1. Integrated River Basin Management
MSc Programme
Integrated River Basin Management
Elective Course on Irrigation and Drainage Planning Block 1 - Irrigation & Drainage Development in IRBM perspective in the context of Ethiopia
1.4 Multiple Use System that respond to multiple demands (not only crops)

2. 1.4 Multiple Use System that respond to multiple demands
Irrigation water produces more than just grain
Providing access to “marginal” users, for livelihood security
Opportunities, but also trade-offs in optimizing joint product of all uses & users
In design all uses and users need to be identified

3. MUS activities in Ethiopia, Katar II scheme- Assela
Support for domestic activities
Possibilities of SHPP
Cattle support

4. Multiple Use System that respond to multiple demands
The idea initiated from people’s multiple water needs
Traditional irrigation is only meant for single use system; only crop demand
Irrigation water, when supplied to rural communities can meet demands of:
Crop demand
Homestead garden
Water for cattle
Aquaculture (habitats for fish)
Rural enterprise water supplies
Here the total demand is computed as:
Net water demand = net irrigation crop water demand + side demands of other water uses

5. MUS supports important cultural values and functions that are essential for local well-being and livelihoods through providing:
Other agricultural purposes, such as irrigating home gardens, watering livestock;
Equipment, soaking fodder;
Domestic purposes, such as laundry, bathing, washing household utensils, soaking grains, cooking, drinking,
House cleaning, sanitation;
Commercial purposes, usually small-scale activities or home industries, such as brick making, butcher’s or other
Shops, washing vehicles, pottery, mat weaving;
Other productive purposes, usually non-consumptive, such as fisheries and water mills;
Recreation.

6. Merits of MUS
Provide ecological benefits such as biodiversity conservation;
MUS leads to higher water productivity (e.g. household income, nutrition, and health) “more use per drop”;
MUS can provide the most vulnerable users with low cost services;
Implicitly gender-friendly;
Enhancing willingness and ability to pay.

7. Costs of MUS
Multiple-use services cost marginally more than single-use services but generate greater income and poverty impacts. The costs are both in the hardware and software.
Hardware: infrastructural, construction, operation, and maintenance, and the required engineering skills
Software costs: transaction costs, especially for planning, institution building and backstopping, and costs for other skill development.
If irrigation water directly used for domestic purpose it can pose a health risk, thus users need awareness.

8. MUS assignment
Q-7
Explain MUS from the environmental, social and economic perspective?
Identify the challenges of developing a platform that accommodate different user groups (MUS) for improving the overall productivity as well as equity of water use in a scheme?

9. Reading Material Compulsory Reading
Multiple-Use Water Services to Advance the Millennium Development Goals, IWMI research report 98, (Pages 5-20)
Further Reading
Multi uses of Irrigation water in the Hakra distributary command area,Pakistan. International irrigation management institute (IIMI), 1998