The peat land development for agriculture in Indonesia has been started since 1960. However the results of development in term of agriculture production or farmers income are still questionable. By learning the experiences and traditional technologies developed by Banjarnese and Buginese, and personal experiences in lowland development in several parts of Indonesia, then the Environmentally Water Management System for Peat land development is proposed in this paper.

Basically the land-use planning should be based on the land suitability map for some crops planned to be grown, as commonly used by Agronomist and Soil Scientist. Environmental function of peat land in term of bio-diversity and hydrology are combined together into The Water Management System.

Research results of The Research Center for Soil and Agro-climate (Bogor) showed that the oneway flow of surface and ground water in agricultural field has an ability to improve chemical properties of soil by leaching process of toxic substances created by oxidation process in soil profile. The one-way flow system can be created by using separated channels of irrigation and drainage. The difference of water level in those channels should be around 30-50 cm. Traditional technology created by Bugisnese farmers in Pulau Kijang (Riau) are tried to be applied in this proposed design.

The main objective of this paper is to design Water Management System which has an ability to maximize the agricultural potential and developing timber estate at peat soil by increasing cropping intensity, control water balance, with minimum negative impact to the environment by maximizing the peat function as water retention and bio-diversity. The applied control water tabel and zoning area between two rivers and maintain waterbalance it is the key for development the peatlands area.