Canal operations planner. II: minimizing inequity

Abstract

Equity of water distribution is an oft-repeated and stated aim of the warabandi irrigation systems prevalent in Pakistan and parts of India. The Canal Operations Plan is one tool used to operationalize equitable distribution of water. These plans are created for every canal system every crop season. This companion paper applies operations research tools to this problem and explicitly minimizes inequity as measured by the Gini index of the cumulative depth of water supplied. The results are analyzed and compared with those obtained from the models of the companion paper that maximize delivery performance ratio (DPR) and conclude that the linear programme-delivery performance ratio (LP-DPR) model given in the companion paper is overall slightly superior to the linear programme-inequity (LP-INEQ) model presented in this paper. This paper highlights that a performance indicator of equity such as the Gini may not fully capture the sense of fairness from a farmer’s perspective. Application of this research is demonstrated through an engineering application in the preparation of a canal operations plan for the summer 2016 and winter 2016–2017 crop season.