ABSTRACT
Across Asia lies a remarkably wide range of organizational structures for operating and maintaining large-scale surface irrigation systems. In South Asia a main-line irrigation department is typically responsible for the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of all canal facilities within the state or province (or nation, in the case of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). A single huge hierarchy connects the chief engineer general in the state capital with assistant engineers out in the subdivisions of particular command areas.
