FACULITY OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES AND

IRRIGATION ENGINEERING
FEASIBILITY STUDY ON SMALL SCALE IRRIGATION
PROJECT BY;
NAME IDNO section
ADISU SANBETA FOT(R) 0157/06 1
TEGENE ABERA FOT( R) 0637/06 2
TESFAYE PHAWLOS FOT( R) 0649/06 2
WONDIMU ABESHA FOT( R) 0678/06 2
SHIFERAW EJIGU FOT ( R) 0605/06 2
PHILIPOS JUGULA FOT ( R) 0562/06 2
BELAY MOGASE FOT ( R) 0218/06 2

Submited to Shumye G. (MSc.)

Submission date May …/2010 EC.
May 2018
Woldia, Ethiopia
 1 INTRODUCTION
The main aim of all water resource development is to improve the economic and environmental
conditions for human living. In irrigation development, water appears to be the most important
requirement of agricultural production. This fesibility study focuses on the study of small scale
irrigation projects.

Small-scale irrigation can be defined as irrigation, usually on small plots, in which small farmers
have the controlling influence, using a level of technology which they can operate and maintain
effectively. Small-scale irrigation is, therefore, farmer-managed scheme. Hence, farmers must be
involved in the design process and, in particular, with decisions about boundaries, the layout of
the canals, and the position of outlets and crossings.

The study and design of small scale diversion irrigation projects involves series of steps with
multidisciplinary professionals. At each step, the study and design team decides on the viability
of the project and the decision is entirely dependent upon the qualification of expertise. This
fesibility study focuses on the required steps that a designer need to go through and some basic
design procedures for the study and design of conventional headwork structures for small scale
irrigation project. Water is normally supplied to the plant by nature through the rains. However,
the total rainfall in a particular area may be either insufficient or ill-timed. In order to get a
maximum yield it is essential to supply the optimum quantity of water and to maintain correct
timing of water. This is possible only through systematic irrigation by collecting water during the
period of excess rainfall and release in to the crop when it needs.

At present and future time, water is the main issue of the world because of industrlization in any
aspects of economy and population density increments. This issue is the same in our country and
regions in which the agroclimatical as well as hydro geographical change is highly observed.

1.1 Description of the Project Area

Simeno diversion weir irrigation project is located in Amhara administrative region, North wollo
zone, Lasta woreda. It is accessible by vehicle from the woreda city, Lalibela for about 22 km
during dry season. The rest six km along the river or about four kilometers with the shortest path
is only accessible by foot. Geographically the project area is located at504738 using UTM E
longitude and 1314581 using UTM N latitude on Altitude: 1966

1.3 OBJECTIVES
1.3.1 General objective

The objective of this study is to enable WRDA to determine the relative priority
of the Simeno Project within the overall development of the Takaze river.

To provide facility of food production activities to all the farmers in that area. One of these facilities is
the modern irrigation the modern irrigation technology in advance

1.3.2 Specific objectives

 To increase the house hold level income of the area by increasing the crop productivity
and crop harvesting period per year. This is effectively and efficiently handled by
abstracting the Tekeze River using barrier structure.
 To increase the income of the beneficiaries that gradually changes their living standard
 To utilize existing resources in a better way and reduce the wastage of materials and
human dependency on rainfall

Finally, to improve the socio economic life of the community, by increasing per capital incomes
too.

1.4 Topography study

The command area begins immediately far a few meters from the head work. The command area
is on both sides of the river with in the villages.The command area has some undulating
topography on the sides of the command and a little sloppy area on the tail of the command.
Generally the slope of the area is from 2-10%. Therefore, the furrow alignment, planting
geometry and irrigation application method has to be considered

1.5 Geology

1.5.1 Geology along headwork structures study

The weir site is located at a point where straight flow regime is found, by considering the
required head for irrigating the identified command area. At this location, silty clay surface
geology is obtained, with weathered basalt stones available in close proximity. The overall
condition at the selected weir axis is considered suitable for planning and constructing a
diversion structure.
The subsurface geology at the weir location is best described by the Geological Cross section
map shown below (adopted from the Engineering Geological report). The foundation condition
for the structure will be highly weathered rock formation dictating a design for pervious
condition.

5.6 River bed

The river channel has wide and gentle bed slope and it is covered on the surface with transported
gravel ranging from sand to 0.2m pebbles . And hence the d/s channel bed should be designed by
considering the maximum scour of the peak flood.

1.7 Soil

In all the test pits taken at the command area the depth of the soil is very deep which is greater
than 2 m. The command area is highly dominated by clay soil.

1.8 Construction Materials Availability study

There is integrated material components required for construction executing. These materials can
be locally and commercially available.

Some of the materials sources are indicated

 Coarse Aggregate
The coarse aggregate will be produced by crushing stones. The locations of stones for coarse
aggregate production are the same as to the masonry stone.
Stone for masonry and Aggregate for concrete can be crushed or natural aggregate. For both
cases, the source is the same like that of stone for masonry. Sand construction material for
concrete and masonry is available d/stream of the weir which is about 6km.The quantity of the
construction materials shall be checked further.
 Industrial processing construction materials are available from Addis, Mekele &
Combolcha .Ordinary Portland cement; OPC/PPC cement can be transported from Mekele or
legal merchants from the nearby site. The reinforcement bars and sheet metals can be
purchased directly from the factory or legal merchants. For more information of the local
construction material.

 Sand (fine aggregate):- is essentially quartz. Sand in size 4.75mm is called as fine
aggregate. It is used for making concrete, mortars and plasters. It is also used for filling under
floor and base mentis. In our project we use the river sand because the project site has
enough river sands. Sand is sometimes classified according to the source of supply like pit
sand, river sand, steam sand and crushed stone sand.

 Stone: - is an important material for different constructions. Stones depending on the

type can be used in constructions for masonry, paving roads, dams as well as aggregates
for concrete. The fesibility study of geology is used to identify rocks types for
constraction. So depending on fesibility study we select granite stone type due to its
high crushing strength, simple availability at the site area, low water observation and high
density and not fractural or brittle.

 Water: - it should be considered as an important material for construction, where it is mainly

used with cement for making mortar, concert and also for curing of cement works. Mainly
concrete structures have deteriorated with time due to the presence of deleterious substance
present in the water for their construction or due to the presence of sulphates in the ground
water.

 Reinforcement bar:-Different types of reinforcement bar (steel)

Steel is the most suitable reinforcing material. There are different types of reinforcement rebar are used in
the project company. These are diameter (6mm, 8mm.10mm, 12mm&14mm).

1.9 Water Quality study

The quality of water is more studed than soil characteristics in determining the suitability of
some lands for irrigation. So the quality of Tekeze River is good for irrigation and salinity
problem of the water is not expected. This is evident by traditional experience of the water usage
by the local formals for irrigation and the community uses the river water for drinking.
 CHAPTER TWO

WATER DEMAND AND WATER DELIVERY ASPECTS

2.1 General
Every crop requires a certain quantity of water after a certain field interval throughout its period
growth .If the natural rain is sufficient and timely so as satisfy both those requirement no
irrigation water is required for raising that crop. There is no vital requirement other than water
for crops. It has a number of functions in the process of growth.
To design properly an irrigation scheme it is necessary to know the crop water requirements. The
function of water with respect of growth of plant and its yield are:

 Solvent for gaseous, minerals and other soluble food.

 Conduct and translocation of solutions in cell and tissues.
 As an active reagent in photosynthesis and hydrolysis.
According to our feasibility studies the factors that affect the water requirement of plants are:

 type of soil
 type of plant
 metrological variables like sunshine, temperature, humidity, rainfall and winds
2.2. Crop water requirements study

Crop water requirements are defined as “the depth of water needed to meet the water loss
through evapo-transpiration of a disease free crop, growing in large fields under the given
growing

The water requirement of crops may be contributed from different sources such as:

 irrigation requirement,
 effective rainfall,
 soil moisture storage and
  Ground water contributions.

2.3 Agricultural planning

2.3.1 Crop selection
During the feasibility study of the proposed project, selection of potential crops has been given
due to the focus of the following situations. These proposed crops includes maize, potato,
tomato, onion, and pepper, and these proposed crops which suits or adaptable to the given agro-
climatic conditions of the proposed project area.
The selection of the crops depends mainly on;

 Climatic conditions of the particular area

 Availability of water
 Type of soil
 The economic importance of the crop
 Stable food for the local people
 Method of irrigation
 Yield response factor and water utilization efficiency
 Labor requirements
 Markets among others

2.4 Irrigation efficiency study

One of the most important of fesibility studies are:
To account the loss of water incurred during conveyance and application to the field, an efficiency factor
should be included when calculating the project irrigation requirement. Project efficiency is normally
subdivided in to three stages each of them is affected by different set of conditions.

 Conveyance efficiency (Ec): Ratio between water received at inlet to a block of field and
that released at the project headwork.
 Field canal efficiency (Ef): Ratio between water received at the field inlet and the received
at the inlet of the block of the field.
  Field application efficiency (Ea): Ratio between water directly available to the crop and
that received at the field inlet.

 Project efficiency (Ep): Ratio between water made directly available to the crop that
released at the headwork.

2.5 Methods of Water Delivery and Delivery Scheduling

The delivery schedules highly depend on the field irrigation methods and field irrigation
requirements. The objective of a water delivery and distribution system is to deliver water
adequately, efficiently and reliably to the users there by improving production.

2.5.1 STUDING THE CAPACITY OF MAIN CANAL

The capacity of main canal should be as much as possible to carry the peak discharge required throughout
the season. The distribution system selected is continuous flow. According to the schedule, the adjustable
all secondary canals are operational every day. So the sum of the discharges of tertiary canals is the main
canal discharge.
 CHAPTER THREE

HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS STUDY

Hydrological data is used in the design of hydraulic and irrigation structures .To deduce from its
analysis a few significant figures such as minimum and maximum discharge of the river at the
proposed location of the required. This is done by determining the design storm from the
available rainfall data and then synthesizing the flood structure. To obtain these figures a flow
record of many years as much as possible is hydrograph.

The same is true for Tekeze River, i.e. the un gauged flood hydrograph is developed for 29 years
maximum daily rainfall data obtained from Lalibela meteorological station. It is located at
altitude of 1966-metre a.s.l., which has similar climatologically, feature to the project area.

3.2 Data Availability

There is peak daily rainfall from the nearby station, because of non-existence of gauged flow
data, no discharge data .Since our attention is determining runoff discharge, it is possible to
convert peak daily rainfall data to runoff through different methods.
2.2 Water resources potential
The source of water that is proposed for the project is tekaze River. It is a perennial river, which
flows throughout the year. Based on the flow measurement taken at January 26,2010,the lean
flow is 64 litter/second

FLOATING METHOD
During field study 32m length of the river and within this length three cross sections are taken to
calculate the base flow.

BASE FLOW
The studying of base flow is determined during winter seasons when there is no surface runoff
either from the rain or from the melting snow, the river is derived from the ground water.

This results in a steady lowering of the water table and a constantly reducing stream flow
(discharge) until rain occurs to produce ground water accretion or surface runoff.

3.3 Peak Rainfall study

Peak rain fall study is used to determine the following points:

 Maximum design discharge
it is the peak river discharge that corresponds to a certain return period. .The maximum design
discharge Qmax. Is used in the design to determine the back water curve results from
constructing the weir ,which enables to predict the highest water level that occurs average once
every T years ,where T is the selected return period of the discharge .
The Qmax. Determines the water afflux on the weir and hence the height of the weir, wing walls
and the cross bridge is estimated .It also gives information to determine the height of dykes if
required.
Hydrological design is important for safety, economy and proper functioning of the hydrologic
structures.
Therefore the estimation of design peak flood should be estimated accurately; in order that the
project functions properly.

CHAPTER FOUR

4 WEIR DESIGN STUDY

A diversion head work weir is constructed across river to raise water level so that the required
amount of water on irrigation field can be directed to the off-taking canals sufficiently. Diversion
head work is sometimes known as canal head work. The purpose of diversion head work is
mainly for head maintenance with less storage capacity.
There are two types of diversion head works:
1. Non gated or weir: weir are simple over flow type diversion structure, the pond level up
stream of the structure rises to a maximum of the weir crest level.
2. Gated or Barrage: this type of head work are the same as weir but provided with a series of
gates on the diversion structure. The gates are helping to increase or decrease the pond level of
the water upstream.
A diversion head work serves the following functions:
1. It raises the water level on its upstream side.
2. It regulates the supply of water in to the main canal.
 3. It controls the entry of silts into the canal.

4. It creates temporary storage upstream of the weir.

3.2 Location of Diversion Weir study
Diversion head work is generally located in boulder stage or trough stage of a river at the site
near the command area. In diversion head work selection cost is governing for appropriate
decision.
The following point should be remembered while selecting the location of the head work:
-At the site the river should be straight and narrow

-The river bank should be well defined

-The valuable land should not be submerged when the weir is constructed.

-The elevation of the site should be higher than the area to be irrigated
-The site should be easily accessible by roads or rail ways

-The material of construction should be available in vicinity of the site

-The site should not be far away from the command area of the project, to avoid transmission
loss .