Irrigation & Drainage
Planning and system design, crop water requirement and drainage runoff estimation, detailed design of canals, headworks and flow-control structures, and O&M programme preparation.
An irrigation scheme is a promise about water arriving at a particular field in a particular week. Keeping that promise is a design problem — canal capacity, sediment management, control structures — and an institutional one, because a canal without a functioning water users' association silts up regardless of how well it was drawn.
e2services designs both sides. For the Integrated River Basin Irrigation and Water Resources Management Program we prepared a master plan for lift irrigation sub-projects across the Kaligandaki and Aadhikhola basins in Gandaki Province, identifying and prioritising schemes for provincial programming. For the Community Irrigation Project we carried out detailed survey, design and cost estimate of the Piluwakhola Lift Irrigation Project covering 1,350 hectares.
Lift irrigation deserves particular mention, because it is where Nepal's terrain and its energy situation intersect. Pumping head, power availability, delivered cost per hectare and the recurrent burden on the users' committee all have to be assessed together. A lift scheme that is technically feasible and operationally unaffordable is not feasible.
The design work itself covers canal networks, embankments, headworks, weirs, sedimentation basins and sluicing facilities — with crop water requirement and drainage runoff estimated for the actual command area and cropping pattern rather than a standard figure.
What we deliver
- Irrigation planning and system design
- Estimation of crop water requirements and drainage runoff
- Detailed design of canals, embankments and flow-control structures
- Headworks, weirs, sedimentation basins and sluicing facilities
- O&M programmes, water management and socio-economic baseline surveys
How the work runs
- 01
Command area and cropping assessment
Command area delineated from survey, with cropping pattern and calendar established through field and socio-economic survey.
- 02
Water requirement and availability
Crop water requirement and drainage runoff estimated, and matched against source availability across the irrigation season.
- 03
System layout and alternatives
Canal or lift alignment options compared on head, length, structure count, energy cost and command coverage.
- 04
Detailed structural design
Canals, embankments, headworks, weirs, sedimentation basins and flow-control structures designed and detailed.
- 05
O&M and institutional programme
Operation and maintenance programme, water management arrangements and cost recovery set out with the users' organisation in mind.
What you receive
- Master plan or detailed design report
- Command area mapping and topographic survey
- Crop water requirement and drainage runoff analysis
- Canal network layout and hydraulic design
- Headworks, weir and control structure drawings
- Bill of quantities and cost estimate
- O&M programme and water management plan
- Socio-economic baseline survey
Common questions
Do you work on lift irrigation specifically?
Yes. We prepared the lift irrigation master plan for the Kaligandaki and Aadhikhola basins, and the detailed survey and design of the 1,350 hectare Piluwakhola Lift Irrigation Project. Lift schemes need energy cost and O&M affordability assessed as rigorously as the hydraulics.
Can you prepare a basin-wide master plan rather than one scheme?
That is exactly the Kaligandaki and Aadhikhola assignment — identifying and prioritising sub-projects across two river basins for provincial water resources programming, rather than designing a single scheme in isolation.
Need a survey, a design package, or a multi-disciplinary study team?
Tell us about the corridor, basin, or facility. We will respond with the right mix of engineering and field capability.