Qazvin's irrigation network evaluations, using the external indicators of rapid appraisal process

Regarding the importance of efficient use of agricultural water, management and distribution of water in irrigation networks are necessary to increase efficiency. Monitoring and evaluation of water management and distribution methods should be done continuously, to criticize and improve these procedures. For this purpose, some standard and effective methods have been developed by international organizations. In this study, water distribution in Qazvin irrigation network and its external factors were considered using the rapid appraisal process (RAP). The results showed that the water resources usage in the region is not purposeful and there was no plan to exploit the water resources in the network. In this period, responsible governors distributed only about 28 percent of total available water in the year. It has been the major cause of water losses. It was also found that the temporal water distribution is not properly done in the canals and in the most months of the year the amount of distributed water is less or more than required water for crop pattern. This indicates that water losses in the network had been due to lack of information, poor infrastructure or to compensate a part of conveyance losses. The total surplus of distributed water in the network in the year 2013, have been about 56 million cubic meters, which is 25 percent of total required water for cultivated crops.