Field Study of the Labor Carried Out by Land Improvement District Staff at Irrigation and Drainage Management Facilities

― Case study in a paddy irrigation district with pipelines in Ibaraki prefecture ―

Abstract

Labor saving in irrigation and drainage facility management is an important task because of the advancing labor shortage in rural areas in Japan. We conducted a field study to evaluate the amount of labor demand to operate those facilities by the “A” Land Improvement District (LID). In this study, we carried out field work about facility locations, types of management activities, amount of work, and amount of travel in a paddy irrigation district with irrigation pipelines. At 167 facility sites, the average number of work events was 17 per day, and the average amount of working hours was 1.5 hours per day. Operation of pump stations required the greatest amount of labor both in terms of time and number of work events, accounting for about 50% of the total work at facilities. Water distribution required the greatest amount of work, and was characterized by having many work events with short working hours per event. These results show that reducing the amount of work in the water distribution process would be an effective way to save labor in irrigation and drainage facility management in this LID.