Irrigation Act, 1876 (Act No. III of 1876).

This Act provides for the management, conservation and use of all irrigation works in Bangladesh, being those canals, channels, reservoirs or other. The Government shall be responsible for the construction and maintenance of all the irrigation works in order to supply water through the country and, in this capacity, shall fine whoever attempts to obstruct, damage, divert water or pollute it. The Act provides also for the construction of waterworks that supply water from a channel directly to the irrigation fields (village-channel): individuals may be appointed by authorities to build a village channel, pending the consent of the owners and tenants of the land the channel belongs to.