Irrigation Engineering CE-408 (2+1)

Course Instructor
Engr. Afzal Ahmed
MScWater Resource & Irrigation Engineering
UET Taxila (2011-2014)
BSc Civil Engineering
UET Taxila (2006-2010)
Course Contents
 Introduction
 Definition and type of irrigation. Water Resource for irrigation,
surface water. Irrigation system of Pakistan
 Canal irrigation
 Elementary concept about canal head works, selection of their site
and layout, weirs and barrages, various components and functions.
 Measures adopted to control silt entry into canals, silt ejectors and
excluders. Design of weirs on permeable foundations, sheet piles
and cut off walls. Design of irrigation channels.
 Kennedy’s and Lacey’s Theories. Rational methods for design of
irrigation channels. Comparison of various methods.
 Canal head regulators, falls, flumes, canal outlets. Cross
drainage works: types and functions.
 Canal lining: advantages and types.
 Maintenance of irrigation canals.
 Irrigated Agriculture
 Water requirements of crops, duty of irrigation water.
 Delta of crops, consumptive use, estimation of consumptive
use, methods used for assessment of irrigation water.
 Irrigation methods and practices.
 Soil survey and land classification
 Reservoirs
 Water logging and salinity:
 Text Book
Linslay, R.K. and Joseph, B.F. Water Resources Engineering,
McGraw Hill.
 Reference Books
1. Linslay, R.K. and Joseph, B.F. Water Resources
Engineering, McGraw Hill.
2. Siddiqui, Iqtidar H., Irrigation and Drainage Engineering,
Oxford University Press
3. Iqbal Ahmed, Irrigation Engineering and Hydraulic
Structures
 Lecture # 1

Water Resources
Introduction
 Utilisation of available water of a region for use of
a community has perhaps been practiced from the
dawn of civilization. In fact, the Harappa and
Mohenjodaro excavations have also shown
scientific developments of water utilization and
disposal systems. They even developed an efficient
system of irrigation using several large canals. It
has also been discovered that the Harappan
civilization made good use of groundwater by
digging a large number of wells.
 Of other places around the world, the earliest dams
to retain water in large quantities were constructed
in Jawa (Jordan) at about 3000 BC and in Wadi
Garawi (Egypt) at about 2660 BC. The Roman
engineers had built log water conveyance systems,
many of which can still be seen today, Qanats or
underground canals that tap an alluvial fan on
mountain slopes and carry it over large distances,
were one of the most ingenious of ancient hydro-
technical inventions, which originated in Armenia
around 1000BC and were found in India since 300
BC.
Log water conveyance system
 Although many such developments had taken
place in the field of water resources in earlier days
they were mostly for satisfying drinking water and
irrigation requirements. Modern day projects
require a scientific planning strategy due to:
1. Gradual decrease of per capita available water on
this planet and especially in our country.
2. Water being used for many purposes and the
demands vary in time and space.
 Water availability in a region – like county or state
or watershed is not equally distributed.
 The supply of water may be from rain, surface
water bodies and ground water.
Basin – wise water resource project
development
 The total land area that contributes water to a river is
called a Watershed, also called differently as the
Catchment, River basin, Drainage Basin, or simply a
Basin. The image of a basin is shown in Figure 1.
Fig. 1 Watershed
 A watershed may also be defined as a geographic area
that drains to a common point, which makes it an
attractive planning unit for technical efforts to
conserve soil and maximize the utilization of surface
and subsurface water for crop production. Thus, it is
generally considered that water resources development
and management schemes should be planned for a
hydrological unit such as a Drainage Basin as a whole
or for a Sub-Basin, multi-sectorially, taking into
account surface and ground water for sustainable use
incorporating quantity and quality aspects as well as
environmental considerations.
Structural tools for water resource
development
This section discusses the common structural options available to
the Water Resources Engineer to develop the water potential of
the region to its best possible extent.
 Dams
These are detention structures for storing water of streams and
rivers. The water stored in the reservoir created behind the dam
may be used gradually, depending on demand.
 Barrages
These are diversion structures which help to divert a portion of
the stream and river for meeting demands for irrigation or
hydropower. They also help to increase the level of the water
slightly which may be advantageous from the point of view of
increasing navigability or to provide a pond from where water may
be drawn to meet domestic or industrial water demand.
• Canals/Tunnels
These are conveyance structures for transporting water over long
distances for irrigation or hydropower.
These structural options are used to utilise surface water to its
maximum possible extent. Other structures for utilising ground
water include rainwater detentions tanks, wells and tube wells.
Another option that is important for any water resource project is
Watershed Management practices. Through these measures, the
water falling within the catchment area is not allowed to move
quickly to drain into the rivers and streams. This helps the rain
water to saturate the soil and increase the ground water reserve.
Moreover, these measures reduce the amount of erosion taking
place on the hill slopes and thus helps in increasing the effective
lives of reservoirs which otherwise would have been silted up
quickly due to the deposition of the eroded materials.
Tasks for planning a water resources project
 The important tasks for preparing a planning report of a
water resources project would include the following:
• Analysis of basic data like maps, remote sensing images,
geological data, hydrologic data, and requirement of water
use data, etc.
• Selection of alternative sites based on economic aspects
generally, but keeping in mind environmental degradation
aspects.
• Studies for dam, reservoir, diversion structure, conveyance
structure, etc.
• Studies for local protective works – levees, riverbank
revetment, etc.
• Formulation of optimal combination of structural and
non-structural components (for projects with flood
control component).
• Economic and financial analyses, taking into account
environmental degradation, if any, as a cost.
• Environmental and sociological impact assessment.
Pakistan Indus River System
Indus River Basin: Salient
Features
 Catchment area of Indus is most unique in the sense
that it contains seven (7) of the world’s highest peaks
after Mount Everest. Among these include the K2
(28,253 ft), Nanga Parbat (26,600 ft), Rakaposhi
(25,552 ft) etc.;
 Further to above, seven(7) glaciers situated in the Indus
catchment are among the largest in the world, namely,
Siachin, Hispar, Biafo, Baltura, Baltoro, Barpu and
Hopper.
 Salient Features of Main Rivers - Sutlej River
Origin Western Tibet in the Kailas Mountain range and near the source
of Rivers Indus, Ganges and Bramaputra

Length 960 miles/1536 Km

CatchmentArea 47,100 Sq.miles/75,369 Sq.km (70% in India)

Pakistan portion Flows into Pakistan (Punjab) near Ferozepur and eventually joins
Chenab 3 miles u/s Punjnad Barrage

Tributary Rivers Eight major tributaries (all except Rohi Nullah join Sutlej in
India)

Largest Tributary River Beas (290 miles/464km), catchment area (6,200

Sq.miles/9,920 Sq.km)

Dams on the River Bhakra, Nangal, Pong, Pandoh (all in India),

Barrages on River Rupar Barrage, Harike Barrage, Ferozepur Barrage (India),

Sulemanki & Islam in Pakistan
 Salient Features of Main Rivers - Ravi River

Origin Originates from the lesser Himalayas Range in India

Length 550 miles/880 Km

CatchmentArea 15,600 Sq.miles/24,960Sq.km

Pakistan portion Runs almost along the Indo-Pak Border -15km d/s Madhopur to 20
miles u/s of Shahdara (58 miles)

Tributary Rivers Five major tributaries (Ujh, Bein, Basantar, Deg, Hudiara nullahs –
upper catchments lie in India)

Largest Tributary Deg Nullah (160 miles/256km), catchment area (456 Sq.miles/730
Sq.km)

Barrages on River Madhopur Headwork (India), Balloki & Sidhnai (Pakistan)

Salient Features of Main Rivers - Chenab
River

Origin -Forms at the confluence of streams Bhaga &

Chandra which join at a place called Tandi in Occupied
Jammu & Kashmir state.
-Upper most part is snow covered and forms the North East
part of Himachal Pradesh
-From Tandi to Akhnur the river traverses through high
mountains

Length 770 miles/1,232 Km

CatchmentArea 26,100 Sq.miles/41,760 Sq.km

Pakistan portion The river enters Pakistan a little over Head Marala with very
sharp changes in slope (130 ft/mile above Tandi reduced to 2
ft/mile close to Trimmu)
Salient Features of Main Rivers - Jhelum
River

Largest Tributary Kishan Ganga/Neelumh (165 miles/264km), catchment

area (2,480 Sq.miles/3,968 Sq.km)

Barrages on River Mangla Dam, Rasul Barrage

 Salient Features of Main Rivers - Indus River

Origin -One of the largest rivers of the world and the main river
of the Indus valley;

-Originates near lake Mansarowar on north of

Himalayas range in the mountain of Kailash Parbat in
Tibet at an elevation of 18,000 ft.;

Length 925 miles/1,489 Km above Tarbela

Catchment Area 1,80,000 Sq.miles/2,88,000 Sq.km

Punjab

The public irrigation infrastructure in the Punjab consists of

 16 barrages
 2 siphons across major rivers
 12 link canals and 23 major canal systems over an
aggregate length of 34,500 km.
The whole irrigation infrastructure lies within the Indus Basin
System. It serves an area of 8.58 million hectares. In
addition, there are 135 surface drainage systems including
over 670 drains, with an aggregate length of about 6,600
km, which drain an area of about 5.79 million hectares,
within the 23 canal commands.
Sindh
 14 publicly owned irrigation systems, which receive
water from three barrages across the River Indus.
These systems, with an aggregate length of 18,000 km
of canals, serve an area of about 5.38 million hectares.
 There are 13 existing surface drainage systems in
Sindh, which serve a total area of over 3.5 million
hectares and have an aggregate length of about 4,800
km.
KPK
 5 publicly owned irrigation systems in the Indus Basin,
which serve
 a total area of 0.34 million hectares. These systems
receive water from two headworks across River Swat and
Warsak Dam. In addition, there are six other canal systems,
which serve a total of 0.13 million hectares of land.
 Also has over 200 canals called `civil canals`, which are
community or privately owned. These irrigate an aggregate
area of 0.83 million hectares.
 There are four surface drainage systems in KPK comprising
of 456 drains.
 These serve a total area of 0.37 million hectares.
Balochistan
 Balochistan has two canal systems, which receive
water from the Indus Basin System through Guddu
Barrage and Sukkur Barrage, located in Sindh. These
canal systems serve a total area of 0.33 million
hectares. One of these, the Pat
 Feeder Canal System, has been improved recently. In
addition, there are 431 independent publicly owned
small irrigation schemes, which serve 0.14 million
hectares. There are a few privately owned small
irrigation schemes too.
Groundwater usage for irrigation
 An estimated 41.6 MAF of groundwater is pumped
annually in Pakistan.
 According to a study, more than 90% of the extracted
groundwater is used for
 irrigation purposes. Groundwater reservoirs are
recharged from the rivers as
 well as the seepage losses from the canals,
watercourses, farm channels and the fields.