Many large-scale irrigation projects established in developing countries have failed - despite huge inputs of foreign aid - because the institutions for opening and maintaining the projects proved inadequate. Ostrom counsels planners to look beyond a narrow concern with engineering and to let irrigation consumers involve themselves in the design, operation, and maintenance of water-supply systems.
This book draws together the knowledge that has been gained in irrigation and drainage performance assessment over the last 10 to 15 yers. Performance assessment is an essential management task. If the use of water for irrigation is to be improved, then we must understand current levels of performance and identify measures for improvement. This book provides guidelines to enable practitioners to apply the process and procedures that have evolved. Developed by a working group of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), it provides a theory and practice of how to audit and assess the performance of irrigation and drainage schemes. This book will be of interes to researchers and professionals in irrigation, drainage, soils and agricultural engineering.
Irrigation is the supply of water to agricultural crops by artifical means, designed to permit farming in arid regions and to offset drought in semi-arid regions. Irrigation has long played a key role in feeding expanding populations and is expected to play a still greater role in the future. Inevitably, however, irrigation entails the addition of water-borne salts which accumulate and induce the self-destructive twin phenomena of water-logging and salination. Moreover, this often negatively affects adjacent lands and water resources. Is irrigation sustainable, and if so, how and under what conditions? That is the question that has impelled the writing of this book, which attempts to select and organize the disparate facts into a unified exposition, combining physico-chemical, agronomic, environmental, and economic principles into practical recommendations. Chapters include: The Nature of Salinity, Effects on Crops, Irrigation Water, Waterlogging and Drainage, Salinity Control, Early Warning Systems, Scaling up from the Field, and a Conclusion which addresses directly the question of whether or not irrigation is sustainable. An appendix covers the economic aspects of salinity management.
Dams have always been an integral feature of rural properties, either in commercial ventures such as viticulture, aquaculture or agricultural, or as a feature on a hobby farm. To fill this gap, Farm Dams: Planning, Construction and Maintenance has been written to provide a practical approach and guide for prospective dam owners. It provides essential information on all types of earth dams. By employing the principles in this book, in conjunction with the advice of suitably experienced and qualified engineers and contractors, risk of failure can be reduced and the long-term success of a dam ensured. Farm Dams will be an invaluable resource for anyone who owns or plans to own a dam; and an essential reference for government agencies, contractors and engineers.
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Well-known for its balanced approach to media industries and professions, Dynamics of Mass Communication offers a lively, thorough, and honest introduction for mass communication majors and nonmajors alike. This new edition embraces the digital age with a free Student CD-ROM that adds video and interactivity to the student's textbook experience, and brings students up-to-date on the latest developments in mass communication--from the emerging role of PDA's and cell phones in the mass media mix to the recording industry's actions against file-sharing.
