Irrigation

CE308 – Hydrology

Engr. Larriz Samudio

Faculty Member
Civil Engineering Department
Irrigation

• It is the process of applying controlled amounts of water to plants at

needed intervals.
• Irrigation helps to grow agricultural crops, maintain landscapes, and
revegetate disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of less than
average rainfall.

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TYPES OF IRRIGATION METHODS

Surface:
• water applied by gravity across the soil surface by flooding or small
channels
Sprinkle:
• water applied at the point of use by a system of nozzles with water
delivered to the sprinkler heads
Micro:
• water applied to the point of use through low pressure, low discharge
devices (ex: drip, bubblers, micro sprayers)
Subirrigation:
• water made available to the crop root system by upward capillary
flow through the soil profile

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Factors considered for Irrigation System

• Crops to be grown • Environmental concerns

• Topography of physical site • Soils
conditions • Farming equipment
• Water supply • Costs
• Climate
• Energy available
• Chemigation
• Operation and management skills

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Irrigation Water Quantity

• Rivers in natural and regulated regimes

• Local surface flow coming to estuaries
• Groundwater taken from dug wells
• Household and Industrial wastewater, mine water, seawater
Requirements:
• Water must be usable for irrigation
• Water reserves and flow rate must satisfy the needs of water
• Source should be located close and upstream to the given irrigation area

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Irrigation Water Quality

• Based on physical and chemical characteristics of water

• Good quality river water for irrigation successfully used
Water quality problems
Salinity : salts in soil or water reduce water availability to the crops
yield affected
Water infiltration rate : high sodium to low calcium ratio reduces the
infiltration rate affects irrigation and yield
Specific ion toxicity: certain ions from soil or water accumulate in a
sensitive crop to concentration high enough to cause crop damage

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Irrigation Water Quality Guidelines

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Irrigation Method Selection

Soil type:
• Sandy soil low storage capacity and high infiltration rate
• Frequent and small irrigation applications required
• Sprinkler or drip more suitable than surface irrigation
• Loam or clay soils - all three types can be used
• Clay soil with low infiltration rate - ideally suited to surface irrigation
Slope:
• Sprinkler or drip preferred on steeper or unevenly sloping lands
• Little or no land levelling required

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Irrigation Method Selection

• Climate
• Strong wind can disturb the spraying of water from sprinklers
• High wind conditions drip or surface irrigation methods preferred
• In areas of supplementary irrigation,
• Sprinkler or drip irrigation more suitable than surface irrigation
• Due to flexibility and adoptability for varying irrigation demands
• Water availability
• Water application efficiency generally higher for drip and sprinkler systems
• Especially preferred under water short conditions

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Irrigation Method Selection

Type of crop
• Surface irrigation –for all type of crops
• Sprinkler and drip –cash crops due to high investment (ex: vegetable
and fruit trees)
• Drip irrigation –irrigating individual plants or trees or row crops (ex:
vegetables and sugarcane)

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Irrigation Method Selection

Type of technology
• Drip and sprinkler technically more complicated methods
• Purchase of equipment's require more capital cost
• Regular supply of fuel and spare parts to be maintained

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Irrigation Method Selection

Type of technology
• Drip and sprinkler technically more complicated methods
• Purchase of equipment's require more capital cost
• Regular supply of fuel and spare parts to be maintained

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Irrigation Requirement

• It is the amount of water required by a crop in a given period of time

of their normal growth field conditions.

• It includes evapotranspiration not met by effective precipitation and

other economical unavoidable losses such as surface runoff.

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Irrigation Requirement

• It is the amount of water required by a crop in a given period of time

of their normal growth field conditions.

• It includes evapotranspiration not met by effective precipitation and

other economical unavoidable losses such as surface runoff.

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Irrigation Requirement

• The climate: in a sunny and hot climate, crop needs more water per
day than in cloudy and cool climate.
• The crop type: crop like maize and sugarcane needs more water than
millet and sorghum.
• Growth stage of crop: fully grown crop needs more water than the
crops at initial growth stages.

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Irrigation Requirement

• Evaporation: process by which liquid water is converted into water

vapor from evaporating surface
• Transpiration: process by which water vapour leaves the living plant
body and enters into atmosphere
• Evapotranspiration: quantity of water transpired by plants plus the
moisture evaporated from the surface of the soil and vegetation
• Potential evapotranspiration: ET that occurs when the ground is
completely shaded by actively growing vegetation and where there is
no limitation in the soil moisture

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Irrigation Requirement

• Field Irrigation Requirement is expressed as:

𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 − 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 − 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝

𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 =
𝐸𝐸𝑎𝑎

Where:
𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = depth of evapotranspiration
𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 = depth of precipitation
𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = depth of precipitation as surface runoff/infiltration
𝐸𝐸𝑎𝑎 = irrigation efficiency
𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 − 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑒 = effective rainfall depth

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Irrigation Requirement

• Potential Evapotranspiration: • Irrigation Efficiency, Ea:

Soil Class Irrigation Efficiency, Ea (%)
𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝑝𝑝 Sand 60
Sand Loam 65
Loam 70
Where: Clay Loam 75

𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = depth of evapotranspiration Heavy Clay 80

𝐾𝐾= crop coefficient

𝐸𝐸𝑝𝑝 = pan evaporation

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Irrigation Requirement

• Potential Evapotranspiration: • Irrigation Efficiency, Ea:

Soil Class Irrigation Efficiency, Ea (%)
𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝑝𝑝 Sand 60
Sand Loam 65
Loam 70
Where: Clay Loam 75

𝐷𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = depth of evapotranspiration Heavy Clay 80

𝐾𝐾𝑐𝑐 = crop coefficient

𝐸𝐸𝑝𝑝 = pan evaporation

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Irrigation Requirement

• Crop coefficient, Kc
• This value varies greatly with stages of crop.

• Four main stages

• Initial
• Crop Development
• Mid-season
• Late season

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Irrigation Requirement

• Effective Rainfall Depth

𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = 0.8𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 − 25, if 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 > 75mm/month

𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 = 0.6𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 − 10, if 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 < 75mm/month

*Note: 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 is always equal to or greater than zero and never negative.
Both 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝 and 𝐷𝐷𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 are in mm/month.

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Sample Problem

• Using the data given in the table for a given crop, determine the field
irrigation requirement for each month assuming irrigation efficiency to
be 60 percent.
Depth of
Pan Evaporation, Effective rainfall,
Month Crop factor, K evapotranspiration, FIR(mm)
Ep (mm) Dp-Dpl (mm)
Det (mm)
November 0.2 118.0 6.0

December 0.36 96.0 16.0

January 0.75 90.0 20.0

February 0.9 105.0 15.0

March 0.8 140.0 2.0

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