AOP supports capacity building on local level fresh water and irrigation management
Written by Theo Ebbers Wednesday, 01 June 2011 20:33
The Aqua Outreach Programme of AIT is supporting and providing technical inputs to the Tambon Administrative Organization of Karaket Sub-district in Pak Phanang for enhancing irrigation and water management for the farmers in the area. The TAO is a local partner of CORIN-Asia and is looking for tools that will allow them to better manage the water resources for irrigation, through cost-saving, the avoidance of water losses and the improvements of the water pumping system for farmland on higher elevations.
Karaked Sub District is one of the poorest districts in Pak Phanang River Basin. One of the major issues in the area is the availability of sufficient freshwater supply for both agricultural activities and domestic consumption.
Remote sensing and GIS are powerful tools that can help designing efficient water management systems and identify appropriate sites for establishing water pumping sites.
On May 20th, 2011 AOP and TAO Karaket held a workshop to initiate a water resources and livelihood mapping exercise that will lead to the establishment of a WebGIS system that will be used to support irrigation management in Karaket sub-district.
Initiated by CORIN-Asia and facilitated by Mr. Manjunatha, the AOP remote sensing and GIS specialist, the workshop developed a capacity building program for TAO representatives and the local community in the use of GIS for effective water and irrigation management.
The workshop participants from TAO, Village Committees and CORIN Asia identified and agreed on training program partners, formulated and agreed on program methodology and timeframe and allocated specific responsibilities and tasks to each partner.
Mr. Manjunatha provided an overview of the capacities and benefits of GIS as an irrigation management tool and the necessary activities to set up an effective GIS system for the TAO. He demonstrated the use of GPS.to local people for collecting spatial information, like pump locations, temporary pump locations, household survey etc.
He then accompanied a TAO team for a detailed survey of water resources, irrigation canals, farming and cropping practices, soil conditions and related data in Village 1 of Karaket sub-district, which resulted in an initial GIS database for this village and maps that depict current irrigation canals, elevation, freshwater sources and flows and other parameters for irrigation management and farming.
With these inputs from AOP and the agreed workplan with TAO, the other 9 villages of the sub-district are expected to continue this exercise to get a complete set of data and information from all villages of the sub-district. AOP, through Mr. Manjunatha, will guide and accompany this process, which will conclude in September with the establishment of the WebGIS for water and irrigation management in Karaket.