Condensed Course on Land Drainage

Course contents: In this course, land drainage is treated as an instrument for agricultural production, a safeguard for sustainable investments in irrigation and a tool for wise management of land and water resources. Linking technology with environmental, socio-economic and institutional approaches in the broader context of integrated water resources management (Box), the course is based on world experience in (sub)surface drainage and agricultural water management over the past decades and provides a wide range of lessons learned and offers great opportunity to identify best practices.

Course specializations: The course will equip the participants with tools to analyse water management problems and to study on practical and ecologically sound solutions. The participants can select one of the following specializations:

• Integrated Water Resources Management:
  In this specialization the scope of irrigation and drainage within the currently widely adopted paradigm "Integrated Water Resources Management" will be addressed. The various implications of IWRM for agricultural water management will be presented and participants will learn to put their daily land and water issues in the perspective of IWRM.
   

• Agricultural Water Management Criteria:
  The specialization is an introduction to agricultural water management. The agro-hydrological principles underlying irrigation and drainage are explained and survey methods are used to analyse specific irrigation and drainage problems and to translate these in drainage criteria. Computer models are introduced with special attention to the interrelationship between irrigation and drainage.
   

• Design, Implementation and Operation of Agricultural Water Management Systems:
  The specialization is an introduction to the design, implementation and operation of field irrigation and drainage systems. It includes a discussion of the design theories, organization and installation techniques and relevant information for improving the quality of on-farm water management systems.
   

• Institutions in Water Management:
  In this specialization the participants will explore the institutional changes that are necessary for practicing agricultural water management within the framework of IWRM. The fragmentation of responsibilities for water resources development and management is often cited as the major obstacle to promoting IWRM.

Course methodology: In this condensed format, special attention will be paid to the integration between the above mentioned specializations. The course programme consists of lectures, self-study, group assignments (case studies), excursions and a workshop. In the lectures, the role of drainage in relation to the above mentioned specializations is discussed. In the self-study programme, the participants will focus on the specialization of their own choice. In the group work, participants with different specializations will work together to arrive at balanced, practical and ecologically sound solutions for a case study resembling the conditions in their home country. In the excursions the Dutch experiences with IWRM and especially the role of drainage, will be highlighted and discussed. Finally, in a concluding workshop, participants will first discuss among themselves the applicability of their solutions both for their own home countries and for the Netherlands and in the second part of the workshop they will present their conclusions to representatives of the Dutch water sector.  

Course schedule:

• Morning: Lectures & presentation to provide participants with new ideas
• Afternoon: Self-study: to use these new ideas to learn more about their subject and the applicability of these ideas in their own country.

Morning – Lectures & presentations:

Focus on lessons learned in projects, i.e. NEWwater, Controlled Drainage, Panel Project, APWAM project, klimaatatlassen, etc.

We will ask the project leaders to give presentations of their project findings, participants can use this information in their case studies.

Objectives:

• to get more involvement of the team members in the course
• to get a better link between theory (≈ courses) and practice (≈ projects)

Afternoon - Self-study modules:

For all:

• Introduction: definitions, objectives and background
• Drainage methods: the options, advantages and disadvantages

For IWRM:

• Basic module Remote Sensing

For Module AWMC:

• Drainage, soil and water
• Salinity, alkalinity, acidity
• Effects of field drainage on crop production
• Drainage criteria

For Module: DIOM:

• Drainage criteria

Workshop Adaption - Lessons from developing countries

Objectives:

• To bring together Dutch policy makers and professionals from their target countries
• To show that we can learned from countries where cooping with extreme conditions is “a way of life”