Ecological and economical aspects of the management of drainage systems in Lithuania
2007
Saulys, V., Lithuanian Univ. of Agriculture, Kaunas (Lithuania). Water Management Inst. | Bastiene, N., Lithuanian Univ. of Agriculture, Kaunas (Lithuania). Water Management Inst.
After the private ownership of land was restored and a part of land reclamation structures was given to land owners, the intensity of land use has changed. In the areas of Lithuania, which are less favoured for agriculture, the land is not intensely used. Further financing of land reclamation of such areas from the state budget grants is economically inefficient as the return of relatively high investments is very low. With the changing of land reclamation infrastructure it is necessary to prepare measures which would facilitate rational, regional agricultural specialization corresponding to natural conditions. The routine procedure of financing the land reclamation has to be changed as well. The paper analyses the changes in usage of drained land areas and financing of the land reclamation sector in Lithuania during the last decade (1997-2007). The purpose of this research is to establish the criteria of the economical efficiency of drainage systems and to propose methods how to change the financing of state-owned land reclamation infrastructure. On the grounds of the carried out situation analysis, a methodology of distributing state grants for land reclamation to municipality budgets are presented. To have an efficient use of the state budget funds, the operation and maintenance of shared land reclamation systems have to be carried out according to the maintenance plans approved by municipalities, which would provide for arrangements and compensations due to conflict of interests arising when land plots are used in different ways. Possible ecological measures that could be applied when carrying out repair and reconstruction of drainage systems are discussed.
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