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Definition:
Irrigation is the controlled application of water to croplands. Its primary objective is to create an
optimal soil moisture regime for maximizing crop production and quality while at the same time
minimizing the environmental degradation inherent in irrigation of agricultural lands.
OR
Irrigation is the application of water to the soil to supplement natural precipitation and provide
an environment that is optimum for crop production. Well Irrigated crops produce more food.
2. Egypt claims having the world's oldest dam, 108m long, 12m high, built 5,000 years ago
4. The same land today with similar population depends on imported wheat for food
Irrigation is the controlled application of water to croplands. Its primary objective is to create an
optimal soil moisture regime for maximizing crop production and quality while at the same time
minimizing the environmental degradation inherent in irrigation of agricultural lands. Irrigation
is thus critical for food security in semi-arid and arid areas
Irrigation water management deals with the frequency of irrigation, depth of water to be applied,
and measures to increase the uniformity of applications.
Irrigation is a cross cutting sector that involves civil engineers, hydrologists, environmental
experts, land surveyors, agricultural scientists and others, civil and irrigation engineers were
important for successful irrigation schemes
Water conveyance
Flood control
Supplying water WHEN needed and by the QUANTITY needed irrigation scheduling
e.g in Weirs, Barrages
1. Pressurized distribution
Irrigation systems are often designed to maximize efficiencies and minimize labour and capital
requirements. The most effective management practices are dependent on the type of irrigation
system and its design. For example, management can be influenced by the use of automation, the
control of or the capture and reuse of runoff, field soil and topographical variations and the
existence and location of flow measurement and water control structures.
Questions that are common to all irrigation systems are when to irrigate, how much to apply, and
can the efficiency be improved. A large number of considerations must be taken into account in
the selection of an irrigation system. These will vary from location to location, crop to
crop, year to year, and farmer to farmer.
Level of Mechanization
Size of Fields
Cultivation
Pest Control
Topographic Limitations.
1. groundwater levels
3. field boundaries,
Methods of Irrigation
Under gravity irrigation, water is distributed by means of open canals and conducts with out
pressure. Gravity irrigation methods are less expensive, but requires more skill and experience to
achieve rescannable efficiency. This method also requires that the land to be irrigated should
have a flatter slope, other wise the cost of land leveling and preparation at times be come very
high. Gravity irrigation method. Includes furrow, boarder, basin, wild- flooding and corrugation.
1. Furrow irrigation
In this method of surface irrigation, water is applied to the field by furrow which are small
canales having a continuous our nearly uniform slope in the direction of irrigation. Water flowing
in the furrow into the soil spreads laterally to irrigate the area between furrows.
The rate of lateral spread of water in the soil depends on soil type.i.e. For a given time, water
will infiltrate more vertically and less laterally in relatively sandy soils than in clay soil.
Where the land grade is less than 1% in the direction of furrow, striate graded furrows may be
adapted. The grade can be as much as 2 to 3% depending on the soil type and the rainfall
intensity, which affects erosion. When field sloped is too steep to align the furrows down the
slope, control furrows which run along curved routed may be used. Spacing of furrows depends
on the crop type and the type of machinery used for cultivation and planting.
Length of furrows depends largely on permeability of the soil, the available labor and skill, and
experiences of the irrigation.
Flow rates are related to the infiltration to the rate of the soil.
Longitudinal slope of furrow depends up on the soil type, especially its errodiability and the
velocity of flow. slope may be related to discharge as follows.
2. Boarder - strip Irrigation
The farms are divided into number of strips of 5 to 20 meters wide and 100 to 400 meters long.
Parallel earth bunds or levees are provided in order to guide the advancing sheet of water.
Recommended safe limits of longitudinal slope also depends on the soil texture:
3. Basin irrigation
Large stream of water is applied to almost level and smaller unit of fields which are surrounded
by levees or bunds. The applied water is retained in the basin until it filtrates.
Soil type, stream size and irrigation depth are the important factors indeterming the basin area.
4. Wild flooding
Water is applied all over the field especially, before plowing for soil that can't be plowed when
dry.
1. Sprinkler
2. Drip irrigation
1. Sprinkler irrigation:
It is mostly used for young growth, to humid the atmosphere, for soil compaction( specially for
sandy loam soils before planting, for land having up and down slope and used to wash out plant
leaves especially in dusty area.
Sprinkler irrigation offers a means of irrigating areas which are so irregular that they prevent use
of any surface irrigation methods. By using a low supply rate, deep percolation or surface runoff
and erosion can be minimized. Offsetting these advantages is the relatively high cost of the
sprinkling equipment and the permanent installations necessary to supply water to the sprinkler
lines.
Very low delivery rates may also result in fairly high evaporation from the spray and the wetted
vegetation. It is impossible to get completely uniform distribution of water around a sprinkler
head and spacing of the heads must be planned to overlap spray areas so that distribution is
essentially uniform
Advantages
It minimizes the loss of water by deep percolation below the root zone or by evaporation from
the soil surface. Drip irrigation is not only economical in water use but also gives higher yields
with poor quality water.
Advantages
No water logging and rise of water table at result salinity problems caused by this
irrigation type is almost nil.
Aquifer:
A saturated geological formation capable of yielding water economically insufficient quantity is
known as aquifer or water bearing strata or G. W reservoir.
1. Unconfined aquifer: when the water table is under atmospheric pressure and is free to
rise or fall. Depending upon the availibility of water.
The ground water is under pressure and water level in the well indicates the piezometric pressure
at that point.
Availibility, movement and quality of ground water depends upon characteristics of soil:
1. Porosity
2. specific yield
3. coefficient of permeability
4. transmissibility
Specific Yield:
It is the ratio of volume of water drained by gravity to its own volume
Specific retention:
It is the amount of water (volume) retained against the force of gravity to its own volume.
Coefficient of permeability:
K of a medium is measured in terms of hydraulic conductivity which is equal to the volume of
water which flows in unit time through unit cross sectional area of medium under unit hydraulic
gradient at the prevailing temperature units m/d or m/hr
Transmissibility (K)
b = aquifer thickness
T = Kb
T is the amount of water which flows through unit width of saturated aquifer under unit h.g
Darcy's law
Q = KIA or V = KI
i=HG
Wells
A water well is a hole usually vertical excavated in the earth for bringing Gw to surface
1. Open wells
2. Tube wells
1. Strainer type
2. Cavity type
3. Slotted type
a. Corrosion resistant
Materials
2. Stainless steel
3. Maximum velocity.
4. Bed slopes.
5. Side slopes
6. Free board.
2. Minmum Velocity is 2-3 ft/sec -> non silting velocity to prevent aquatic growth.
3. Maximum velocity is upto 8 ft/sec more than the above value, the lining blocks, are
pulled away by moving water.
4. Bed slope is dependent upon topography and energy required for flow of water.
5. Side Slope: It Depends upon the maetrial forming the chemical section e.g earth with
lime stone h1 : 1v
earth with conrete h1/2 : 1v
6. Free Board: Distance between top of channel to max water surface it should prevent
waves it should be 5-13 % of depth.
Y = Depth in ft 2.5--->3000cft
Best Section Of Half Hydrogens, Trepazoid (formula) Underroot 3y power 2, 2underroot 3y , y/2
4/3 2y 3/2y 3/5
The first thing you need to consider when planning your garden is what growing zone you live
in.
This is based on both the temperature range of your climate and the amount of precipitation.
Take a close look at the area in which you are going to plant your garden. If the ground tends to
be very moist, choose plants that can tolerate constantly wet soil, and even standing water.
If you live in an area that suffers from frequent droughts, however, select plants that can tolerate
going long periods without water, especially in light of the frequent watering restrictions
imposed on such areas.
If you are lucky enough to live in an area that has a balanced climate, you have a wider range of
choices for your plants.
Plants that require low levels of water are often called drought tolerant. Drought-tolerant plants
can thrive in hot, dry conditions with very little water. They include both perennials and annuals.
Most drought-tolerant plants only have to be hand-watered when they are planted and while they
are establishing themselves. After that, they can be left to the natural cycle of the elements.
Popular drought tolerant trees include the red cedar. live oak, crape myrtle, and the windmill and
saw palmetto palm trees. All citrus trees are also drought tolerant. Many homeowners in areas
prone to drought, such as parts of the southern United States, use shrubs and ground covering
vines as part of their landscaping. These include Texas sage, orange jasmine and Chinese
fountain grass. There are not many perennial drought-tolerant plants, but amaryllis is one that is
very popular, along with the African iris. Popular drought-olerant annuals include marigold,
cosmos and the Dahlberg daisy.
This case study shows how to calculate the total water requirement for a command area
(irrigation blocks) under various crops, soil textures and conveyance loss conditions. In order to
evaluate the required irrigation gift for the entire command area a simple water balance has to be
set-up. The total water demand for each irrigation block and the crops in each block are
calculated by summing the following components:
In this exercise, the irrigation water requirement is calculated for a 10-day period during the
harvest stage.
The percolation table is joined with the cross table to get the percolation for each soil texture
class in each block. The amount of water loss for each soil texture class per block is calculated
with a tabcalc statement. In order to get the total percolation loss per block the results of the
previous operation are aggregated.
For a given climate, crop and crop development stage, the maximum evapotranspiration (ETm)
in mm/day of the period considered is:
ETm = kc * ETo
Maximum evapotranspiration refers to conditions when water is adequate for unrestricted growth
and development under optimum agronomic and irrigation management. Maximum
evapotranspiration is calculated in this case study by crossing the irrigation block map with the
map that shows the different crop types in the command area, joining the cross table with the kc
table and by applying the maximum evapotranspiration formula with a tabcalc statement.
Flood is a natural even which has always been an integral part of geological history of earth. It
occurs along rivers, streams and lacks.
Importance of flood:
1. Most of the hydraulic are designed on flood record.
2. Small hydraulic structures are based on a minimum of 25 years flood records e.g all
structure constructed in the canal, soil conservation practices etc.
3. Medium type strs are mainly based on 50 years flood records e.g culuerts, drainage strs
and waterway structures.
4. Large irrigation projects are based on 100 years of flood record e.g Dams, reservoirs,
headworks, bauages.
Causes of floods:
Intensive rainfall and high melting of snow are two main causes of flood.
Factors affecting flood
Metrological factors
Physiological factors
Intensive rainfall:
Slop of Catchment.
Magnitude of Catchment
Soil type.
Catchment shape.
Climatic changes.
Form of ppt.
Water logging
Control of flood:
Check on deforestation and well planed watershed management project
Similarly rainfall and flood prediction cannot be performed but with certain precision
The expected flood and its consequent damage can only be judged and appointed and
hence while designing flood protection and judgment of design engineer is of utmost
importance
Some methods are based on basic characteristics and others are based on the theory of
probability by using previous flood data and some others are based on the study of
rainfall and runoff data
From marks of height flood on rivers bank, the area of flow the wetted parameter and
slope can be found
Peak discharge can be calculated from mannig eq. Q = 1/n R2/3 S A
The channel is the same thing that is used for the water carriage purpose, however in case of
hydropower projects the channel that takes water from the intake (Diversion Structure) is usually
called connecting channel. It's tunnel is to be used in between the intake and power house
otherwise called headrace channel, if no tunnel is to be used in between the intake and power
house.
Lets take a general Example of design of small channel with design discharge of 390 lit/sec.
= 0.39 m2
Top width = T = 2d
Area A = T x d = 2d2
Head loss = Channel bed slope x Length of the channel = 0.00164x 65 = 0.11m