ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — Agricultural Engineering subjects 38–43 · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersManaging water at the scale of reservoirs, canals and river basins, including floods and farmer participation.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 40 Units 7–8; ICAR AIEEA-PG Unit VII; electives in the ICAR 6th Deans' Committee B.Tech
ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — subject 40 Soil and Water Conservation Engineering (units 7–8) and subject 43
Water resources planning and management at PG depth: reservoir storage zones and mass-curve sizing, sedimentation and trap efficiency, design flood estimation and frequency analysis, flood control measures, minor irrigation, PIM and water users' associations, water quality.
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Water Resources Management, Floods & Canal Systems. Difficulty: 17 easy, 56 medium, 33 hard.
| Flood estimation | 18 | |
| Reservoirs | 15 | |
| Water quality management | 15 | |
| Flood control measures | 12 | |
| Water resources of a country | 11 | |
| Canal operation | 10 | |
| Diversion works | 9 | |
| Water users' associations and participatory irrigation management | 9 | |
| Minor irrigation | 7 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A project costs 500 million currency units, has a 50-year life, annual operation and maintenance of 10 million and annual benefits of 60 million. At 8% interest, using the capital recovery factor, what is the benefit-cost ratio?
C. 1.18
CRF = 0.08 × 1.08⁵⁰ ÷ (1.08⁵⁰ − 1) = 0.0817. Annual capital cost = 500 × 0.0817 = 40.9; total annual cost = 40.9 + 10 = 50.9; BCR = 60 ÷ 50.9 = 1.18. 3.00 ignores interest (500/50 + 10 = 20); 1.47 leaves out O&M (60 ÷ 40.9); 0.12 divides benefits by the full capital cost.
Further reading: Loucks and van Beek, Water Resource Systems Planning and Management
A catchment of 800 km² yields 1,200 t/km² of sediment a year to a reservoir with 95% trap efficiency. The deposit's dry bulk density is 1.2 t/m³. What volume of sediment is deposited each year?
B. 0.76 Mm³
Mass trapped = 800 × 1,200 × 0.95 = 912,000 t; volume = 912,000 ÷ 1.2 = 760,000 m³. 0.80 omits trap efficiency; 0.91 forgets to divide by bulk density; 1.09 multiplies by 1.2 instead of dividing.
Further reading: Morris and Fan, Reservoir Sedimentation Handbook
What is a hedging rule in reservoir operation?
D. Deliberately releasing less than full demand early in a drought to avoid a larger shortage later
Hedging accepts small early shortages to avoid a deep later one. Releasing full demand whenever possible is the standard operating policy; releasing ahead of a forecast flood is pre-release for flood control.
Further reading: Loucks and van Beek, Water Resource Systems Planning and Management
What is valley storage, and why does it matter in assessing a flood-control dam?
A. The volume the natural channel and flood plain held before the dam; the net gain is reservoir volume minus it
Valley storage existed before the dam, so the flood benefit depends on the net gain. Seepage into banks is bank storage; space above MWL is freeboard; storage below the outlet is dead storage.
Further reading: Garg, Irrigation Engineering and Hydraulic Structures
A tubewell yields 30 L/s and runs 10 h a day. Peak crop demand is 6 mm/day and application efficiency is 75%. What area can it serve at peak?
B. 13.5 ha
Daily volume = 0.030 × 36,000 = 1,080 m³; effective = 810 m³; area = 810 ÷ 0.006 = 135,000 m² = 13.5 ha. 18.0 ignores efficiency; 5.4 uses 4 h; 1.35 slips a decimal.
Further reading: Garg, Irrigation Engineering and Hydraulic Structures
Why must tanks in a South Indian or Sri Lankan cascade be rehabilitated as a group rather than one at a time?
D. Each tank's surplus and drainage feed the next tank down the valley, so upstream changes alter supply downstream
Cascades are hydrologically linked: raising one bund or desilting one tank changes what the next receives and the flood passing down. Each tank has its own sluice and catchment.
Further reading: FAO / IWMI studies of tank cascades
What distinguishes irrigation management transfer from participatory irrigation management?
B. Transfer hands management of part or all of a system to users; participation involves them alongside the agency
PIM involves users in planning, operation, maintenance and finance; IMT shifts responsibility (sometimes ownership) to user organisations, usually below a stated level. Neither is defined by fee level or water source.
Further reading: FAO / IWMI reviews of irrigation management transfer
Which Indian state passed the Farmers' Management of Irrigation Systems Act in 1997, an early state law creating water users' associations?
B. Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh's 1997 Act created WUAs across its irrigation commands and was followed by other states' laws. The other states passed their own laws at different times.
Further reading: Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1997
Which is one of Elinor Ostrom's design principles for long-lived common-pool resource institutions such as irrigation systems?
C. Graduated sanctions for members who break the rules
Ostrom's principles include clear boundaries, rules suited to local conditions with benefits proportional to contributions, collective choice, monitoring, graduated sanctions, conflict resolution, recognition of rights to organise, and nesting. Equal shares regardless of contribution and uniform national rules contradict them.
Further reading: Ostrom, Governing the Commons, 1990
Which country transferred the management of its irrigation districts to water user associations on a large scale from about 1989?
D. Mexico
Mexico's transfer programme, from about 1989, handed irrigation districts to user associations and is widely studied. Japan has long-established land improvement districts; Egypt and Australia followed different paths.
Further reading: FAO / IWMI reviews of irrigation management transfer
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