Chapter 4: Major impacts of irrigation and drainage

projects

Hydrology
Water and air quality
Soil properties and safety erects
Erosion and sedimentation
Biological and ecological change
Socio-economic impacts
Ecological imbalances
Human health

When considering impacts, two perspectives must be taken into account, those of:

• the project on the environment, and

• external factors on the project (externalities).

In the detailed sections below, many of the impacts described are most extreme in the case of
new irrigated areas. However, rehabilitation and changes resulting from alterations to the
operating infrastructure, for example, will also have environmental impacts that may not at first
be anticipated. The intensification of agriculture can lead to groundwater pollution related to the
increased use of pesticides and fertilizers. Improved efficiency may significantly reduce return
flows which are often utilized downstream by other irrigation schemes or wildlife habitats.
Similarly, upstream developments are likely to impact on an irrigation scheme either in the form
of reduced water availability (surface or groundwater) or reduced water quality.

Different types of irrigation will have different impacts and it should not be assumed that modern
methods will have fewer impacts: they may significantly increase energy consumption and lead
to social problems due to reduced employment in agriculture. Impacts will also vary according to
the stage of implementation. For example, during the construction period there may be specific
health and other social risks due to an influx of migrant workers living in temporary and
unsanitary accommodation. Later, once the project has been operating for several years,
cumulative impacts may begin to present serious environmental constraints to project
sustainability. Such issues must be predicted by the EIA and mitigation measures prepared.

The most common problems of, and threats to, irrigation schemes are listed in Table 5, together
with potential mitigation measures. Irrigation is defined as much, if not more, by farmers and
managers as by the physical infrastructure; the 'hardware'. Its sustainable operation is just as
dependent on the 'soft' environment: education, institutional building, legal structures and
external support services. These are all powerful tools to ensure sustainability in conjunction
with well-designed and well-managed hardware and Table 5 indicates that many of the
mitigation measures are 'soft'.

The sections below describe the most common environmental impacts associated with irrigation
schemes. Under each item, both positive and negative impacts are briefly described and the most
usual mitigating measures outlined. The opportunity to identify positive impacts and to propose
measures to enhance such impacts should not be neglected. The structure of the chapter generally
follows that of the ICID Environmental Check-list and is divided into eight major sections. As a
slight deviation from the Check-list, human health has been included, in order to present the
human health dimensions of the environmental impacts.

TABLE 5 Main problems resulting in the non-sustainability of irrigation and drainage

schemes and appropriate mitigation measures

Problem Mitigation measures

Degradation of irrigated - Improve I & D operation to match demand both 'how much &
land: when'.
Salinization - Provide drainage including disposal of water to evaporation ponds
or the sea if quality of river flow adversely affected by drainage
water.
Alkalization - Maintain channels to prevent seepage, and reduce inefficiencies
resulting from siltation and weeds. Allow for access to channels for
maintenance in design.
Waterlogging - Provide water for leaching as a specific operation.

Soil acidification - Set-up or adjust irrigation management infrastructure to ensure

sufficient income to maintain both the irrigation and drainage
systems.
- Analyse soils and monitor changes so that potential problems can
be managed.
Reduced socio-economic - Manage I & D to prevent disease spread.
conditions:
Increased incidence of - Educate about causes of disease.
water related disease

Increased inequity - Improve health facilities.

Weaker community - Allow sufficient time and money for extensive public participation
infrastructure to ensure that plans are optimal, that all sections of affected society
are considered and that local institutions are in place to sustain
irrigated agriculture, particularly in respect of land and water rights.
 - Consider markets, financial services and agricultural extension in
conjunction with proposed irrigation and drainage changes.
- Ensure that agricultural intensification does not preclude other
economic or subsistence activity, such as household vegetables,
fodder or growing trees for firewood.
- Provide short-term support and/or skills for an alternative
livelihood if irrigation removes existing livelihood
Poor water quality: - Define and enforce return water quality levels (including
monitoring).
Reduction in irrigation - Control industrial development.
water quality

Water quality problems for - Designate land for saline water disposal; build separate disposal
downstream users caused channels.
by irrigation return flow
quality

- Educate for pesticide or sewage contamination dangers.

- Monitor irrigation water quality
Ecological degradation: - Define ecological requirements.
Reduced big-diversity in - Operate dams to suit downstream requirements and encourage
project area wildlife around reservoirs (see Sections 4.1.3 and 4.5).

Damage to downstream - Designate land (in law and supported by protection institutions)
ecosystems due to reduced for flood plains; wetlands; watersheds; drainage water disposal;
water quantity and quality river corridors.

Ground water depletion: - Define and enforce abstraction regulations.

Dry drinking & irrigation - Monitor ground water levels.
wells

Saline intrusion at coasts - Adjust abstraction charges.

Reduced base
flow/wetlands
Hydrology

Low flow regime

Flood regime
Operation of dams
Fall of water table
Rise of water table

This section is concerned with the consequences of impacts resulting from a change in the flow
regime of rivers, or a change in the movement of the water table, through the seasons. The
consumptive nature of irrigation means that some change to the local hydrological regime will
occur when new schemes are constructed and, to a lesser extent, when old schemes are
rehabilitated. The ecology and uses of a river will have developed as a consequence of the
existing regime and may not be able to adapt easily to major changes. It is also important to
recognize the interrelationship between river flows and the water table. During high flow
periods, recharge tends to occur through the river bed whereas groundwater often contributes to
low flows. Figure 3 is a conceptual diagram of flow through a river-supplied irrigation scheme.
Figure 4 illustrates the links between surface and groundwater.

Low flow regime

Changes to the low flow regime may have significant negative impacts on downstream users,
whether they abstract water (irrigation schemes, drinking supplies) or use the river for
transportation or hydropower. Minimum demands from both existing and potential future users
need to be clearly identified and assessed in relation to current and future low flows. The quality
of low flows is also important. Return flows are likely to have significant quantities of pollutants.
Low flows need to be high enough to ensure sufficient dilution of pollutants discharged from
irrigation schemes and other sources such as industry and urban areas. A reduction in the natural
river flow together with a discharge of lower quality drainage water can have severe negative
impacts on downstream users, including irrigation schemes.

Habitats both within and alongside rivers are particularly rich, often supporting a high diversity
of species. Large changes to low flows (±20%) will alter micro-habitats of which wetlands are a
special case. It is particularly important to identify any endangered species and determine the
impact of any changes on their survival. Such species are often endangered because of their
restrictive ecological requirements. An example is the Senegal river downstream of the
Manantali Dam where the extent of wetlands has been considerably reduced, fisheries have
declined and recession irrigation has all but disappeared.

The ecology of estuaries is sensitive to the salinity of the water which may be determined by the
low flows. Saline intrusion into the estuary will also affect drinking water supplies and fish
catches. It may also create breeding places for anopheline vectors of malaria that breed in
brackish water.

The operation of dams offers excellent opportunities to mitigate the potential negative impacts of
changes to low flows.

FIGURE 3 Conceptual diagram of the irrigation return flow system for a given reach of a
river system (Utah State University Foundation, 1969)
FIGURE 4 The interrelationship between surface water and groundwater
Flood regime

Uncontrolled floods cause tremendous damage and flood control is therefore often an added
social and environmental benefit of reservoirs built to supply irrigation water. However, flood
protection works, although achieving their purpose locally, increase flooding downstream, which
needs to be taken into account.
Radically altered flood regimes may also have negative impacts. Any disruption to flood
recession agriculture needs to be studied as it is often highly productive but may have low
visibility due to the migratory nature of the farmers practicing it. Flood waters are important for
fisheries both in rivers and particularly in estuaries. Floods trigger spawning and migration and
carry nutrients to coastal waters. Controlled floods may result in a reduction of groundwater
recharge via flood plains and a loss of seasonal or permanent wetlands. Finally, changes to the
river morphology may result because of changes to the sediment carrying capacity of the flood
waters. This may be either a positive or negative impact.

As with low flows, the operation of dams offers excellent opportunities to mitigate the potential
negative impacts of changes to flood flows. The designation of flood plains may also be a useful
measure that allows groundwater recharge and reduces peak discharges downstream. This is one
of the positive functions of many areas of wetland.

It is important that new irrigation infrastructure does not adversely effect the natural drainage
pattern, thus causing localized flooding.

Operation of dams

The manner in which dams are operated has a significant impact on the river downstream. There
is a range of measures that can be undertaken to reduce adverse environmental impacts caused
by changing the hydrological regime that need not necessarily reduce the efficacy of the dam in
terms of its main functions, namely irrigation, flood protection and hydropower. Multi-purpose
reservoirs offer enormous scope for minimizing adverse impacts. In the case of modifying low
flows, identifying downstream demands to determine minimum compensatory flows, both for the
natural and human environment, is the key requirement and such demands need to be allowed for
at the design stage. The ability to mimic natural flooding may require modifications to traditional
dam offtake facilities. In particular, passing flood flows early in the season to enable timely
recession agriculture may have the added advantage of passing flows carrying high sediment
loads.

A number of disease hazards are associated with dams some of which can be minimized, others
eliminated by careful operation. They include malaria, schistosomiasis and river blindness; this is
discussed more fully in the section Human health.

Rooted aquatic weeds along the shore (or in shallow reservoirs) can be partially controlled by
alternate desiccation and drowning. In some parts of the world local communities are willing to
de-weed reservoirs and use the weeds as animal fodder.

Fall of water table

A possible advantage of reducing the water table level prior to the rainy season is that it may
increase the potential for groundwater recharge. Lowering the water table by the provision of
drainage to irrigation schemes with high water tables brings benefits to agriculture.
Lowering the groundwater table by only a few metres adversely affects existing users of
groundwater whether it is required for drinking water for humans and animals or to sustain plant
life (particularly wetlands), especially at dry times of the year. Springs are fed by groundwater
and will finally dry up if the level falls. Similarly low flows in rivers will be reduced. Any
changing availability of groundwater for drinking water supply needs to be assessed in terms of
the economics of viable alternatives. Poor people may be disproportionately disadvantaged. They
may also be forced to use sources of water that carry health risks, particularly guinea worm
infection and schistosomiasis. In parts of Asia there are indications that lowering the ground
level may favour the sandfly which may be vectors for diseases such as visceral leishmaniasis.

Saline intrusion along the coast is a problem associated with a falling groundwater level with
severe environmental and economic consequences.

A continued reduction in the water table level (groundwater mining), apart from deleting an
important resource, may lead to significant land subsidence with consequent damage to
structures and difficulties in operating hydraulic structures for flood defence, drainage and
irrigation. Todd (1980) gives an example of a drop in ground level of over 3 m associated with a
60 m drop in groundwater level over a period of 50 years in the Central Valley, California.
Vulnerable areas are those with compressible strata, such as clays and some fine-grained
sediments. Any structural change in the soil is often irreversible. The ground level can fall with a
lowering of the water table if the soils are organic. Peats shrink and compact significantly on
draining, with consequent lowering of the ground level by several metres.

Particular care is needed in the drainage of tropical coastal swamp regions as the FeSO 4 soils can
become severely acidic resulting in the formation of "cat-clays".

A number of negative consequences of a falling water table are irreversible and difficult to
compensate for, eg salt water intrusion and land subsidence, and therefore groundwater
abstraction needs controlling either by licensing, other legal interventions or economic
disincentives. Over-exploitation of groundwater, or groundwater mining, will have severe
consequences, both environmental and economic, and should be given particular importance in
any EIA.

Rise of water table

In the long-term, one of the most frequent problems of irrigation schemes is the rise in the local
water-table (waterlogging). Low irrigation efficiencies (as low as 20 to 30% in some areas) are
one of the main causes of rise of water table. Poor water distribution systems, poor main system
management and archaic in-field irrigation practices are the main reason. The ICID
recommendation to increase field application efficiency to even 50% could significantly reduce
the rise in the groundwater. The groundwater level rise can be spectacularly fast in flat areas
where the water table has a low hydraulic gradient. The critical water table depth is between 1.5
and 2 m depending on soil characteristics, the potential evapotranspiration rate and the root depth
of the vegetation/crops. Groundwater rising under capillary action will evaporate, leaving salts in
the soil. The problem is of particular concern in arid and semi-arid areas with major salinity
problems. A high water table also makes the soil difficult to work.
FIGURE 5 Causes and impacts of reduced water quality in a river system
Good irrigation management, closely matching irrigation demands and supply, can reduce
seepage and increase irrigation efficiency, thereby reducing the groundwater recharge. The
provision of drainage will alleviate the problem locally but may create problems if the disposal
water is of a poor quality. Apart from measures to improve water management, two options to
reduce seepage are to line canals in highly permeable areas and to design the irrigation
infrastructure to reduce wastage. Waterlogging also implies increased health risks in many parts
of the world.

Water and air quality

Solute dispersion
Toxic substances
Agrochemical pollution
Anaerobic effects
Gas emissions

In general the purer the water, the more valuable and useful it is for riverine ecology and for
abstractions to meet human demands such as irrigation, drinking and industry. Conversely, the
more polluted the water, the more expensive it is to treat to satisfactory levels. The causes and
impacts of reduced water quality are illustrated in Figure 5. Tables 6, 7 and 8 are generalized
water quality standards for irrigation, drinking and fresh-water fisheries. As soil salinity levels
rise above plant tolerance levels, both crops and natural vegetation are affected. This leads to
disruption of natural food chains and the loss of agricultural production. The critical problem of
salinity is covered in the section Soil properties and salinity effects.

Solute dispersion

The changing hydrological regime associated with irrigation schemes may alter the capacity of
the environment to assimilate water soluble pollution. In particular, reductions in low flows
result in increased pollutant concentrations already discharged into the water course either from
point sources, such as industry, irrigation drains and urban areas, or from non-point sources, such
as agrochemicals leaking into groundwater and soil erosion. Reduced flood flows may remove
beneficial flushing, and reservoirs may cause further concentration of pollutants. Where low
flows increase, for example as a result of hydropower releases, the effect on solute dispersion is
likely to be beneficial, particularly if the solutes are not highly soluble and tend to move with
sediments.