Acquiring additional fresh water supplies is highly problematical. As a result the states attention has naturally turned to demand management in the hopes that increased efficiency of water use will produce sufficient savings to meet future water requirements. Advocates of demand management point to the successes in the energy sector of developed states where forecasts of rising energy demand were largely avoided by increased efficiency of energy use. Thus they struggle that physical water use efficiency can be increased by using less water per unit of output. Correspondingly, economic efficiency can be increased by reallocating water from lower valued to higher valued uses. Indeed, irrigated agriculture consumes over 80 per cent of the available water supplies, and the water use efficiency of a traditional gravity irrigation system is only about 40 per cent. But sprinkler irrigation systems are typically around 70 per cent efficient and drip irrigation system efficiency can be as high as 90 percent. Thus, it appears that at least one-half of the water currently used in irrigated agriculture could be saved through increased irrigation efficiency. But in the field of water, efficiency is a tricky concept. This paper discussed the need for savings of water resources as a special reference to Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
Water, Irrigation, Chittoor, Management
