'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎44r] (92/470)

Apart from causes such as may be described as “ acts of God,” the chief factor
was the Hmdiyah barrage.
The former scheme of sending all the water down Shamiyah in the summer,
all down the Hillah barrage in the winter ensured two good crops, and it was in
accordance with the only methods of rice cultivation known to the cultivators.
The scheme put into practice by the Directorate was to distribute the water by
rotation, closing the barrage against Hindiyah for one week and sending all water
down the Hillah branch, and vice versa, it apparently being hoped there would be
sufficient summer water to mature rice crops on both the Hillah and Hindiyah.
This no doubt sounds an equitable division, in theory, but in practice it was
the reverse.
Actually the rotation worked out as eight days in favour of Hillah and six
days in favour of Shamiyah. In almost every case when the time came for the
Shamiyah rotation, only partial rotation was given, possibly owing to the claims of
navigation down the Hillah Branch.
, From careful readings of levels it was found that only the first day of the
rotation was of any practical value to the rice crop. It was fortunate in one sense
that the Shaikhs, owing to their very bitter experience in 1917, sowed not more
than one-eighth of the usual area, and this produced a very poor crop owing to the
lack of water. The Shamiyah population were and are naturally gravely suspicious
of anything suggested by the Irrigation Department. Indeed the peaceful
individual might question the wisdom of a policy that deprived him in one year of
99-|- of his income.
The problem that faced the Irrigation Department was how to insure a good
rice crop, reclaim the flooded land, make the Mishkhab a navigable channel and
prevent the Shamiyah Branch from taking change. The following were the works
proposed for 1918-19 :—
The Shamiyah Channel .—The restriction of the Shamiyah Channel by a dam
at the North, the Naqah with a bye-pass.
The water would be held up to the necessary level for irrigation on that branch
by hamals or dams with a gap in the centre. Three of these were to be built. The
river was also to be restricted by spurs running out below the bye-pass, forcing
the water into a narrower channel.
Flood banks to be built from the Naqah Dam Northwards to the fork which
would protect the island in time of flood.
The Mishkhab Channel .—Strong flood protection banks were to be built from
Kifl to Kufah and Kufah to Abu Sukhair.
A new canal, the Chihat, was to be dug from Abu Sukhair running parallel to
the river about half a mile inland on the right bank, and discharging into the river
about 5 miles above Shinafiyah. The left bank of this canal would form the right
protective flood bank of the river.
A bund was to be built across the south of the Hor al Sulaib where it discharges
into the river, forcing the water down the natural drainage line.
All canals discharging into the Hor al Sulaib were to be closed.
The head of the Chihat Canal would have a masonry regulator. The greatly
increased flow of water down the Mishkhab which would have been secured by the
completion of these works would, it was hoped, result in a considerable scour of the
bed of the channel, making it navigable at all seasons of the year. At the same time
the general drop in the level of the bed of the river would gradually eliminate the
rapids.
This drop in the bed-level would again make irrigation by canals direct from
the Mishkhab impossible. The Chihat, which was to be a high level canal taking off
from Abu Sukhair, above which point the river apparently will not scour, would
replace the original direct irrigation from the river. A similar canal was projected
some time in the future for the left bank of the Mishkhab. Irrigation would be
secured on the Shamiyah channel by turning it into a succession of locked
reservoirs, into which water could be let by the regulator at the Naga Dam.
The actual works completed are :—
Three dams on the Shamiyah channel.
Had it been possible to carry out all these works there is no doubt that they
would have accomplished their object as stated above. But they were projected at
a time when the District was comparatively unknown and under the assumption
that it was similar to any other District.