Issues in sustainable water management of irrigation systems in Sri Lanka

As the largest consumer of water, the irrigation sector has to play a critical role in managing water resources. Nevertheless, the current water management practices of irrigation are not achieving the benefits of sustainable use of water. The failure in achieving the expected performance of irrigation infrastructures urges the need for Sustainable Water Management (SWM). Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the issues in existing Irrigation Water Management (IWM) practices towards SWM of irrigation systems in Sri Lanka. The research aim was approached through a qualitative survey strategy. Expert interviews were conducted as the data collection technique. Twelve experts were selected through a purposive sampling strategy, who had experience in water management and technical development in irrigation systems. The collected data were analysed using the manual content analysis method. Findings of the research revealed that though numerous techniques are being practiced in IWM, there is a failure in water management in the current context. It was identified, water losses throughout the system, improper system operation and poor maintenance of structures, inefficient practices of irrigation, dis-integration of system components and lack of government intervention as major issues to achieve sustainable use of water in the case of irrigation. The identification and assessment of issues provide a range of their impacts to reveal the constraints in achieving SWM of irrigation.