Tail end of field or canal command not getting adequate water, how to manage limited and late canal supply.
3 Answers
Tail end farmers often get less water and later than the head of the canal, which is a known problem. A few things help on your side. Store water when it does come: a farm pond or storage tank lets you catch your canal turn and then use drip or sprinkler to spread that water further and to the tail end of your own field. Level your field so water reaches the far end instead of soaking in near the inlet, and line or clean your field channels so less is lost on the way. Switching from flood to drip or sprinkler makes the same limited water cover more area. Choose crops and varieties that need less water if your supply is unreliable. On the system side, water user associations and the irrigation department handle the rotation and equity between head and tail, so raise it there if the share is genuinely unfair. For storage sizing, drip, and any pond subsidy, check with your agriculture and irrigation department.
A storage tank saved my tail end land. I fill it on my canal turn and run drip from it for days after.
Lining the field channel made a real difference. Half my water used to disappear before it reached the back plot.