Calculating the cost of irrigation induced soil salinization in the tungabhadra project

Irrigation projects in developing countries have a history of poor performance. Inefficiencies result as water applications deviate from plans and induce greater than projected rates of soil degradation through water logging and salt accumulation. Over time, the collective impact of these forces will converge to an equilibrium with a level of output that may be far below the system’s potential. The Tungabhadra Project in south west India is experiencing all of these problems. Integrating geographic, hydrologic, biologic and economic features, the lost production value is estimated for a range of equilibria to which this system may converge. For the lower left bank main canal of the Tungabhadra project, the total economic cost of soil degradation are approximately 14.5% of the system’s productive potential while sub-optimal distribution losses may approach 37.1%.