Canal is an artificial channel for conveying water through lands that was perhaps naturally devoid of sustained water flow. Hence, water seeping from canals down to the soil below may, at times, raise the ground water very close to the ground level. This may result in blocking all the voids in the soil and obstructing the plant roots to breathe. It has been observed that water logging conditions adversely affects crop production as it is reduced drastically. Apart from seepage water of canals, excessive and unplanned irrigation also caused water logging conditions. This happens because the farmers at the head reaches of canals draw undue share of canal water in the false hope of producing larger agricultural outputs.

Apart from ill aeration of plants, other problems created by water logging are as follows:

1. Normal cultivation operations, such as tilling, ploughing, etc. cannot be easily carried out in wet soils. In extreme cases, the free water may rise above the ground level making agricultural operations impossible.

2. Certain water loving plants like grasses, weeds, etc. grow profusely and luxuriantly in water-logged lands, thus affecting and interfering with the growth of the crops.

3. Water logging also leads to a condition called salinity, which is caused when the capillary fringe of the elevated water table rises within the root zone of plants. Since the roots of the plants continuously draw water from this zone, there is a steady upward movement of water which causes rise of salts, especially alkali salts, to come up to the ground surface. This situation is termed as salinity.

In order to avoid water-logging condition to occur for canal irrigation system, certain steps may be taken as follows:

1. Canals and water courses may be lined. Also, if possible, the full supply level of canal may be reduced.

2. Intensity of irrigation may be reduced and farmers advised to apply water judiciously to their fields and not over-irrigate.

3. Provide an efficient drainage system to drain away excess irrigation water.

4. Introduce more tubewells for irrigation which shall lower the water table

5. Cropping pattern may be suitably modified such that only low water requiring crops are planted instead of those requiring heavy irrigation

6. Natural drainage of the soil may be improved such that less of excess surface water percolates and mostly drains off through natural drains