Diverting Water from Streams 



291 



An excellent example of such a large scale system is repre- 

 sented in Fig. 52, which shows the Sirhind canal, taken out of 

 the Sutlej river, in the Punjab of India, at Kupar. This canal 

 was designed to have a carrying capacity of 6,000 cubic feet 

 per second, and extends as a single main trunk 41 miles, where 

 it is bisected. Three miles further on the western trunk it is 

 divided again, forming two canals of 100 and 125 miles respec- 

 tively, while the eastern main branch divides into three of 90, 56 



Fig. 52. Sirhind canal system, Punjab, India. 

 (Wilson, U. S. Geol. Survey.) 



and 25 miles respectively. There are in the whole system 41 miles 

 of main canal, 503 miles of main branches, and 4,407 miles of 

 main distributaries, supplying 800,000 acres of irrigable lands. 



The annual rainfall of the region in which this system has 

 been developed varies from 10 to 35 inches. The sytem is said 

 to have cost $7,831,000, and to have yielded in 1899 an annual 

 revenue of 2% per cent on the cost, although less than half of 

 the available land has yet been brought to use the water. 



We have already referred to the head gates of one of the 



