CE 112
requirements otherwise wasted
Irrigation
- Water => civilization (Slide 1)
- Dotted lines => irrigation (Slide 1)
- Floodplains: difficult during rainy
season; move upstream but with
difficulty getting water hence
construction of dams and reservoirs
- Egyptian still exist now, much irrigated
farmlands, efficient
- Colorado River – Hoover Dam, Salt
Valley River
- Agriculture => industrialization, houses
near water bodies
- Salinity problems: near coastlines
- Irrigation: more crops because of
moisture and water (Slide 2)
- Increasing: more irrigation area than
the population
- Decline caused by growing population
- Japan: production of too much rice for
the local sector consumption hence
reduction and importation
- IRRI: technology produced and
developed used in other countries
- First step, compute immediately
possible crops in an area intended for
irrigation (Slide 3)
- Arable land: capable of delivering
products to justify cost of development
- Irrigable: are arable lands and have
possible supply of water for irrigation
- Productive: lands where you put your
crops, part of agricultural area (area can
have roads, channels, markets)
- Full and supplementary: agricultural
lands; full – one source of irrigation
water (el nino); supplementary – many
sources (river, groundwater, etc)
- Suitability for irrigation farming
o High water holding capacity –
soil as reservoir; replenished
during irrigation flow; longer it
can supplement the
o Readily penetrable – fast
duration
o Low infiltration rate – slow
enough so that it won’t
percolate; not too low
o Soil is deep enough – hilly areas
have many soil layers; 1.2 m –
root zone; thicker depth – root
zone development
o Free of salt ions – away from
coastal; irrigation without crops
to flush away salt accumulation;
in addition no chemical ions
o Adequate nutrient supply –
potassium, phosphorus,
nitrates, legumes (nuts) – house
bacteria that generate nitrogen
in soil
o Mild to moderate slopes:
irrigation largely gravity based
o Ideal land location – land
should be irrigable (a to e),
water should be near to lessen
costs; conducive
o Adaptable to multiple crops –
- Roots should be aerated and not
flooded always (Slide 4)
- Depressions:
- Soil types: difficult to maintain at sandy
loam (changing ) (Slide 6)
- Water in zone of aeration and
saturation: picture (Slide 7)
o Smaller: capillarity – creaking
through narrow spaces without
help of gravity (surface tension)
o Molecular attraction to soil
- Sharp changes in moisture tension and
content but smooth in reality: soil is
heterogeneous, gradual transition from
one moisture class to another
- Field capacity: available storage in soil
once gravity water is sponged; hold
water
- Permanent wilting point: amount of
moisture in soil when crops can no
longer take up moisture for growth
- How much tension for field capacity and
permanent wilting point
- Field capacity achieved – 33 kPa applied
pressure
- 1500 kPa – wilting point
- Start applying irrigation once it starts at
wilting point and apply until field
capacity; delay at wilting – crops will
wither; over field capacity – waste of
water
- Available water: difference between
field capacity and wilting point (slide 8)
- Darcy equation: k is the quantity of
water that can be transferred per unit
area per unit time per unit gradient
across the soil layer; spaces are loose –
faster movement of water; vague and
generalized; k is very heterogeneous,
varying; soil-water complicated so
generalized
- Infiltration rates: reference and not
measured in PH (Slide 9)
- Resistivity: higher, lower soil moisture;
red – more moisture
- Tensiometers: apply negative pressures
- Neutron-scattering device: fast moving
neutrons get slowed down when they
hit atoms of low atomic weight
(hydrogen in water);
- Diversion requirement: amount of
water for farming; estimate losses;
small area – you can use comparative
data (earlier projects, similar crops,
area) however this presents risks such
as geology of the site
- Crop water requirement: consumptive
use; evapo-transpiration; estimated
using tables/figures without losses;
experimentations; 70% pan evaporation
estimate of potential
evapotranspiration
- Crucial to growth and development of
crops is their usage of water; optimum
consumptive use => maximum crop
yield (Slide 12)
- More water, more costs; more damage
to irrigation canals; more fertilizers,
more people to be hired
- Full crop yield => maximum revenue but
also the costs
- Maximum NET annual revenue => lesser
use of water; not necessarily at
maximum crop yield
- How much water provided by your
irrigation (Slide 13)
- Makes use of effective precipitation
- Consumptive use minus the effective
precipitation; precipitation becomes
effective when it stays at the root zone
while farming/cropping
- Effective precipitation: depends on
many factors; data already available
depending on area and country;
efficiency diminishes until 6 inches;
100% at 1 inch
- Most critical month at providing
effective precipitation to be used as
basis in estimating crop-irrigation
requirement
- Sandy loam: best in penetrability and
storage
- Delivery (Slide 14)
- Irrigation requirement should be met
minus the losses
- Deep seepage: infiltration rate is higher
than application rate
- Drip irrigation: drips below the soil; no
losses?
- Sprinkler method: 5% losses
- Flooding: ¾ of applied water is loss;
evaporation and seepage losses
- Diversion requirement: losses from
delivery; canal bank – possible
vegetation; seepage; operational waste
– ex. Passage to a farm and excess turns
into waste; largest loss comes from
seepage loss; just a function of area?
- (Slide 15) Soil is healthy immediately
after application of irrigation water but
may contain chemicals and react with
other compounds in soil; Application of
drainage is needed to flush out
concentrations
- Farm infrastructure: Surface irrigation
- Basin: flooding but not always
- Furrow: don’t flood the entire area but
only on furrows in between the crops;
reduces 30-40% of losses due to
irrigation
- Level basin: don’t let water flow; level
water (not sloping); basin
- Border-strip: strip line and lets water
flow in the slope; basin
- Surge-flow irrigation: type of furrow;
applies water in surges
- Reuse: collection of water in the drain
then reuse
- (Slide 21) Mas rigid so it isn’t eroded;
divider causes water to flow faster
- (Slide 22) To cope with topography:
makes use of drop structures to avoid
destroying structures of farm area
- (Slide 24) center pivot: larger areas;
sourced from groundwater; US
- (Slide 25) subsurface: drip; enough
water so water table will rise to root
zone?
- (Slide 32) Negative rainfall-evapo, if
lower apply irrigation
- (Slide 37) Consumptive use => estimate
using evapotranspiration
- (Slide 39) Convert crop irrigation
requirement as a function of area