Project Report

“Canal Maintenance & Operation Work”

REPORT SUBMITTED FOR THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE THREE YEAR DIPLOMA IN
CIVIL ENGINEERING

SUBMITTED TO
COLLEGE NAME

SUBMITTED BY:
STUDENT NAME

(College Enrolment Number & Roll Number)

2020-2023

Under the Guidance of

Er.
Junior Engineer

Irrigation Division, Gorakhpur

 CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION

This is to certify that Mr./Ms. <Student Name> of Diploma <Branch Name> from
<College Name> was working on the project entitled “Canal Maintenance &
Operation Work” in Irrigation Division, Gorakhpur. He/She was engaged with us for
training during <Time>.
He/She has done an excellent job during his/her engagemet with site work. He/she
has completed his/her project during the training tenure. His/her performance has
been good and satisfactory.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to Mr./Ms. <Student
Name> for his/her work and wish him/her all the very best for his/her future
endeavours.
 DECLARATION

I, <Student Name> , hereby, declare that the Project Report submitted to <College
Name> for the award of three year Diploma in <Branch Name> was done under the
guidance of Er. <Engineer Name with Division Name>. I also declare that the
information in the report is correct as per my knowledge and I bear any
responsibilities for any error or omission, if any. The matter embodied in this Project
work has not been submitted earlier for award any degree or diploma to the best of
my knowledge and belief.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Er. <name of JE> and Mr. < name of
EE> Irrigation division Gorakhpur, who gave me his full support and for providing me
opportunities to undergo his able guidance and offering me very deep knowledge of
practical aspects of work culture. I would also extend my thanks to all employees
and officer of Irrigation Division, Gorakhpur.

Student Name
 INDIEX

Sr. No. Title

1 About Summer Training
2 Introduction of Irrigation Department
3 History of Irrigation Department
4 Western Gandak Canal System
 SUMMER TRAINING

Summer training is an part of the engineering curriculum. The Diploma course

summer training helps a student in getting acquainted with the manner in which
his/her knowledge is being practically used outcome his/her institude and this is
normally different from what he/she has learnt from books. Hence, when the student
switches from the process of learning to that of implementing his/her knowledge,
he/she finds an abrupt change. This is why summer training during session becomes
more important.
Summer training allows industry exposure and understanding the working
environment. It is essential and helps to attain in-depth knowledge of engineering
stream. It enhances professional skills in a real-time environment. It helps us
understanding the area of interest and selection of an area of specialization. It also
allows students to learn the basics of how to work as a team member to complete
given tasks. It improves awareness of the industrial environment and work culture of
the specific industry. It gives real-time work and workshop projects help to learn
more analytically. It allows interaction with experts help to solve queries with
practical exposure. The Certificate obtained from reputed organization give
weightage to resume or CV.
 INTRODUCTION
ABOUT DEPARTMENT:-
Description of water resources like wells, canals and dams could be seen at many
places in Vedas. In Rig-Veda description of wells, kavat could easily be seen at
many places. Water from well, used to be fetched from wheels made of stone, in
which container is tied to rope. Wells were not only used to fetch the water for daily
use of humans and animals, but were also used for irrigation too. In Rig-Veda word
‘Awta’ is also mentioned which is the symbol of Well. In other hymn word ‘Kulya’ is
being mentioned, which means ‘Artificial Canal.’ In Yajurveda one can see the
description of ‘digging of canals.’ Even Guru of Devas ‘Brahaspati’ had said that
repairing and modification of dams and canals is a holy practice and rich society of
state should take its responsibility. Whole this history clears that irrigation sources
have always been an important part of civilization and livelihood.

Around 3150 B.C. many epics described the irrigation farming since the time of
Mahabharat. When Rishiraj Narad visited King Yudhisthir’s state to meet him in this
context, then he questioned him about the condition of farmers in his state, that
whether they are healthy or not? Are reservoirs large and sufficient and do they have
sufficient of water and does water is supplied to various parts of state? All these
questions and concerns shows that even in Mahabharat Era irrigation was one of the
main agenda for development of the society.

Since the formation of Irrigation and Water Resource Department Uttar Pradesh, it is
focused toward the development and construction of dams, canals and wells.
Department executed it objective and facilitated the state’s citizens’ with the
sufficient facility of irrigation and in meanwhile department also executed flood
prevention works and always strives to avoid horrors of flooding.
 History of Irrigation Department, Uttar Pradesh
Role:-
Water is a priceless gift of nature. Without water one cannot imagine the existence of
life or civilization. That’s the only reason why our ancestors chose to live where the
water was available easily. Since ancient civilizations, development of the society is
based on water. Every human civilization always got established near any water
resource body. Since the very beginning of civilization, India emerged as an
Agricultural country. Even today around 75% of population of the country is
dependent over agriculture. For the best outcome of agriculture, irrigation is one of
the most important processes. The main source for irrigation is fall. In India rainfall
varies from areas and time. On one hand where average rainfall in West Rajasthan
is 100 M.M., on other hand average rainfall of Cherapunji in West Meghalaya is
11000 M.M. At certain time due to insufficient rain situation of drought occurred in
the country. In Northern India plain area of Ganga is very beneficial for agricultural
purpose but due to insufficient rain or no rainfall, a long history of drought had been
noticed in this region. In year 1770 a severe drought had been noticed in Lower
Bengal and Bihar, due to which a huge population of state faced unexpected crisis
and get demolished. In year 1837, the severe drought of 19th century was noticed in
Northern India, due to which society faced crisis and one third civilization get ruined.
This incident grabbed the attention of British Government and government decided
to create perennial canals across the state, which would help in overcoming the
crisis of agriculture.
In ancient Hindu Scriptures also, glimpse of deep interest for irrigation and irrigation
management had also been noticed. Around 300 years ago in meeting of
Chandragupta Maurya, ambassador of Seleucus, Megasthenes expressed his views
over Irrigation System in India, that Irrigation system of that time was too rich in
India. “Kautilya” in his Economic texts had also suggested to King that to conquer his
enemies, he should inundate the land of his enemies under the boundaries of his
state by destructing dams, canals and embankment. Kautilya has defined canals and
dams in some other context also. In his economics you can find the description of
utilization of water from rivers, lakes, damns and well for agricultural production,
whose fourth part should be given to the King as revenue. If maintenance of private
dam was neglected till five years then state had the authority to take it under its
custody and if any dam construction took place with public assistance, then in that
situation revenue tax was relived for four years.
400 year B.C. Maharaja Nand constructed water over bridge which was neglected
for a long period of time. 100 year B.C. the Royal King Kharvela of Orissa
rejuvenated this bridge and made it worth of reusing. Around 1700 years ago from
now a well-planned weir been constructed by local engineers of Madras, which was
the first work of this kind, of that era.
Before British Period:-
Due to availability of Perennial River like Sindhu and Ganga in Northern India, it was
easy to make inundation canals through rivers water, which results into relatively
easier use of water for irrigation. The main inundation canals of India are generated
from Sindhu river and its 5 tributaries. It is said that these inundated canals were
created by the Afghan Kings. The total length of such kind of inundated canal in
Punjab Province was around 480 K.M. and around 4160 K.M. in Sindhu Province,
which help in cultivation of around 6.8 lac hectare crops. By the end of 19th century
cultivation of around 12.0 lac hectare area of Punjab and Sindhu provinces get
dependent on such inundation canals. The management and maintenance of these
canals is done by the government.
In Northern India, firstly the canal was created from both side banks of river Yamuna.
The canal that was created from Western bank of Yamuna was constructed by
Firozshah in the middle of 14th century for the cultivation of his hunting ground,
situated near Hisaar. Later on just because of ignorance of its maintenance, this
canal got unusable, but again in 16th century Akbar ordered the restoration of this
canal. Thereafter in the beginning of 17th century, Shahjahan with the help of his
assistant Alimardan Khan get this canal to the Shahjahanabad (Delhi) by
constructing a river over bridge and cutting into the rock. After 125 years of
construction, this canal keeps on efficiently working. Because of irregularities in
Empire, supply of water from Firoz canal get stopped in 1707 and by the middle of
18th century existence of Mughal canal also got extinct. This is how, after 400 years,
somehow canal stopped working.
Credit of Eastern Yamuna Canal originating from left bank of Yamuna river, which is
also known as Doab canal goes to Alimardan Khan. The top origin of this canal is
situated on the Shivalik hills and passes through hunting ground ‘Badshah Mahal’ of
Shahjahan. On the top of canal hazardous nature hindrances/calamities this canal
unable to survive for more than of one season, because engineers of Mughal era
were unable to solve these problems. In year 1780 ‘Jabeelakhan Rohila’ restarted
this canal but again same thing happened and after reconstruction of canal, it
survived for few months only.
Canal Systems in British Era:-
During British Era in India, development of old irrigation works and expansion started
and it revived. In 1817 Lord Hastings, appointed Lieutenant ‘Blane’ of Engineering
Core for monitoring of Delhi canal originating from Western Bank of Yamuna and in
1822 appointed Lieutenant Debiued of same core for the monitoring of ‘Doab Canal’,
originating from Eastern bank of Yamuna River.
Establishment of top of Western Yamuna Canal was done by Lieutenant Blane in
such a way, so that flood could be controlled and helped in circulation of restricted
water in the canals. This canal was started in year 1821 and the length of canal and
its branches was 712 K.M. Survey of Eastern Yamuna Canal was firstly done by
Lieutenant Debiued in year 1822. Thereafter, Colonel Robert Smith of Engineer core
completed the various works of this canal system in 1830. The normal smoothening
canal depends on watershed. For the very first time this canal started working from
3rd January 1830 after completion of these works. After two weeks of operation, on
20th January 1830 it was noticed that all bridges constructed on North of Saharanpur
and on South of Suravali all get into the situation of destruction. Alongwith the
possibilities of destruction it was also noticed that because of huge amount of silt
which was brought from upper portion of canal, covered whole of the canal. To solve
all these problems, this task was handed over to Colonel P.Cautley, who was the
assistant of Colonel Smith. As per need fall was constructed at selected places in
such a way that bottomed slope of canal was 17 inch to 24 inch per mile. In 1836
after the revival of this canal was restarted successfully. Construction of Beejpur and
Rajpur canal in Ramneek Doon Ghati was also done by Colonel  Cautley
To provide irrigation facility to productive land of Ganga Yamuna Doab,
Colonel Cautley started the construction of a canal (known as Upper Ganga Canal)
in 1842 by using Ganga water, whose envisaged capacity was 6750 cusec and it
started working from 8th April 1854. The study of crisis and problems during earlier
Upper Ganga construction it was done so thoroughly that was not done in any other
project.
Bundelkhand is that part of the state where average annual rain is just 760
M.M.,which in result, creates the loss in surface and ground level water, that’s why
storage of water for irrigation is maintained in ponds and reservoirs. In the middle of
8th and 12th century, Chandel rulers constructed around 4000 lakes, out of which
few of them still exist. Thereafter dams were created in this region in British Era so
that canal could easily be created for irrigation. In year 1885, to provide irrigation
facility in the region of district Jalauna and Hamirpur, construction work of Betwa
Canal completed and water got started supplying in it. In 1903, Second Drought
Commission worked to take irrigation facility to that extent where the first
commission has recommended it. To facilitate these facilities in Southern portion,
Ken Canal in Banda District, Dhasan canal in Hamirpur district and Ghaghra lake in
Mirzapur district and Garai lake in Mirzapur district were constructed in 1907, 1910,
1913 and 1915 respectively.
According to Recommendations of Second Drought Commission to provide irrigation
facility in the center portion of State, Sharda Canal System was started in 1919 and
completed in 1928.

Mildstones of Irrigation Department, Uttar Pradesh

1817 Lord Hasting handed over the task of maintenance of canal originating from
western bank of Yamuna River to Lieutenant Blane of Engineering Core.
1821 Operation of Western Yamuna Canal.
1822 Lord Hasting handed over the task of maintenance of Doab canal originating
from Eastern bank of Yamuna River to Lieutenant Dibuied.
1823 Establishment of first Irrigation Office in Saharanpur.
1830 Operation of Eastern Yamuna Canal.
1842 Construction started of Upper Ganga Canal By Colonel Proby Cautley.
1854 Supply of water in Upper Ganga Canal.
1855 Establishment of Central Public Works Department.
1871 Approval to construction of Lower Ganga Canal.
1878 Construction of Agra Canal System started.
Operation of Lower Ganga Canal started.

1880 Recommendation of providing Irrigation facility in 40% land of total Culturable

land in Bundelkhand by Drought Commission.

1885 Construction work of Betwa Canal completed.

1898 Construction of Fatehpur Water Branch.

1903 Formation of Second Drought Commission, in which it Reiterated to provide

irrigation facility as recommended by First Drought Commission.

1906 Construction started of Lehchura Dam on Dhasan River.

1907 Construction of Dhasan Canal.

1909 Construction Started if Pahadi Dam on Dhasan River.

1910 Construction completed of Lehchura dam on Dhasan River.Construction of

Dhukva Dam.
 Construction completed of Pahadi dam on Dhasan River.

1912 Construction of Ghagra Canal.

1915 Construction of Garai Canal.

Construction of Gangau Dam on Ken River.

1919 Construction started of Sharda Canal System.

1928 Construction completed of Sharda Canal System.

1952 Construction started of Matateela Dam.

1954 Formation of PWD and Irrigation Department.

1955 First flood work started by Irrigation Department.

1956 Discharge of Yamuna canal is increased to 2500 cusec from 800 cusec.

1957 Construction completed of Narayani Canal System.

1961 Construction of Rihand dam.

Establishment of Irrigation Research Institution in Rurkee.

Setting up of Control Design Directorate at Lucknow.

1964 Construction completed of Matateela Dam.

Technical Examination Wing established in Secretariat for Irrigation

Department.

1968 Sharda Sahayk Canal construction started.

1972 Construction of Gandak Canal System.

1973 Construction started of Rajghat canal.

1974 Construction of Western Prayagraj Branch.

1977 Commencement of Kanhar project.

1978 Construction started of Bheemgauda dam.

Construction of Saryu canal.

1984 Construction completed of Bheemgauda dam.

Construction of Parallel Lower Ganges Canal.

1994 Construction of Gandak Canal System completed.

1996 Beginning of Baan Sagar Project.

2003 The Infomation System Organization  establish in Irrigation Department in

July 2012 under Project Component C-I Consolidation and Enhancement of Irrigation
Department reforms Organization/department with activity UPID Modernization &
Capacity Building In Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring Phase-II. The
Following works executed by ISO mainly using modern Technology. ⇒ 
Establishment of SCADA Syestem in Various Structure of Canal System for Real
Time Discharge. ⇒  Development of Mobile App for Flood Information System.

2017 Application of Remote Sensing Technique in Flood Information System 

Application of Web Based  Technique in Monitoring Management System.

2018 Completion of Baan Sagar Canal project.

2019 Completion of New Lahchura Dam downstream of Old Lahchura Dam

constructed in 1910.

2021 Completion of Saryu Canal National Project.

Completion of Arjun Sahayak Project.

Completion of Bhawni Dam Project.

Completion of Rasin Dam project.

First Canal Top Solar Plant of 2.5 mw on Jakhlaun Pump Canal made
operational.

Second Canal Top Solar Plant of 3.42 mw made operational.

First Sprinkler Irrigation Project – Majhgaon Chilli Sprinkler Project in district

Lalitpur made operational.

2022 Uttar Pradesh awarded first prize in Best State Category of National Water
Award.

Dhukwan weir located across river Betwa included in “ World Heritage

Irrigation Structures” by International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage
(ICID).
 Western Gandak Canal System
A barrage has been built on the Gandak River located in Valmiki Nagar near Bihar-
Nepal Border and from its right bank main Western Gandak Canal has been drawn.
From head of the canal, 18.90 km is a part of the Nepal while from 18.9 Km to
131.40 Km is a part of Uttar Pradesh. Beyond this point, the part of the canal lies in
Bihar and is known by the name Saran Canal. Through this canal only the facility of
irrigation is made available to the major part of Rohin Rapti and Gandak Doab. The
discharge of head of the main Western Gandak Canal is 15,800 cusec out of which
7,300 cusec comes in subdivision of Uttar Pradesh while the use of remaining 8,500
cusec is proposed for Bihar.
According to the revised project the particulars of the project are as follows:
Sr. No. Source Gandak River
1 Condition of the head Valmiki Nagar Nepal
2 Length of Barrage 743 metres
3 Head discharge of main city 447.3 cusec (15800 cusec)
4 No. of Water Branches 06
5 Total Length of Distribution 3256 Km
System
6 Benefited Districts Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj and
Padrauna
7 Cultivable command area 3.95 lac hectares
8 Proposed Irrigation

(i) Grain 1.78 lac hectares

(ii) Sugarcane 0.65 lac hectares

(iii)  Rabi Crops 0.89 lac hectares

 CANALS
Canal is an artificial structure, generally trapezoidal in shape constructed on the ground to
carry water to fields either from river or from reservoir.

Classification
Based on discharge and its relative importance irrigation network canals:-

(A) Main Canal

(i) Main canal takes off directly from the upsteam side of weir head works or
dam.
(ii) Usually no direct supply to fields or water courses.
(iii) Feeds branch canals and major distributaries.

(B) Branch Canal

(i) Offtakes from main canal.
(ii) Discharge of 5 cumes or more.
(iii) Feeds major and minor distributaries.
(iv) No direct irrigation in general.

(C) Major Distributaries

(i) Lesser discharge than branch canals.
(ii) Take off from branch canals or main canals.
(iii) Discharge between 5 cumes and 0.25 cumes.

(D) Minor Distributaries (Minors)

(i) Lesser discharge than major distributaries.
(ii) Take off from branch canals or distributaries.
(iii) Discharge below 0.25 cumes.

(E) Water Courses

(i) Small channels.
(ii) Feeds the fields.
(iii) Take of from distributaries ( Sometimes from branch canal for nearby fields).
Based on financial output:-

(A) Productive Canals

Yield a net revenue to the nation after full development of irrigation in an area.

(B) Protective Canals

Relief work for protecting a famine affected region.

Based on the function:-

(A) Irrigation Canal

Carries water from its source to agricultural fields.

(B) Carrier Canal

Feeds another canal.

(C) Feeder Canal

Feeds two or more canals.

(D) Navigation Canal

Used for transport of goods.

(E) Power Canal

Used to carry water for generation of hydroelectricity.

Based on source of supply:-

(A) Perinnial Canal

Continuous source of water supply.

(B) Inundation Canal

Draws its supplies from a river only during the high stages of the river.
Based on boundary surface of canal:-

(A) Alluvial Canals

The canals when excavated through alluvial soils, such as silts are called alluvial
canals.
(B) Non-Alluvial Canals
Excavated through non-alluvial soils like loam clay, hard soil, murram, rock etc.

(C) Rigid Boundary Canals

(i) Rigid sides and base.
(ii) Lined canals.

Based on alignment:-

(A) Contour Canal

(i) The ridge line (watershed) may above the river, canal could takeof only as
contour canal initially.
(ii) A contour canal irrigates only one side because the area on the other side is
higher.

(B) Ridge Canal

(i) The dividing ridge line between the catchment areas of two streams (drains)
is called the watershed or ridge line.
(ii) The canal which is aligned along any natural watershed (ridge line) is called a
watershed canal, or a ridge canal.
(iii) Aligning a canal (main canal or branch canal or distributary) on the ridge
ensures gravity irrigation on both sides of the canal.

(C) Side Slope Canal

(i) A side slope canal is that which is aligned roughly at right angles to the
contours.
(ii) Canal runs parallel to the natural drainage flow – does not intercept drainage
channels – No cross-drainage structures.