DESCRIPTION OF IRRIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE WHITE VOLTA SUB-BASIN - Sustainable Irrigation Development in the White Volta Sub-Basin - page 111

farmers enabling them to apply the right amount of water to their crops at
the right place at the right time. The technology must be appropriate for the
situation if irrigation is to have a chance of success (Kay, 2001).

Generally, an irrigation technology supplies water at rates and at times
needed to meet crop irrigation requirements and schedules. An irrigation
technology diverts water from a source, conveys it to cropped areas of the
farm and distributes it over the area being irrigated (James, 1993). There are
different irrigation water sources (surface reservoirs, groundwater, overhead
tanks, streams/rivers) with several ways of diverting (gravity, motorized
pump, manual pump or rope and bucket), conveying (water hose, bucket or
gravity through open channels or pipelines) and applying water (sprinkler,
trickle, basin flooding, furrow, bucket or water hose) on the farms. It is the
specific combination of these that account for the different irrigation systems
or technologies.
In this study irrigation technologies are differentiated by the source of water
(reservoir, well or tank), water abstraction mechanism (by mechanised pump,
manual pump, bucket and rope or gravity using valve) and the method of
water application (gravity fed by furrow, bucket, sprinkler and drip) on the
field. The sources of water identified for irrigation in the White Volta sub-
basin are used to denote the different irrigation technologies described in this
study.
These irrigation technologies are: small reservoirs, dugouts, permanent
shallow wells riverine water, temporal shallow wells and riverine alluvial
dugouts. A description of the characteristics of these irrigation technologies
covers their historical background, development trend, infrastructure, water
abstraction, transportation and application methods, bio-physical features
and the management practices employed by the users.
The order of the technologies is based on the inception of these technologies
in the study area. The first of these is the small reservoirs, followed by the
dugouts, permanent shallow wells, riverine pump, temporal shallow wells and
riverine alluvial dugouts.

5.3.1 Small Reservoir Irrigation Technology

Historical Background and Development Trend
According to the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), small
reservoirs are impoundments with dam walls up to 15m in height or storage
capacities of less than 3 million m 3 of water (ICID, 2000). Small reservoirs