Irrigation Canal System in Sindh Province

Commencing at the head of an irrigation canal system and proceeding towards its tail the various distribution channels may be described as follows:

Main or Feeder Canals

Generally these canals take off from a barrage. However several large canals such as the Begari Sind canal in the Guddu Barrage command and the Jamrao, Mithrao and Khipro canals in the eastern Nara command are also known as main canals. Although they do not take off from a barrage. The discharge of feeder or main canals varies from 14764 cusecs in the Begari Sind feeder in the Guddu barrage command to 1064 cusecs in Khipro canal respectively.

Branch Canals/Wah

These take off from the main or feeder canals and have a discharge of more than 200 cusecs. The largest in the province is the Guni branch canal in the Kotri barrage command with a discharge of 6053 cusecs.

Distributory Canals

These are the tertiaries from branch canals and have a capacity upto 800 cusecs in the Kotri barrage command and between 50 and 20 cusecs in Sukkur and Guddu barrage respectively.

Minor Canals

These comes on the lowest level of the government operated channels with a discharge of not more than 50 cusecs.

Water Courses

These are privately owned irrigation channels which take off from canals and distributes water in the fields with a discharge varying from 1 to 10 cusecs.