Fig. 24.

[Large map] (59 kB)

Every gauge-reader has to be given definite instructions as to the gauge reading to be maintained, until further orders, in each distributary. At the places where the large branches take off, the gauge reader is instructed what gauge to maintain in each. In the event of too much water arriving, he turns the surplus into the escape if there is one. If there is no escape he has usually to raise the gauge readings of the branches by equal amounts. By means of the telegraph, adjustment is promptly effected at the headworks.

It has already been mentioned that rain may cause an abrupt reduction in, or even cessation of the demand for water. At the same time it increases the actual supply. Rain, or the signs of rain, in any part of a canal system ought always to be reported to the other parts. Owing to changes in the channels, to fluctuation in the water level of the river, especially during the night, to rain or to changes in the temperature and moisture of the air and to lack of continuous attention on the part of the gauge reader, particularly at night, there is a constant, though perhaps small, fluctuation in the water level in all parts of a canal.

It may happen that—owing to enlargement of the channels by scour, or to other causes—the channels of a canal system are able to carry more water than was intended. In such cases the channels are usually run with as much as they can carry. This may give a lavish supply and a lowered duty, but it increases the irrigated area. To restrict the supply would cause loss of revenue. Sometimes however, it is restricted to prevent water-logging of the soil. The proper procedure is to extend the canal to other tracts.

In India the farmers pay for the water, not according to the volume used, but according to the area irrigated. Different rates per acre are charged for different kinds of crops according to the varying amounts of water which they are known to require. Sugarcane, which is sown in the spring and stands for nearly a year before being cut, thus extending over the whole of the kharif and most of the rabi, is assessed at the highest rate. Next comes rice which crop, though only four or five months elapse between its sowing and reaping, requires a great quantity of water. Gardens which receive water all the year round also pay a high rate. Other kharif crops are cotton and millet. The chief rabi crops are wheat, barley and “gram.”

Every field irrigated is booked by a patwari who is provided with a “field map” and “field book” for each village (perhaps 6 or 8) in his beat. The map enables him to recognise at a glance the field in which he is standing. It has a number in the map and, by referring to this number in the field book, he finds the area of the field. The patwari is also provided with a “field register” in which he books each field which is watered, showing its area and the kind of crop grown, the date of booking and the name of the owner and tenant. He goes about entering up all new irrigation and his proceedings are subjected to rigorous check by the zilladar and Deputy Collector, and also by the engineering staff. At the end of the crop the entries are abstracted into a “demand statement” in which all the fields cultivated by one person are brought together and, the proper rates being applied to them, the sum payable by this person is arrived at. The demand statement goes to the Collector of the district, who levies the money and pays it into the Treasury to the credit of the canal concerned. There is a special charge for any land watered in an “unauthorised manner.” This includes taking water when it was another man’s turn, or taking it from an outlet which has been wilfully enlarged or—in some districts—from another man’s outlet even with his consent. The sizes of the outlets are carefully apportioned to the land allotted to them and the area which they irrigate is constantly being looked into in order to see if the size is correct or needs altering. If a man borrows water from another outlet such borrowing may or may not come to light but in any case confusion as to outlet sizes results.

The water rates charged for ordinary authorised irrigation are decidedly low. In one district there was a case in which a man, being unable to get as much water as he needed from his own outlet, took water for some fields, by permission, from a neighbour’s outlet. This being found out he was charged for those fields at double the usual rate. He continued regularly to use the water and to pay the double rate. There were several cases of this kind in that one district.

Since payment for the water is not made according to the volume used, the cultivators are more or less careless and wasteful in using it. As a rule they over-water the land and frequently damage or spoil it by water-logging. They do not always keep in proper order the banks of the watercourses. The banks often breach and water escapes. Any area thus flooded is charged for if it is seen by an official. The engineers have power to close such a watercourse until it is put in order, but this would cause loss of revenue and is not often done. The real remedy for all this is, as already stated, rigid restriction of the supply. The people will then learn—they are already learning—to use water more economically.

When the crop in any field or part of a field fails to come to maturity, the water rate on it is remitted. The failed area is known, in the Punjab, as “kharába.” On some canals the failed areas are liable to be large and an irrigation register, in order to be complete, has to show them or, what is the same thing, to show both the gross and the net areas, the latter being the area left after deducting the kharába or remitted area.