Water Resources Management - Practices of Irrigation and On-farm Water Management - page 152

- selecting crops with high yields per unit water consumed
- appropriate cropping pattern
- adopting efficient irrigation devices/technologies
- land leveling
- water-wise tilling/field preparation
- water-wise crop cultivation method (e.g., direct seeding)
- soil-crop-weather management

• cultivation of short duration cultivars

• cultivation of low water demand crops (e.g., pulses, wheat)

• analysis of long-term weather data (especially rainfall and temperature) and

planning crop accordingly

• priming of seed to mitigate low soil moisture at sowing

- Ponding rainwater at rice field by high levees (bunds)
- Storing rainwater in farm pond, lake, etc., and using in dry period

Urban Sector
Metering and Pricing

Metering and pricing are generally considered to be the building blocks of a demand
side management. Metering may be more widespread in the industrial and institu-
tional sectors. These categories may have fewer but larger water users, than in the
residential and commercial sectors. In the short term, the introduction of metering
can impact for water. However, ultimately metering must be used in combination
with appropriate pricing structures, to provide an incentive for customers to reduce
water use. In any given municipality, several rate structures may be used for dif-
ferent sectors (commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, etc.). Along with
various rate structures, the increasing block-rate pricing structure (also termed as
tiered water prices) may be an explicitly water conserving rate structure: when water
use reaches a certain threshold (the boundary between “blocks”), the price per unit
goes up. Tiered pricing provides an incentive for the farmers to choose efficient
combinations of irrigation methods and management levels. However, to remain
effective, such a structure must be keyed to inflation so that the amount charged for
water is consistent with the real cost of providing the service. Declining block rate
often is thought to encourage higher levels of water use; as the price per unit of
water used goes down in steps or blocks, the amount used increases.

Water Ordinance (by Law)

State or municipal ordinance may promote water conservation and efficient use of
water. Water rate ordinance simply authorizes various rate structures in place. Other
ordinances (i.e., plumbing fixture, mandatory fixture retrofit, restrictions on specific
users, and others) may also be employed. Regional municipalities or agricultural
areas may have lawn watering ordinances in place, compared to others.