Abstract
Utility of subsurface drainageas an intervention to reclaim waterloggedsaline lands and to ensure sustainabilityof irrigated agriculture in India has beenestablished through experiments and pilotresearch conducted for over a century.While tracing the history of subsurfacedrainage in the 20th century, thispaper lists several pilots conducted in preand post independence periods. An attempthas been made to critically review thefindings emerging out of such a largenumber of pilots. Salient findings thatcould serve as design guidelines or tooperationalize the systems in an effectiveand eco-friendly manner have been puttogether for their application in future.It is believed that large scale drainageprojects would increasingly be implementedin India and many other developingcountries. In the opinion of the author,the knowledge generated in this centurywould help to design and plan subsurfacedrainage activities on which rests the foodand nutritional security of India and manyother developing nations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Channabasiah, H.S.M. 1972. Subsurface drainage in salt affected medium to deep black soils in India. Lecture delivered at the 'summer Institute on Saline and Alkali Soils and their Management' at C.S.S.R.I., Karnal. 1972.
Chauhan, H.S. & Sewa Ram. 1972. Surface and sub-surface drainage hydrology. Proc. Symp. on Waterlogging Causes and Measures for its Prevention. CBIP. Publication No. 118 (1). 19–20.
Gupta, S.K. 1985. Subsurface drainage for waterlogged saline soils. Irrigation & Power Journal 42: 335–344.
Gupta, S.K. 2000. Reclamation of waterlogged salt affected lands: An overview of various drainage systems. Proc. 8th ICID Int. Drainage Workshop. New Delhi. Vol II: 261–276.
Gupta, S.K., Kumar, S., Sewa Ram & Chauhan, H.S. 1995. Time dependent boundary value solution of the Boussinesq equation. ICID Journal 44: 1–27.
Gupta, S.K., Swarup, A. & Rao, K.V.G.K. 1991. Assessment of tile drain clogging problem in waterlogged salt affected soils of Haryana. Indian Journal of Agricultural Engineering 12: 111–115.
Inglish, C.C. and Gokhle, V.K. 1928. Report on Land Drainage Experiment at Baramati. Tech. Pub. No. 14. Pub. Works Deptt. Bombay State.
Jaiswal, S.R. & Dhruva Narayana, V.V. 1972. Design of a sub-surface drainage system. Proc. Symp. on Waterlogging Causes and its Prevention (pp 91–100). CBIP. Pub. No. 110(1).
Kamra, S.K., Singh, Sita Ram. Rao K.V.G.K. & van Genuchten, M.Th. 1991. A semi-discrete model for water and solute movement in tile-drained soils 1. Governing equations and solution. Water Resources Research 27: 2439–2447.
Kumar, R. and Singh, J. 1994. Drainage system for ground water management. Proc. National Seminar on Reclamation and Management of Waterlogged Saline Soils (pp 50–62). CSSRI, Karnal.
Kumar, S., Gupta, S.K. & Sewa Ram. 1994. Inverse techniques for estimating transmissivity and drainable pore space utilizing data fromsubsurface drainage experiments. Agricultural Water Management 26: 41–58.
Kumbhare, P.S. 1999. Subsurface drain enveloping needs, design and performance evaluation under different soil conditions in India. IDNP Deputation Report. Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal. (47 pp.).
Lovas, L. 1972. Salinity control trials by sub-soil drainage at Digod (pp 156–160). Proc. All India Symp. on Soil Salinity held at Kanpur.
Michael, A.M. 1967. Drainage Research Scheme. Annual Report. College of Agric. Engg. Pb. Agril. Univ. Ludhiana. (108 pp).
Nikam, P.J., Chauhan, H.S., Gupta, S.K. & Sewa Ram. 1992. Water table behaviour in drained lands: effect of evapotranspiration from the water table. Agricultural Water Management 20: 313–328.
Pandey, R.S., Bhattacharya, A.K., Singh, O. P. & Gupta, S.K. 1992. Drawdown solution with variable drainable porosity. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Division, ASCE 118(3): 382–396.
Parikh, M.M., Shrivastava, P.K., Lad, A.N. & Raman, S. 1999. Drainage system design. Tech. Report No. 12. IDNP, Gujarat Agricultural University, Campus Navsari. (45 pp).
RAJAD, 1995. Analysis of Subsurface Drainage Criteria. Rajasthan Agricultural Drainage Research Project, Kota (Rajasthan).
Ramakrishna, V.S., Rao, G.G.S.N., Keshva Rao, A.V.R. & Kumar, P.V. 2000. Weather resources management. In: J.S.P. Yadar & G.B. Singh (Eds) Natural Resources Management for Agricultural Production in India (pp 245–370). (Yadav, Int. Conf. on Managing Natural Resources in 21st Century. New Delhi.
Ranade, D.H., Verma, S.K., Tiwari, S.C., Gupta, R. & Shrivastava, N.C. 1995. Effectiveness of coarse sand and performance testing of filter materials for subsurface drainage systems in sodic vertisols. J Indian Soc Soil Sci 43: 663–666.
Rao, K.V.G.K., Singh, O.P., Gupta, R.K., Kamra, S.K., Padey, R.S., Kumbhare, P.S. & Abrol, I.P. 1986. Drainage Investigations for Salinity Control in Haryana. Bull. No. 10. CSSRI, Karnal. (95 pp).
Rawat, K.S., Tripathy, V.K., Gupta, S.K. & Rao, K.V.G.K. 2001. Effect of drain placement in a low hydraulic conductivity zone in a two layered soil profile on transmissivity of shallow aquifers. J Ind Soc Soil Sci 49: 399–406.
Satyanarayana, T.V. et al. 2000. Bi-annual Progress Report. Indo-Dutch Network Project. Andhra Pradesh N G Ranga University of Agriculture. RRS, Baptala.
Sehgal, J. & Mondal, D.K. 1996. Agro-ecological regions of India and climate change. In: Y.P. Abrol, S. Gadgil & G.B. Pant (Eds) Climatic Variables and Agriculture (pp 204–222). Narosa Publication House, New Delhi, India.
Sharma, D.P. & Tyagi, N.K. 2000. Disposal of drainage water-recycling and reuse.8th proceeding ICID, Int. Drainage Workshop, New Delhi: International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, New Delhi (Vol III: 199–213).
Shirahatti, M.S., Balakrishnan, P., Baskar, R.D., Yarunal, R.S., Kuligod, V.B. & Bhimmappa, S. 2000. Drainage system design, construction and monitoring at Islampur-Devapur (J) area. IDNP Report, University of Agricultural Sciences, RRS Bheemarayanagudi. (41 pp + Annexures).
Van Achthoven, A.J. & Lohan, H.S. 2000. The Haryana operational pilot project for the reclamation of waterlogged saline lands in Haryana. In: S.K. Gupta, S.K. Sharma & N.K. Tyagi (Eds) Salinity Mangement in Agriculture (pp 57–68). Proc. of the National Conference. Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal.
Yadav, J.S.P. 1973. Annual Report. All India Coordinated Scheme for Research on Water Management and Salinity (unpublished).
Yadav, J.S.P. 1975. Annual Report. All India Coordinated Scheme for Research on Water Management and Salinity (unpublished).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gupta, S. A Century of Subsurface Drainage Research in India. Irrigation and Drainage Systems 16, 69–84 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015525405522
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015525405522