AGR 151(WM) by Prof. S.B.

Goswami, 2018

Water logging and Drainage in Agriculture

Definition, history, importance, affected area and its distribution, occurrence, causes of water congestion, effects of
drainage congestion, drainage classification

Water logging: Water logging is a condition of land in which the soil profile is saturated
with water either temporarily or permanently. The water table rises to an extent that the
soil pores in the crop root zone are saturated resulting in restriction of the normal
circulation of air. Effects of water logging on crops are as seen delayed cultivation
operations like tillage and ploughing adversely by excess water in the soil, aquatic weeds
grow profusely, cash crops desired to be grown cannot be cultivated and restricted to few
crops and ultimately resulting in low yields.

Drainage: Drainage is the artificial removal of excess surface and subsurface water from
the land as well as from the root zone of the crop respectively. Irrigation and drainage go
together but are not mutually exclusive. Irrigation system aims at supplying desired
quantities of water throughout the crop period. Drainage system aims at removal of excess
quantity of water in a very short time. Excess water causes great harm to the crop by
reducing availability of oxygen to the root system and accumulated carbon dioxide and
other gases harmful to the root system.

History
Drainage is as old as irrigation. The practice of land drainage system is also ancient but
was viewed less important than irrigation. In 500 BCE, drainage system was adopted in
Nile river basin area to remove flood water from the agricultural field. The first canals or
ditches were built to carry flood waters back to the rivers. The first known use of tile
drainage was seen by 1620 AD in France.
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Causes of water logging
Water logging is caused by the domination of inflow of water than the outflow component
of an area. The problem is serious when hydraulic conductivity of the soil is less than 2.5
cm/hour. The main causes are climatic, physiographic and manmade.
These are
1) Heavy rainfall and over irrigation are major causes of water logging.
2) In coastal area, low elevation and flatness of lands adjacent to sea suffer from
water logging
3) Reduction in the carrying capacity of rivers due to siltation which leads floods
4) In canal command, seepage from the reservoir with large water spread and canal
running over long distance
5) In high rainfall areas, floods in rivers spread to crop field
6) Rising ground water table (GWT) in arid and semi arid climate.
7) Improper layout of road & rail ways barricading the natural drainage
8) Improper irrigation methods
9) Bowl shaped geography or low lying flat areas near the rivers or hills

Effects of water logging

The direct and indirect effects are seen due to water logging. These effects are
pronounced on plants, soil physic-chemical properties, microbes, soil environment.
1) Replacement of soil air specially Oxygen (O 2) the main source of respiration for
roots as well as microbes. Oxygen concentration in the soil atmosphere is about 17-
20% but it comes down to 10-12% under waterlogged soil. Domination CO2 in
water logged soil which kills plants.
2) Reduction in plant nutrient uptake in water logged soil like N, Mn, Fe, Zn
3) Anaerobic situation in waterlogged soil adversely affects microbial activity as well as
nutrient mineralization process in the agricultural field.
4) Crop yield reduction extends 20 to 100% due to water logging.
5) Deterioration of physical soil condition and soil water plant relationship
6) Environmental problem like Methane emission arise in water logged soil

Water logged area

The National Commission on Agriculture (1976) has estimated the water logged area of
8.69 m ha. The surface flooding area of 6 m ha is mostly seen in West Bengal, Odisha,
Andhra Pradesh, UP, Bihar, TN, Kerala. In irrigation commands it is about 2.92 m ha due
to rising ground water table in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP & Gujrat.

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Types of water-logging

(1) Riverine flood water-logging: In the rainy season, flood may come to the nearby land
from the river having excess flood water.
(2) Oceanic flood water-logging: Ocean water spreads in the nearby land and causes
water-logging.
(3) Seasonal water-logging: Run off water accumulates in the lowlands and depressions in
the rainy season.
(4) Perennial water-logging: Deep water, swamp etc., get rain water, run off water and
seepage water from canal causing perennial water-logging.
(5) Sub-soil water-logging: High water table in the rainy reason is normally unsuitable for
root growth.

Detrimental effects of water-logging

Flooding with consequent crop submergence is a problem in many of the lower lying
wetlands. Detrimental effects of water-logging are discussed.

(1) Water depth: Lowland areas are usually flooded to depths of about 50 cm (shallow
rainfed lowland, and medium-deep) and the limitations to crop production associated with
extensively low reduction potentials and partly because of low phosphorus availability. In
the ‘deep-water’ (flooding to depths of 50 to 100 cm) and ‘very deep-water’ or ‘floating’
(water depth more than 100 cm) areas, the principal problem of rice production is the
tendency for the rice crop to be submerged for periods of up to 10 days or more.
(2) Poor aeration: Due to water-logging, a part of the soil air moves out into the
atmosphere as it is displaced by the incoming water. Inadequate supply of oxygen either
retards or ceases plant growth as the accumulated carbon dioxide hampers the growth of
the plant roots. Poor aeration results in the development of toxin and other injurious
substances. Only rice plants can survive poor aeration due to water-logging.
(3) Soil structure: Continuous water stagnation destroys the soil structure and makes the
soil compact. It is highly deteriorated in alkali soil having low infiltration capacity, most
rainfall goes as runoff to the adjoining area.
(4) Soil temperature: Water-logging lowers down the soil temperature. Moist soils have a
higher specific heat than dry soils. Consequently, a moist soil has lower temperature than
dry soil. Low temperature affects the microorganism activity which consequently lowered
the rate of nitrogen-fixation.
(5) Soil pH: There are reversible pHchange of the flooded soils, pH tends to increase in
acid soils and decrease in alkaline soils, undoubtedly pH is alter towards normal.
(6) Availability of nutrients: Nitrogen: Nitrogen deficiency is extremely common in water-
logged soils. Due to lower temperature and reduced condition, mineralization of organic N
is affected.
Phosphorus: The inorganic forms of P are usually present at higher levels in flooded soils
than in upland soils. An experiment showed that reduction of the soil by flooding
decreases P absorption by 28-70%.
Potassium: K response is apparent in many lowland soils. Flooding and puddling of the
soils during lowland preparation may considerably increase the soil solution concentration
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of K because of displacement of exchangeable K by the large amounts of Fe ++ and Mn++ in
the soil solution.
Sulphur: Sulphur deficiency has been reported from many lowland areas. The reduction of
SO4– in flooded soils has three implications for rice culture; the supply may become
insufficient, Zn and Cu may be immobilized, and H 2Stoxicity may arise particularly in soils
low in Fe.
Zinc: Widespread deficiency of Zn to rice crop in wetland conditions is reported. Zinc is
most frequently deficient in alkaline soils.
Iron and Manganese: Fe++ and Mn++ an available in excess causing toxicity to the plant.
(7) Salinity: Salinity is an important constraint to rice production in many coastal lowlands
as well as in some poorly drained in land areas.
(8) Effect on crops: Under water-logged condition all field crops cannot survive due to poor
aeration and unavailability of nutrients to the plant. Only rice is an exception.
(9) Effects on livestock: Fodders grown in salt affected soils may contain high molybdenum
or selenium and low amount of zinc. The nutritional imbalance in may cause disease in
livestock.
(10) Destruction of roads and rail ways: It occurs due to reduced bearing capacity of water
logged soil of the adjoining area.

Drainage and its need

During rain or irrigation, the fields become wet. The water infiltrates into the soil and is
stored in its pores. When all the pores are filled with water, the soil is said to be saturated
and no more water can be absorbed; when rain or irrigation continues, pools may form on
the soil surface (Fig. 1).

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 Fig 1. Drainage Need and Hydraulics of Drainage

The removal of excess water either from the ground surface or from the rootzone, is called
drainage. Excess water may be caused by rainfall or by using too much irrigation water,
but may also have other origins such as canal seepage or floods. In very dry areas there is
often accumulation of salts in the soil. Most crops do not grow well on salty soil. Salts can
be washed out by percolating irrigation water through the rootzone of the crops. To
achieve sufficient percolation, farmers will apply more water to the field than the crops
need. But the salty percolation water will cause the water table to rise. Drainage to control
the water table, therefore, also serves to control the salinity of the soil. Drainage is
required under the following condition-

a) High water table

b) Water ponding on the surface for longer periods
c) Excessive soil moisture content above FC not draining easily in clay soil.
d) In arid and semiarid where soils are saline and alkaline, annual evaporation
exceeds rainfall and capillary rise of ground water occurs.
e) In humid region with high rainfall
f) Coastal area or flat lands with fine textured soil
g) Low lying flat lands adjacent to hills or surrounded by hills

Characteristics of good drainage system

1) Permanent in nature
2) Enough capacity to drain out completely
3) Minimum interference with the cultivation operations of crops.
4) Minimum loss of cultivated area
5) Disposal of water must be in shorter time

Types of Drainage (Classification of drainage system)

It is the measures taken against water logging or drainage congestion. Drainage can
be either natural or artificial. Many areas have some natural drainage; this means that
excess water flows from the farmers' fields to swamps or to lakes and rivers. Natural
drainage, however, is often inadequate and artificial or man-made drainage is required.

a) Natural pattern: Three types of natural drainage patterns like dendritic, trellised and
radial are identified in inland drainage as in plain land, deserts, hills, ravines and
bad lands.

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 b) Artificial methods: Two artificial methods of drainage are generally adopted likely
surface drainage (open drain) and subsurface drainage (closed drain).

1. Surface drainage method

This is an open drain drainage system consisting lateral drains, main drain and drainage
outlets. This type of drainage systems are used primarily to remove rainfall excess water
by gravity from the surface of soil profile. This can be done by arranging the field drains or
ditches over the surface of land, developing slope or gradation in the land so that excess
water drains quickly from the field. It is suitable for high intensity rainfall area, clay or fine
textured soil, plain land with slope less than 1.5%. The arrangement of open drains, its
location, dimension, shape or number depend on the land area, topography, type of
farming and crops grown. The average surface drainage coefficient (drainage rate) varies
from 3-25 mm/day
Advantages: Quick disposal, low cost, drains can be used for irrigation, suitable in high
rainfall area.
Disadvantages: Unsuitable in light soil, drains siltation occurs, regular maintenance of
drains, loss of cultivated area.

Classification of surface drainage system

a) Parallel system: This system is used where surface is almost levelled and soil is
uniform. The main drain runs at the centre, fed by laterals in right angle. It is the
most desirable form of open drainage system.
b) Mixed and random system: This system is generally used where lands are not
levelled properly or undulating topography. Topography determines the location of
the main drains and its laterals.
c) Bedding system: Parallel beds are developed by shaping and smoothing the
surface so that run off from beds drains laterally to the dead furrows. Water from the
dead furrow comes to the ditches and ultimately to the outlet of the field. It is
generally adopted when slope of the land does not exceed 0.5%. It is suitable for
growing vegetable crops in plain lands.

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 d) Interception: Drains are made across the slope of the land to intercept or remove
the runoff water from upper reaches area entering to the lower reaches the area to
be protected.
e) Diversion drain: A channel is excavated across the slope to divert the runoff to
protect the area. Drains dimension depends on the area to be protected, rainfall
amount and its intensity in the upper reaches.

Surface drain lay out

Surface drainage disposal Subsurface drainage disposal

2. Subsurface drainage
As the name suggests, subsurface drainage, either natural or artificial, is beneath the
ground surface. Subsurface drainage systems are used when the drainage problem is
mainly that of shallow water tables. The subsurface field drainage systems can also be
differentiated as regular systems and controlled systems; and horizontal or vertical
systems.
  The subsurface field drainage systems consist of horizontal or slightly sloping
channels made in the soil; they can be open ditches, trenches, filled with brushwood and a
soil cap, filled with stones and a soil cap, buried pipe drains, tile drains, or mole drains, but
they can also consist of a series of wells. The field drains (or laterals) discharge their water
into the collector or main system either by gravity or by pumping.
Subsurface drainage by wells is often referred to as vertical drainage, and
drainage by channels as horizontal drainage, but it is more clear to speak of "field
drainage by wells" and "field drainage by ditches or pipes" respectively. The open dug
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wells or tube wells have normally to be pumped, but sometimes they are connected to
drains for discharge by gravity.
  When the drain discharge takes place entirely by gravity, both regular and
controlled types of subsurface systems have much in common, except that the control
systems have gates that can be opened and closed according to need. When the
discharge takes place by pumping, the drainage can be checked simply by not operating
the pumps or by reducing the pumping time. A controlled drainage system reduces the
discharge through the main drainage system, thereby reducing construction costs. They
can also save much irrigation water.
 Modern buried pipe drains often consist of corrugated, flexible, and perforated
plastic pipe lines wrapped with a envelope or filter material to improve the permeability
around the pipes and to prevent entry of soil particles, which is especially important in
fine sandy and salty soils. The surround may consist of geotextile.
Subsurface drainage is the removal of water from the root zone. It is accomplished by
deep open drains or buried pipe drains.

1) Deep open drains

The excess water from the root zone flows into the open drains (Fig. 3). The disadvantage
of this type of subsurface drainage is that it makes the use of machinery difficult.

 
2) Pipe or tile drains

Under rising water table condition, common materials like pipe and tiles are used to
remove excess water beneath the soil surface. Pipe drains are buried perforated pipes
with openings through which the soil water can enter. The pipes convey the water to a
collector drain (see Fig. 4). Drain pipes are made of clay, concrete or plastic. They are
usually placed in trenches by machines. In clay and concrete pipes (usually 30 cm long
and 5 - 10 cm in diameter) drainage water enters the pipes through the joints (see Fig. 4
top). Flexible plastic drains are much longer (up to 200 m) and the water enters through
perforations distributed over the entire length of the pipe. The pipe should be placed at
120-150 cm in light soil or 60-70 cm below the surface in fine textured soil. Slopes vary
from 0.15 to 0.05% depending on the diameter of pipes. A flab gate is essential to prevent
entry of rodents. The extent of area to be drained, pipe length, slope, drainage co-efficient
determine the pipe diameter. The spacing of laterals depend on the soil texture as for clay
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soil 9-18 m, silty clay loam 18-30 m, sandy loam 30-90 m. The crushing strength of the tile
drains (load bearing capacity) should be 20 kg / cm. The drainage co-efficient or flow rate
velocity of 30-45 cm/sec or 8-9 lps is maintained to carry the sediment loads.

Fig. 4. Control of the groundwater table by means of buried pipes

The layout of pipes can be of several types-

a. Grid iron: This method is used when the land is uniformly wet and slope is in one
direction. There is one main line to which laterals are fed. The laterals are laid in
one side of the main drain.
b. Herring Bone: This method is adopted if the land slopes are from both side and
line in between two there is a depression. The main pipe is laid in the line of
depression of the land and the laterals are placed both sides of the main.
c. Mixed type: This type of layout consists of double mainline, natural laterals,
diagonal lateral or mixed laterals are laid depending upon the topography.

Deep open drains versus pipe drains: Open drains use land that otherwise could be
used for crops. They restrict the use of machines. They also require a large number of
bridges and culverts for road crossings and access to the fields. Open drains require
frequent maintenance (weed control, repairs, etc.). In contrast to open drains, buried
pipes cause no loss of cultivable land and maintenance requirements are very limited. The
installation costs, however, of pipe drains may be higher due to the materials, the
equipment and the skilled manpower involved.

Bio-drainage

Bio-drainage technology helps in reclamation of salt affected waterlogged areas. Benefits

include increased cropping intensity, increased nutrient use efficiency, growing arable
crops including planting trees, forage crops, which otherwise is not possible on
waterlogged soils, and increased employment generation. The driving force behind the bio
drainage concept is the consumptive water use of plants. In general higher ET crops and
weeds are used for bio drainage.
In natural environments the components of the hydrological system, i.e. rainfall,
evapotranspiration, change in soil-water storage and drainage, are in balance. Periods of
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high rainfall might temporarily result in increased drainage flows, a rise in the groundwater
table and/or soil moisture storage, then over a period of about 5-10 years equilibrium is
established. Vegetation plays a vital role in the evapo-transpiration and soil-water storage
components of this balance.
When natural vegetation is cleared and replaced by crops or tree plantations, the
seepage losses to the groundwater table under the new land use system are either higher
or lower than under the pre-clearing situation. Plantations of fast growing tree species
such as eucalyptus, casurina, poplar when grown on previously cleared land, could result
in strongly reduced accessions to the groundwater and in the drying-up of wells and
springs. The deep-rooting characteristics of trees make them extremely efficient users of
water. While shallow-rooted grasses and crops have limited access to underlying water
tables, deep-rooted trees can access water tables down to several metres. Also, in
recharge situations with deep water tables, the deep root systems of trees greatly reduce
the opportunity for rainfall/irrigation accessions to the water table.
One of the major factors determining the sustainability of plant water use is salt
balance. If the salts moving into the root zone are not either (i) taken up by the vegetation
and harvested or (ii) removed from the root zone by leaching, the vegetation is doomed to
succumb to salinity. Where bio drainage results in salt accumulation, engineering
assistance is needed to make the system sustainable. Bio drainage management
mechanisms can be classified as follows.
a)  Dry land/rain fed systems:
 Recharge control
 Groundwater flow interception
 Discharge enhancement
b) Irrigated systems:
 Water table control
 Channel seepage interception

Role of ground water table

In arid and semi arid areas, ground water table has risen to the level detrimental to the
crops. The optimum water table depths for different crops ensure adequate aeration to
crop roots. Shallow ground water table (30-90 cm) contributed to 80-90% of consumptive
use. Medium water table (120-150 cm) meets 50% water demand of crops in sandy loam
soil. The optimum water table depth is desired for crops as

Crop Depth of water table Irrigation need (No)

(cm)
Wheat 100-125 3
Maize 75-100 Nil
Bajra 125 Nil
Rice 20 2
Toria 20 Nil
Mustard 125 1
Groundnu 60 2
t

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Classification of GWT on the basis of their depth for the crops

Class GWT position (cm)

Good >180
Fair 120
Poor 90
Bad <90

Benefits from the adoption of drainage

a) Helps the root to grow and enabling more nutrient uptake

b) Bringing root zone aeration and enabling growth of soil bacteria
c) Drainage brings field to working condition
d) Harmful salts are washed way
e) Helps in agronomic practices

Cost of drainage system

Major items of expenditure:

- Manpower
- Material cost
- Machinery charges
- Maintenance charges

Drainage Co-efficient: It is the quantity of water that must be removed in 24 hours. The
drainage co-efficient value varies from 3-25 mm / day in surface drains. It depends on the
rainfall co-efficient, drains’ dimension, slope of drains, soil and plant characteristics.

Prepare short notes on

Mole drain:

Pole drain:

Stone drain:

Drainage by well:

Reclamation of tidal lands:

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