Hydraulic infrastructures and institutional aspect of watari irrigation project were assessed. The research techniques employed include; maintenance performance indicators (relative change of water level-RCWL, effectiveness of infrastructures-EI, dependability of duration-DD and sustainability of irrigation area-SIA), questionnaire and field observation. The results of maintenance performance
... [Show full abstract] indicators of the project were: for RCWL – the water level reduced by 34%; for EI – only 70% of the infrastructure found to be working properly while 30% got damaged; for DD – remains same (100%) while for SIA – 7.83% of the irrigable area (downstream) left uncultivated due to water allocation problems. The information generated from questionnaire revealed that, there were lot of institutional irregularities and complains from the farmers in respect to water allocation among the water users. The results obtained from field observation revealed that; most of the canals were infested with weeds (vegetated) and silted-up which reduces conveyance capacity of the structures. There were also many canal breaches which caused excessive conveyance losses through seepage. Therefore, there is need for all stakeholders (Government, WUAs, Farmers and NGOs) to actively participate in operation, management and maintenance of the project.
