Research in this book is part of the project no. 48, ?Strategic Analyses of India?s National River-Linking Project (NRLP)? of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF).

This report explores the theory and practice of Adaptive Water Management (AWM) based on a detailed field study in the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A five-step framework is used to analyze the extent to which AWM is practiced and how it could be improved.…

For millennia, India has been using surface storages and gravity flow to irrigate its crops. During the last 40 years, however, India has witnessed a decline in gravity flow irrigation and the rise of a booming ?water-scavenging? irrigation economy through millions of small, private tube wells.…