This paper provides the basis for the preparation of manuals necessary for managers and staffs to perform needed activities at the proper time. The guide provides a comprehensive list of issues that should be addressed in operation and maintenance manuals for irrigation and drainage systems, and a listing of published materials and working papers which will assist in the formulation of plans for operation and maintenance. The paper serves as a valuable tool to help improve the performance of irrigation and drainage systems and to assist managers in developing and improving effective organizations to serve water consumers better.

Irrigation Scheme Operation and Maintenance is the tenth in the series of training manuals on irrigation prepared jointly with ILRI (International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement). The manual presents some of the difficulties that irrigation organizations confront in undertaking their duties and provides some orientations on how to resolve them. The paper then proceeds to discuss the methods of operating an irrigation network and the working principles involved. The maintenance tasks are discussed. To draw similarities and differences the maintenance of a motorcycle is used as a reference for the corresponding activities in an irrigation scheme. Finally, a reference is made to the need for having an effective financial control whereby the management of the system has enough resources to undertake the operation and maintenance tasks. The manual is addressed to small and medium schemes and assumes that the management organization is already in place.

In many countries irrigated agriculture consumes a large proportion of the available water resources, often over 70% of the total. There is considerable pressure to release water for other uses and, as a sector, irrigated agriculture will have to increase the efficiency and productivity of its water use. This is particularly true for manually operated irrigation systems managed by government agencies, which provide water for a large number of users on small landholdings and represent 60% of the total irrigated area worldwide. Drawing on the author's 30 years of experience in some 28 countries, this book offers knowledge of the management of irrigation and drainage systems, including traditional technical areas of systems operation and maintenance, and expanding managerial, institutional and organizational aspects. Chapters provide guidelines to improve management, operation and maintenance processes, which move management thinking out of traditional public-sector mindsets to a more customer-focused, performance-oriented service delivery. As a practical guide to improve efficiency and productivity in irrigated agriculture, this book will be essential reading for irrigation managers and technicians as well as students and policy makers in water management, agriculture and sustainable development.