Integrated use of water resources in the Lower Bhavani Project in India

Current irrigation water releases from the Lower Bhavani Project are largely governed by the rainfall and inflow pattern rather than by the periodic water needs of the crops grown. The groundwater potential in the command area is also ignored when water release schedules are planned. In this paper a quantitative analysis is carried out to assess the impact of optimizing water resources use with and without supplementary groundwater use. The results validate the role of groundwater in improving the performance of the irrigation project.