Upstream Downstream
Groundwater
SOLVING MULTIPLE PROBLEMS WITH ONE SOLUTION…
Performance testing of basins designed to infiltrate floodwater are positive
Falling groundwater level trends are reversed and year-round rice/sugar production maintained
The Chao Phraya basin lies at the economic heart of Thailand. The basin is routinely affected by major floods downstream, yet farmers, cities & industry frequently run short of water.
KEY FINDINGS
• Significant volumes of floodwater (30%) can be harvested in wet years without major impacts on existing users or ecosystems
• $250 Mill./year of added revenue can be generated
• Payback time on capital investments could be just a few years
• UTFI would be far cheaper than conventional engineering approaches for flood mitigation
UTFI CONCEIVED & TESTED IN THAILAND
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Water for a food-secure world
IDENTIFYING SCOPE IN THE GANGES BASIN
• >60% of inner GB potentially suitable
• Prospects in others basins being explored
Example of village selection
utfi.iwmi.org
UTFI: Stakeholders Consultations
Consultation with Villagersutfi.iwmi.org
• State/District/Division level consultation – to inform UTFI activities and seek support
• Village level consultation - to understand willingness to support and maintenance
Consultation with District Officials
UTFI: Site Development
Pre implementation
Post implementation
utfi.iwmi.org
UTFI: Key Findings
utfi.iwmi.org
• Groundwater level improved by 0.5 m after UTFI implementation
• Water level in the piezometers dropped by 2 m after recharge indicating thedemand and use of groundwater
• Under ideal conditions, the recharge system can intercept 60,000 cum permonth, or 180,000 cum for a 3 month recharge season.
Large-scale Implementing Mechanism
utfi.iwmi.org
• To put UTFI in practice, integration with relevant ongoing government programmesis required.
• IWMP is one of the best approaches to harvest rainwater to improve livelihood by providing community managed simple low tech solutions and mitigate adverse climatic conditions such as floods.
• Convergence between IWMP and MNREGA is crucial and mutually beneficial.
• UTFI and IWMP or WDC-PMKSY are perfectly matched as both focused on clusters of micro-watershed level in a holistic manner.
TYPES OF RISKS & ISSUES
TECHNICAL RISKS SOCIAL/INSTITUTIONAL RISKS
- poor system design/ construction and/or site selection
- low recharge performance - new upstream developments
- insufficient incentive for land conversion
- poor or inadequate participation of local communities / institutions
- cumbersome or overly-complex implementation models
ECONOMIC RISKS ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
- high investments or opportunity costs
- high maintenance/ operational costs
- polluted floodwater enters aquifers - waterlogging due to aquifer over-
filling- negative impacts downstream due to
interventions
ILLUSTRATIVE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9au0ApUlxu8
WEBSITE:
http://utfi.iwmi.org/
FURTHER INFORMATION
Led by IWMI
Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice
A global partnership for sustainable groundwater management
…to strengthen, expand and connect current groundwater initiatives
…share experience on solutions and approaches to scaling up
… advance the agenda of sustainable groundwater management to achieve the SDGs