IoT Enabled Analysis of Irrigation Rosters in the Indus Basin Irrigation System

The Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) is the world's largest contiguous irrigation system, irrigating over 2.5 million acres and running over 90,000 km of watercourses. It ensures equitable water distribution to farmers through irrigation rosters or warabandi (literally meaning “taking turns”) which is a fixed-turn rotation system following a time roster issued by the government agencies. To study this irrigation system, we have developed an Internet-of-Things (IoT) inspired custom-built water metering network, capable of near real-time reporting of flow discharges through GPRS and backend server services. In 2013-14, a network of flow meters was deployed on 17 distributary canals in the Hakra Branch Canal command in IBIS covering more than two cropping seasons. By comparing the captured water distribution data (sampled every 10 minutes) with Punjab Irrigation Department (PID) issued warabandi rosters, an analysis of the warabandi rosters is presented in this paper.