Biodrainage has remained a priority topic for knowledge synthesis on IPTRID’s agenda for quite some time. In February 2000, the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) convened its 8th International Workshop on Drainage in which a special session on biodrainage was organized. It was at this Workshop that IPTRID identified experts in biodrainage and the idea was born to write a synthesis on the subject.
Mr Alfred Heuperman’s interest in biodrainage started in the early 1980s when he became involved in a project investigating the impact of trees on shallow saline groundwater tables in northern Victoria, Australia. The number of co-workers and technical assistants he has worked with on related issues since that time are too numerous to be listed but their assistance over the years is gratefully acknowledged.
Mr Arjun Kapoor’s interest and motivation to work on the subject of biodrainage was born through his work on the Indira Gandhi Canal project (IGNP), a major irrigation project in the desert land of Rajasthan, India. The help received from the personnel working on the project in collecting some of the data used in this document has been invaluable.
IPTRID’s Theme Manager on “Drainage and Sustainability”, Mr Harry Denecke, synthesized the views of contributors and managed the final preparation of the document.
Special thanks are to be expressed to Dr Vashek Cervinka for reviewing the final draft of the document and suggesting a number of improvements.
It is hoped for that the initiative taken by IPTRID to publish and disseminate this document will enable a critical examination of this relatively new technology by fellow-professionals and that it will result in further discussion on how to best use vegetation to manage the drainage of our agricultural land in a sustainable manner.
The text was language edited by Ms Rosemary Allison and prepared in final form for publication by Ms Chrissi Smith-Redfern.
