abstract:Subak is the name of water management (irrigation) system for paddy fields on Bali island, Indonesia which has been developed more than 1,000 year ago. For Balinese, irrigation is not simply providing water for the plant's roots, but water is used to construct a complex, pulsed artificial ecosystem.
The members of the subak meet in their own temple to arrange repairs to the maze of irrigation channels that sustain them, and to plan when to start weeding, ploughing, planting, harvesting or even allowing flocks of ducks in their fields.