Republic of the Philippines

NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering and Architecture
Main Campus 2 Bajumpandan, Dumaguete City

CE 511- IRRIGATION ENGINEERING

CHAPTER I:

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION

Submitted by:

Jezylu Jireh L. Anito

Arjely Patajo

Submitted to:

Engr. Irismay Jumawan

1.1 Definition and Purpose of Irrigation

What is Irrigation?

Irrigation comes from the Latin word irrigates, for "moist" or "wet", but it means the purposeful
wetting of something.

It is broadly defined as the practice of applying additional water to soil when precipitation is not
enough to provide water requirement of the soil

Purpose:

 increases yield and cropping

 increases ground water storage
 additional water or soil moisture
 cools down plants
 enhances fertilizer application
 washes out/ dilutes salts

1.2 History of Irrigation

Archaeological records reveal that people started early in ancient times to engage in farming as a
way of life. At first, these early farmers depended solely on rainfall or floodwaters in the culture
of their crops. They found a means of supplementing rainfall or floodwaters in growing their
crops and in making arid lands cultivable, which is known as “irrigation”.

In the Bible's book of Genesis, we are told that God's creation of humans was accompanied
shortly thereafter by His assignation to Adam of the stewardship of the irrigated orchard that was
Paradise. The four lifegiving water heads of Judeo-Christian Paradise are also mentioned in the
47th Sura of the Koran. Some anthropologists and historians point to the development of
irrigation as the catalyst for the interaction of engineering, organizational, political and related
creative or entrepreneurial skills and activities which produced the outcome referred to as
"civilization".
 Irrigation Timeline

6000 B.C.

Most of Egypt is desert, and the Nile river is eventually

flowing through Egypt and finally draining into the
Mediterranean Sea.

Each year, Nile river would flood spilling over with water
flowing down from the mountains to the south. Flood waters
could raise the Nile River 45 feet over normal heights. As the
waters receded, the flood waters left behind rich soil. This
soil allowed the ancient Egyptian to grow crops.

These early people invented a system of canals that they

dug to irrigate their crops. They also built gates into these
canals so that they could control the flow of water. They
built reservoirs to hold water supplies in case of drought.
Water was allowed to stand in 40-60 days, was drained
off the crops at the correct point in growing cycle. And
then drain downstream back into the river.

Circa 3,000 B.C.

Menes, the first King of a unified Egypt is believed to have built banks along the Nile to
control flooding called the nilometer. Nilometers are graduated scales cut on a natural rock on a
stone wall of a pit connected by a tunnel to Nile. This instrument was a method of marking the
height of the Nile over the years. Nilometers were spaced along the Nile river. They acted as an
early warning system, alerting these early people that waters were not as high as usual, so they
could prepare for a drought or for unusually high
flood waters. Because the flooding of the Nile was
so important to these ancient people, nilometers
were permanent structures and well-constructed so
that any prediction of flooding, or lack of it, would
be as accurate as possible.

2,000 B.C.

Cement pipe was created by the romans. This pipe is made up

of cement and crushed rock. Romans created long cement pipes
that would carry water from a large water source to their
farmland. By using cement, the water would not seep into the
soil and more water would reach its destination.

1700 B.C.

Hyksos, foreign rulers during the 15th Dynasty Introduced to the

ancient Egyptians the method of using Shadoof or is commonly
called a well pole or well sweep. The Shadoof was a tool that was
used to raise water above the level of the Nile which was then
diverted to a canal or ditch. It was a simple wooden tool
consisting of a pole with a bucket on one end and a weight on the
other. The pole could be swung around and the bucket emptied in
a field or different canal. This development enabled irrigation
when a river wasn’t in flood which meant higher ground could be
used for farming.
700 B.C.

Noria was used by the empire in

Egypt. Noria is a watered power
machine and thought to be the first
vertical water wheel in history.

Wooden wheel with buckets attached

around the rim and was powered by
movement of the current. The current
of the Stream turned the water wheel,
as it did the wheel rotates lowering the empty pots down into the stream where they were filled
with water. As the wheel continued to turn the filled pots become upturned as they reached the
upward rotation of emptying their contents into a trough or aqueduct that carried the water away.

604 B.C.

The "Hanging Gardens of Babylon," one of the

seven wonders of the ancient world, were
created under King Nebuchadnezzar in
Mesopotamia. What is lost to history is how the
gardens were watered although it is known they
were irrigated.

550 B.C.

Ancient Iranian invented a new system to bring the ground water to the surface using the
gravitational force. It is called Qanat. Qanats were constructed from Mesopotamia to the shores
of Mediterranean as well as southward into parts of Egypt. The development of this technique
allowed the use of ground water to become the primary source for crop irrigation. And it is built
by digging a vertical well into sloping ground. Once the well was completed a tunnel was dug
nearly horizontal to the lower end of the well. The natural slope would allow well water to travel
by gravity down the tunnel and emerge some distance down slope from the well. The
construction of qanats was labour
intensive and vertical openings were
placed every 20-30 meters to allow the
tunnel diggers to breathe and remove
debris from the tunnel. Once the tunnel
was completed, the area had a constant
source of water. Qanats are still used
today at least 20000 still operate from
China to Morocco.

500 B.C.

Sakia or Persian water wheel was invented in Egypt, where they provide the steady streams of
watered required for irrigation. They have also been used in palaces and gardens to fill fountains.
A sakia consists of buckets fastened
vertical wheel or to a rope belt about the
wheel which is itself attached by a shaft
to a horizontal wheel turned by horses or
oxen.

Sakia is similar to noria except that it is

powered by an external force rather than
the flow of the river’s current.
250 B.C.

Tambour or Archimedes screw was created by Greek scholar Archimedes that can raise water
with much less effort than lifting
buckets. To use the Archimedes screw
to lift water, the pipe must sit on an
angle with one end in a body of water.
Then, the screw must be turned with a
hand crank or motor. As the bottom of
the screw turns, it will scoop up water.
The shape of screw will trap it, the
water will be carried up to the top of
the pipe and it spill out.

500 A.D.

When the first use of a windmill occurred is

unknown, although drawings of a water
pumping windmill from Persia (current day
Iran) exist. This design had vertical sails
made of bundles of reeds or wood which
attached to a central vertical shaft.

Between 500 AD and 1800’s not much was seen in regards to new inventions. Irrigation
inventions were improved with new materials used to transport water.
Sources:

https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/basic-civil-
engineering/9788131729885/xhtml/chapter031.xhtml

https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/815/1/1070.pdf

http://www.nzdl.org/gsdlmod?e=d-00000-00---off-0cdl--00-0----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---
4-------0-0l--11-en-50---20-about---00-0-1-00-0--4----0-0-11-10-0utfZz-8-
00&cl=CL1.136&d=HASH013e8d1a442c5a625761db09.2.1&gt=1

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/other/agricultural/types.html