Haryana Western Yamuna Canal Ancient Irrigation System

The Western Yamuna Canal, first excavated by Firoz Shah Tughlaq in the 14th century and reconstructed by the British between 1817 and 1874, is the arterial gravity irrigation system that transformed the Haryana plain from a semi-arid grassland to India's most productive wheat-rice zone. The canal takes off from the Tajewala headworks on the Yamuna in Yamunanagar district and flows 3,000 kilometres in main channel and distributary branches serving 1.5 million hectares across Haryana, Western UP, and Delhi. The Warabandi water allocation system that distributes WYC water to individual farms in timed turns is studied globally as a model of equitable irrigation governance operating for over 150 years.