Maintaining equity in surface irrigation network affected by silt deposition

Planning maintenance activities in surface irrigation systems is essential for optimal use of the annual credits. In many countries, the equity of the water distribution is largely affected by sediment deposition but budgets do not allow the performance of all the necessary maintenance works and priorities must be defined by the irrigation agencies. A methodology based on numerical modeling is developed and illustrated on a secondary network in South Pakistan. Improvements on the current desilting procedure are proposed, but it is shown as well that the system could be designed differently in order to preserve the equity longer.