'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎179v] (363/470)

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3. Irrigation. —In the ‘Aziziyah and Bughailah areas very considerable
work has been undertaken by the Irrigation Department. Detail of this work
is as follows :—
i Aziziyah .—This j^ear the Irrigation Department have 47 canals under their
supervision on the right bank, of which five have already this year been given openings
under road and railroad, and similar arrangements are now being made for ten
others. The A.I.O. has (as far as is compatible with engineering and material
at hand) made arrangements for allotting a separate canal for all cultivators of
any size. Smaller cultivators will be given water from main canals with openings
already made beneath the railroad. The A.I.O. will control the head of these
canals at the take-off and ensure that sufficient water is allowed for the acreage
under cultivation, thus obviating, I trust, any squabbles regarding water supply.
A two-span regulator has been completed over Bad‘at al Hamad, and at
Sha‘urah a one-span regulator is nearing completion, in addition to which the canal
is being cleared to a length of 5 miles.
On the right bank all canals are being left to the cultivators’ hands, as there
is no fear of military damage being caused through mouths washing out, &c., and
owners will naturally take precautions to prevent excessive flooding to their crops.
On the whole, means of irrigation have been arranged which will suffice for an
acreage far in excess of the district’s ability to cultivate, and as far as possible to
the satisfaction of all concerned.
Bughailah .—Work on the Husainiyah, the Mu‘aiqit and the Musahiyah
regulators is nearing completion. This shitwi in this district will have five good canals
with regulators—the Bughailah, the Shadi, the Husainiyah, the Mu‘aiqit and the
Musahiyab. Last year there were only two canals with regulators, the Bughailah
and the Shadi.
Work on the Husainiyah regulator has progressed with varying fortunes owing
to the demands on the iVmir for labour for other large works in his area, namely,
the Husainiyah bunds and the Umm al Sizaj dam. The last is perhaps the most
important of the three works. Were it breached, lands as far as Shatrah would
be flooded.
It is estimated that the Husainiyah regulator will cost Rs. 35,000/- and the
Husaniyah bunds, and the Umm al Sizaj dam between them, another Rs. 13,200/-.
The Amir of Rabi‘ah is bearing 40 per cent, of the cost of labour emploj^ed on works
in his area.
The MuWiyah flood-protection bund in the Albu Sultan lands has been
completed. This bund involved about 43,000 cubic metres of earthwork and was
built entirely by the Quraish.
Work on the left bank bunds is progressing satisfactorily. Bunds on the right
bank, between the Bughailah Canal and the Nahr Abu Zofar, are in the main
completed.
The Al Hadd ( anal, which was closed last year, has been opened and given
a temporary regulator. The Main Canal, upstream of the Shadi, has also been given
a temporary regulator.
In addition to the above works the usual bund repair and canal clearance on
both banks is being undertaken under the superintendence of irrigation officers.
In some places, notably on the left bank between Diyalah and Kut, owing to the
proximity of the railway, a very considerable construction is necessary, and it is
only with great difficulty that labour can be procured. The early rains and conse
quent early sowings have drawn the fallahs Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. on to the land and it requires considerable
coercion to make Shaikhs produce their tally of men.
On the whole, however, the work is proceeding fairly satisfactorily, and it
is hoped that in the coming year the railway will not be breached as was the case
last spring.
In the Badrah area no irrigation works have been undertaken, and, as a matter
of fact, the system out there is an extremely clever one, and it w^ould probablv
be difficult or impossible to improve on it.
Below Hai town, the big projected scheme is the opening of the silted up
Shatt al A‘mah.
This is a work requiring very considerable labour and a clearly drawn-up scheme
beforehand. Such a scheme has been prepared by the District Irrigation Officer,