Efforts to assist farmers in Nepal with very small landholdings and no access to water control led to the development of low-pressure, low-cost microirrigation technologies—drip irrigation and micro sprinklers. With water control, farmers are able to shift part of their production from subsistence rainfed crops to vegetables and other higher value crops. With efficient water distribution, even small sources of water such as the overflow from village drinking water systems became effective for small plot irrigation. This led to development of irrigation systems by piping water from springs and streams using technologies developed for village domestic water systems and ultimately to combining both domestic and productive use water supply into one multiple use water service.

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