Adoption of an innovation depends on its relative advantage over the existing practices. Watercourse improvement technology has been introduced in the irrigated parts of Punjab for more than a decade. How farmers perceive the savings in water due to watercourse improvement has been investigated. Water losses have been decreased from three _ fourth to less than one - fourth. The benefits increased as the location of land irrigated shifted from head to tail. Rat holes remained the only significant source of water losses in the ditches after improvement.
