Book excerpt: The aim of this paper is to facilitate the planning and design of land drainage systems for sound land and water management for engineers and other professionals. It considers the integration of technical, socio-economic and environmental factors and the need for system users' participation in the planning, design, operation and maintenance processes. The text provides guidelines for the appropriate identification of drainage problems, for the planning and design of field drainage systems (surface and subsurface) and the main drainage and disposal systems. The annexes provide more detailed information with technical background, appropriate equations, some cross-references for finding appropriate methodologies, and computer programs for calculation of extreme values, of permeability and some land drainage system parameters. --Publisher's description.