Irrigation

AE 31: Irrigation and Drainage Engineering

Engr. Mary Angeline O. Napay, MSAEn

Faculty, Dept. of ABE
BUCAF
1ST Sem AY 2019-20
Irrigation Definitions
• Irrigation is the process of artificial supply of water to soil for raising
crops.
• It is a science of planning and designing an efficient, low-cost,
economic irrigation system tailored to fit natural conditions.
• It is the engineering of controlling and harnessing the various natural
sources of water, by constructing dams and reservoirs, canals and
headworks, and finally distributing the water to the agricultural fields.
• Irrigation engineering includes the study and design of works in
connection with river control, drainage of waterlogged areas and
generation of hydroelectric power.
(Source: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/basic-civil-engineering/9788131729885/xhtml/chapter031.xhtml)
Irrigation is the science of the artificial application of water to
the land in order to fulfill the water requirements of the crops
throughout the crop period for the full nourishment of the
crops. Nutrients to the crops may also be applied through
irrigation.
(Source: https://civiltoday.com/water-resource-engineering/irrigation/56-irrigation-definition-history-approaches-and-projects-full-details)
When should irrigation be
supplied?
Irrigation water should be supplied as soon as the moisture falls up to the optimum
level. The quantity of water that produces the maximum yield of the crops is termed
as optimum water level. More or less than the optimum level results in the
reduction of the yield.
History of Irrigation
History….
• Agriculture is the oldest way to serve food
to the human.
• Ancient people from different regions used
the irrigation system to supply water to
their agricultural lands.
• At that time irrigation was mainly the
control of water flow. Mesopotamia and
Egypt were the most successful user of the Source:
https://www.google.com/search?q=irrigation&source=lnms&tbm=isc
irrigation system. h&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi41K_5oezjAhWTBIgKHX2kCtEQ_AUIESgB&bi
w=1242&bih=597#imgrc=y4CT11vU-gL4gM:
Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia was familiar as the land of two rivers
of Tigris (to the north) and Euphrates (to the south).
• As rains were seasonal, irrigation in Mesopotamia
was extremely necessary for its agriculture.
• Another problem was that Tigris and Euphrates
carried a large amount of silt which caused floods.
• So, a system was developed for controlling the
direction and flow of water. Canals and irrigation
Source:
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1242&bih=553&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=r2hIXcSSCYKTr7wPxP
mC8AQ&q=irrigation+mesopotamia&oq=irrigation+mesopo&gs_l=img.1.0.0j0i8i30l5.1032444.103
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ditches were also built for supplying water to the

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fields.
Egypt
• The irrigation system of ancient Egypt was mainly
based on the river Nile.
• Water was supplied to the agricultural lands from
the Nile. Uncertain level of water flowing in the
Nile was the main problem for Egyptian
agriculture.
• During high and low level of water flow, flood and
scarcity of water were very common.
• Small basins, canals were built to collect water for
irrigation purpose. Different regions like Mexico,
North America were also familiar with the
irrigation system.
Approaches for Irrigation
Scheduling
The importance of irrigation is very high for mankind. Irrigation
scheduling determines when to and how much of water has to be
applied to the field. Scientist and farmers use several approaches for
scheduling irrigation. These are as follows.
1. Soil moisture depletion approaches
• For scheduling irrigation, a good criterion of available soil moisture in the root can be used. The
amount of water that lies between the field capacity and the permanent wilting point is called the
available moisture content.
• The moisture content near the wilting point is not readily available to
the plant for subsequent use.
• Normally 75-80 percent of the available moisture is most easily
extracted by plants which are termed as readily available moisture.
• To maintain crops growth properly, irrigation should be started when
50 percent of the available water is depleted in the soil root zone and
it is continued until the optimum level is reached.
• Soil moisture can be measured by various methods such as
gravimetric method, electro-resistance blocks, tensiometer, etc.
2. Plant basis
• Plants can be used as a guide for scheduling irrigation. Plants will reflect the
deficiency of water by various symptoms such as curling or rolling of leaves and
change in foliage color. All of these symptoms are the indication that the plant
requires water. Plant basis irrigation scheduling has only drawbacks that it does
not give the quantitative estimation of moisture deficiency.
2. Climatological approach
• Climate is the main controlling factor for evapotranspiration. Climatological data
is used for estimating the amount of lost water by evapotranspiration (ET).
Irrigation is scheduled when ET reaches a particular level. The same amount of ET
or fraction of ET is supplied as the pan evapotranspiration method.
3. Critical growth approach
• In each crop, there are critical periods or moisture sensitive periods.
Generally, crops growth stages at which moisture deficiency leads to
irreversible yield loss are termed as critical periods. Whenever soil
moisture depleted to the critical periods, irrigation must be
scheduled. In case of limited water supply condition, irrigation is
scheduled only for critical periods and irrigation is skipped for
noncritical conditions.
4. Plant water status itself
• The latest approach for irrigation scheduling is the plant water status.
As the plant is a good indicator of available soil moisture and climate
factors, plant water status itself can be used for irrigation scheduling.
This approach is not yet so common for the lack of standard and low-
cost techniques to determine plant water status.
Irrigation Projects
Great Man-Made River
• The Great Man-Made River (GMR) in Libya
is the largest irrigation project in the world.
• It is the largest underground pipe network
which supplies water from Nubian
sandstone aquifer to the Sahara desert.
• Nubian sandstone aquifer is the largest
fossil water system which will take
hundreds of years to deplete.
• This project was started in 1984 with five
different phases funded by the Gaddafi-run
government. It is in a stage of partial
completion as three out of five phases has
been completed.
Columbia Basin Projects
• Columbia basin project (CBP) is the
largest irrigation project in the United
States of America.
• Water is pumped from the Columbia
River, carried to the main canals, stored
in the reservoirs and fed into the lateral
irrigation canals.
• Though Congress authorized this
project in 1943, its construction started
after World War II.
Kaleshwaram in India
Thank you!