METHODS OF IRRIGATION

Basin Irrigation – is a type of surface irrigation system that composes of levelled fields surrounded by
dikes/ bunds, called the basin, to prevent runoff. The source of water can be directly coming the stream
through ditches or canals, as well as from the other basins.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Water can be applied uniformly Land must be levelled, which is expensive
It has high application efficiency Up to 30% of land is occupied by bunds and
It does not require skilled labor ditches, which is a significant amount
Small streams can be used for irrigating Bunds interfere with intercultural operation
crops If not properly managed, there might be
It can easily be automated water logging which causes crop scalding
Simple and cheap equipment is used for There must be drainage for excess water
constructing bunds More labor is needed for field layout
Basin size is flexible It can cause erosion due to large inflow
Many crops can be grown in sequence rates
without changes to the design
There is no runoff
Rainfall can be maximally utilized
Deep percolation can be controlled
Leaching can be done without altering the
layout or design
Dikes prevents runoff to the adjacent basins

What crops are grown in basin irrigation?

Rice, Cotton, Maize

HYRAULICS
Opportunity Time (Tn) – time needed for the infiltration of the net depth, Infiltration Time in other words
Advance Time (Ta) - time required for the unit flow rate to reach the downstream end of the basin.
Efficiency advance ratio (R) - ratio of advance time to the opportunity time. Inversely proportional to the
application efficiency.
Inflow Time (Ti) – the time that the water flows into the basin.

Border Irrigation- is a type of surface irrigation compose of borders or strip bounded by low ridges. These
strips are constructed parallel to the field boundary. Source of water is usually a ditch or a flowing cannel
perpendicular to the borders.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Good method when irrigating close-growing More labor is required in levelling the field
plants Large irrigation stream is required
Labor requirement is less in irrigating the Repair of ridges is needed
field
Operation is simple and easy
Excess water is drained out automatically

What crops are grown in border irrigation?

Close-growing crops like wheat

Furrow Irrigation- is also a type of surface irrigation compose of furrows which are small channels along
or across the slope. 1/5 to ½ of the field is covered with water.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Less evaporation loss Furrows interfere with intercultural
High application and distribution efficiency operations
compared with flooding More skilled labor required for preparation
and levelling
Not suitable for soil with high infiltration rate

What crops are grown in furrow irrigation?

Row crops like potatoes
Sprinkler Irrigation- Overhead irrigation method utilizing sprinklers to irrigate crops.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Flexible- can be used in irrigating any kind It requires high water quality
of soil, crop, topography Expensive in front cost
Minimizes water wastage Needs large amount of energy to operate
Avoids ponding and runoff when gravity head is not enough to supply
Leads to better leaching and crop the needed pressure
germination
Most economical
Can be used when applying fertilizers, frost
control, crop cooling.
Saves water scarcity

What crops are grown in furrow irrigation?

Any crops

Drip Irrigation- direct application of water into the surface of soil. It involves placing tubing with emitters
on the ground along side of the plants. The emitters slowly drip water into the soil at the root zone.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Moisture levels are kept at an optimal range Emitters have small openings, prone to
Evaporation losses are minimized clogging
Deep percolation is reduced Salinity tends to accumulate short distance
Can be used as fertigation away from the emitter and can move to the
Weed growth is reduced root zone when there is rainfall
There is a greater demand for pesticide
High front cost

DRAINAGE

Drainage – orderly removal of excess water from the soil as well as from the soil profile or root zone.

Excess water in the root zone may be caused by excess irrigation, shallow water table, perched water
table, and lateral ground water flow to the agricultural land.

Effect of Excess Water

Effects on soil:
Impedes air circulation in the soil.
Prevents activities of microorganisms that are essential for plants.
Prevents chemical action from making nutrients available to plants.
Delays tillage, cultivation, and harvesting operations, erodes fertile soil and worsens the ill effects of
droughts.

Effects on plant growth:

Impedes root zone development, particularly root penetration.
Shortens the crop-growing season.
Promotes certain plant diseases and parasites.

Indicators of Poor Drainage

Poor drainage results in poor soil conditions and plant conditions.

Soil color is an indicator of soil drainage. For example, brown soil means well-drained soil; dark gray, blue,
or black soil reflects waterlogging. If the soil is rusty and mottled, waterlogging occurred at certain times in
a year.
Poorly drained soil develops salt crusting.
Plant conditions are also indications of poor drainage. If plants start turning yellow, it indicates poor
drainage. Stunted plants, a patchy crop, poor quality crop, and poor yield are all point to poor drainage.
Advantages of Drainage

Improves soil structure, controls erosion, improves trafficability, removes toxic salts, and reduces health
hazards.
It provides increased aeration and deepening of root zone.
Increases the water soil retention capacity of the and reduces runoff and flood damage.
Increases land value, reduces maintenance of farm machinery, and reduces production costs.

Requirements for Drainage:

Drainage requirements are determined by the type of crop, type of soil, climatic conditions, soil and crop
management practices, availability of nutrients, and biological activities.
The amount of drainage needed depends on the (1) maximum duration and extent of surface ponding, (2)
maximum depth of the water table, (3) maximum rate at which the water table can be lowered.

Drainage Coefficient (Dc)

It is defined as the depth of water to be removed from the land in 24 hours.

Generally, Dc is expressed in mm/day.
In humid areas, common values of Dc are 3/8 – ¾ in./day (9.5-19.1mm/day). However, in arid areas, the
value of Dc depends on the design of irrigation systems. Commonly, the values of Dc are between 0.012
in./h and 0.24 in./day.

Classification of Drainage

Drainage can be classified into two: (1) surface and (2) sub-surface.

Surface Drainage

It entails collection, transportation, and removal of water from the soil surface.
The removal is done by gravity flow through overland surface and through channels.
Applies to flat or gently sloping lands where water gets ponded because of several factors.

Type of Surface Drainage Systems

The excess water from the soil surface is removed by land levelling, land grading, bedding, and ditching as
well as diverting water from land by diversion ditches.
Surface drainage is composed of: (1) collection of water; (2) disposal system; (3) outlet (natural or pumped)
Two Types of Surface Drainage System

Surface Drains or Ditches

Random Field Ditches – suitable for drainage of scattered depressions where the depth of cut is not
greater than 1 meter and several potholes are drained with a single drain.

Design Criteria:
For draining an area of > 2 ha, a 10-year recurrence interval is used to determine the capacity. For an area
< 2 ha, the capacity is not considered.
The channel should follow the route of minimum cut and least interference with farming operations.
Usually, the channel is V-shaped or parabolic. For dimensioning channels, the depth and side slopes
depend on the nature of farming operations.
The depth of the ditch is affected by topography, outlet elevation, and area to be drained (capacity of the
channel).
The velocity of the flow should not be erosive. If depends on soil conditions, vegetative cover, and flow
depth. If the flow depth is less than 100 cm, the velocity of 0.3-0.6 m/s is satisfactory.
The channel grade depends on soil characteristics. For sandy soils, the approximate grade is 0.2% and for
clay soil it is 0.5%. The roughness coefficient depends on the nature of the vegetation. A value of 0.04 for
Manning’s n can be used for good estimates.

Bedding – suitable for draining flat lands with slope less than 1.5% where the soils are slowly permeable
and pipe drainage is not economical.
Design Criteria:
The important design parameters are width and length of the bed. The width of the bed depends on the
slope, drainage characteristics of the soil and cropping pattern.
The bed is 90-300 m long and is V-shaped or parabolic.
Farming practices may be parallel or normal to the dead furrow.
Tillage operations parallel to a dead furrow have the tendency to retard flow to the dead furrow. Plowing is
always parallel to the dead furrow.

Parallel Field Ditch System – similar with bedding system except that channels are spaced farther apart,
and the capacity may be greater than that of bedding. It is suitable for poorly drained flat land.

Design Criteria:
Its design is similar to bedding system, except that beds are not equally spaced, and the water enters the
bed from one side.
The maximum row spacing is about 180 m, and the maximum top width is about 360 m, and for highly
erodible soils the length of the bed should be less than 90 m.
The capacity depends on the soil type, grade, and drainage area.
The minimum depths are 0.2m, the minimum cross-sectional area is 0.5 m2 and the side slope is 8:1
(minimum Z).
The shape is trapezoidal, V-shaped, or parabolic.
Farm operations, such as plowing are parallel to the drain and planting and cultivation are normal to the
direction of dead furrow.
W Ditch System – is a parallel field ditch system with narrow spacing (5-15 m) and all spoil is placed
between channels.

Advantages of W Ditch System:

It can be constructed or maintained with ordinary farm equipment.
It may serve as a field road.
Allows better row drainage.
It may be seeded with grass or other row crops.
It may be used as turn row.

Disadvantages of W Ditch System:

Large area is occupied by drains.
It involves more earth work.
The spoil is not available for filling depressions.

Parallel Lateral Ditch System – it is similar to parallel field ditch system, except that the ditches are
deeper and cannot be crossed by machinery. It is suitable for deep, permeable soils underlain with
impermeable layer.

Design Criteria:
The depth is greater than 60cm and side slope is <4:1 and may have more capacity than has bedding.
It is used to provide surface drainage and initial subsidence of organic soil prior to subsurface drainage and
controls the water table. The water table is maintained at 45-120 cm below the surface.
Spacing: the minimum spacing is 200m for sandy soils, 100m for other mineral soils, and 60m for organic
soils.
Bottom Width: the minimum bottom width is 1.2m for sandy, 0.3m for other organic soils, and 0.3m for
organic soils.
Depth: The minimum depth is 1.2m for sandy soils, 0.8m for other mineral sols and 0.9m for organic soils.
Plowing is parallel to the channel and planting & cultivation are parallel to the ditch.
Cross-Slope Ditch System – suitable for drainage of sloping land where soils have poor internal drainage,
subsurface drainage is not economical, and soil is very steep for bedding and ditches.
It is used for both drainage and erosion control.
For drainage, it is called diversion ditch.
For erosion control, it is called a terrace.

Subsurface Drainage

Occurs below the soil surface.

Removes excess water from the root zone or soil profile.
Applies to soils with low hydraulic conductivity, high groundwater table, poor outlet conditions, or low
hydraulic conductivity at moderate depth below the root zone.
Ditches or buried tubes are installed in the soil profile at an appropriate depth to collect and convey excess
water in the root zone to a gravity or pumped outlet.
Types of Subsurface Drainage Systems

Natural or Random System – is a good drainage of isolated areas and is adopted when the field does not
require complete drainage with equally spaced drains.

Herringbone – suitable for areas where laterals are long, and waterways require thorough drainage. It is
adopted in areas with concaved surface, and the main is laid near normal to the slope.

Grid-Iron System – is the most common and is similar to herringbone, except that the laterals enter the
main from one side. It is more economical than herringbone because the number of junctions is reduced.

It is more suitable where the waterway is of considerable width.

It is difficult for the drain line to cross the waterway due to erosion.
Cutoff or Interceptor – generally located near the upper edge of the wet area and are used to intercept
groundwater entering the field from the surrounding areas. These conditions are more common due to the
shallow impermeable layer and seepage from the waterway.

Design of Subsurface Drainage

There are three issues that need to be addressed for design of subsurface systems:
(1) depth of drains; (2) spacing of drains; and (3) size of drains.

Deep of Percolation and Buildup

When computing drain spacing, deep percolation and buildup in the water table due to irrigation or rainfall
should be estimated or measured. If measurements is not available, the amount of expected deep
percolation from each irrigation must be estimated.
The buildup can be determined by dividing the deep percolation by the specific yield of the material in the
rootzone.
Example: Compute buildup of the water table per irrigation if the soil is sandy loam with an infiltration rate of
1.5 in./h and irrigation is 5 in. each time. About 5% of irrigation water runs off the irrigation field.

Solution: The net inflow of water into the soil per irrigation is (100% - 5%) of 5 in. = 4.75 in. The deep
percolation for the infiltration rate of 1.5in./h is given by a table for approximate deep percolation from
surface irrigation = 24%, which amounts to 4.65 in. x 24% = 1.14 in. It is assumed that the hydraulic
conductivity in the soil between the root zone and the drain depth is 1.5 in./h (0.91 m/day). The specific
yield corresponding to this hydraulic conductivity value is given by the logarithmic graph equivalent to 13%.
The buildup of the water table for a given irrigation can be computed as the deep percolation divided by the
specific yield:

Buildup = 1.14/0.13 = 8.77 in (22.3 cm)

Try: Compute the buildup of the water table if the total readily available moisture is 4.5 in. (allowable
consumptive use between irrigations) and the rate of infiltration is 1.25 in./h with corresponding deep
percolation of 25%.

Computation of Drain Spacing Under Steady State Condition

For steady-state condition, it is assumed that :

 rainfall intensity or irrigation rate is constant, drainage is constant
 the rainfall intensity is equal to the drainage rate, and
 the water depth does not change with time.

It is assumed that soil is homogenous with a constant hydraulic conductivity K , drains are equally spaced
at a distance S , Darcy’s law is valid, the impermeable layer is a depth d from the drain, and the rate of
replenishment of (i, v, Dc) is constant.
It is assumed that the Dupuit’s Assumption hold – that is, the hydraulic gradient at any point is equal to the
slope of the water table at that point and the floe to the drain is horizontal.
Irrigation System Planning, Design, Operation and Maintenance

Irrigation Planning

It begins with an assessment of water resources availability and irrigation potential.

Availability of Water Resources

Irrigation planning for an area is subject to the availability of water resources, which greatly vary worldwide.
The FAO report on the state of the world’s water resources for food and agriculture showed that 11
countries used more than 40% of their available water or irrigation, this being the threshold considered
critical water use.
Another 8 countries used 20% of their water resources for irrigation, indicating impending water scarcity.

Irrigation Potential

Irrigation potential not only depends on the availability and quality of water resources, but also on climate,
soil and available energy.

System Planning

The key elements in planning an irrigation system include:

Ownership – entails to the ownership of the system, whether owned by the farmer or there are external
groups involved (government, NGO, etc.).
Level of financing – financing of the system is directly tied to ownership and size.
Timeline – time horizon for completing the planning directly related to ownership and size.
Source of water – not all areas have local source of good quality water available for irrigation, thus
distance from the water source would greatly affect costs and design.
Climate and Soils – climate and soil determine the crops that can be grown and the amount of irrigation
needed.
Crops – the increase in crop yield due to irrigation, the number of crops that can be grown and the quality
of produce play a key role in determining the financial viability.
Irrigation methods – the methods to be envisaged for irrigating crops are important for system planning,
as they involve costs and labor.
Source of energy – energy determines the system operation and its cost.
Preparation of system proposal – the proposal includes feasibility study, defining system objectives,
appraisal, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, economic analysis, and meeting the political, social,
cultural, environmental considerations.

Feasibility Study. Determine whether the system will be viable needs to be undertaken. This study
determines whether a more advanced study or a full proposal preparation is desirable.
Proposal Preparation. When the feasibility study signals the preparation of a full proposal, a complete
system plan is prepared. This includes all relevant technical and non-technical details.
System Implementation. This consists of developing a plan of action, collection of labor, acquisition of
materials, obtaining needed finance, preparing the budget, involving stakeholders and assigning of
responsibilities, initiation of field work, contracting, supervising, managing, and contingency plans.
Monitoring and Evaluation. Monitoring is an integral part of system implementation; it starts from day one.
Close monitoring saves time and resources and help track the progress on regular basis and ensures
timely completion. Likewise, evaluation helps ensure the accomplishment of system objectives,
implementation of planned activities, anticipation of unforeseen difficulties, and gain of anticipated benefits.
Financial Analysis. During the system implementation, it is important to keep track of finances and make
sure that the budget allocated for each activity is not exceeded.
Investment Analysis. For the system to remain viable, the money borrowed must be paid back from the
income generated from crop production and tax collection. The investment must be carried out over the
system period, meaning costs and benefits are spread over time, keeping in mind the future revenue
converted to present worth.
Farm Irrigation System Design

Farm Irrigation Systems

Methods of Diversion – the source of water is either surface water or groundwater, and this is diverted
either by gravity, pumping, or both.
Methods of Conveyance – the source of water is connected to the farm by a system of conveyance, which
can be either an open channel or a pipe.
Methods of Application – water is introduced to farm using basin, border, furrow, sprinkler, or tickle
irrigation method.
Flow Measurement and Regulation – ensures that all parts of the farm are irrigated, flow may need to be
adjusted. Likewise, it allows detection of clogged pipes, and channels, plugged screens, worn pumps, and
leaking channels and pipes.

Design of Irrigation Systems

Data Requirements
Identification and Evaluation of Water Sources
Evaluation of Water Quality
Determination of Soil Characteristics
Identification of Crops
Design Daily Irrigation Requirements
Alternative Irrigation System Designs
Performance of Alternative Irrigation Systems
Annual Cost of Alternative Systems
Selection of the System
Irrigation Operation and Management

Irrigation Scheduling – is a fundamental component of irrigation management and is vital for optimum
agricultural production. Proper irrigation scheduling is essential to achieve the objectives of irrigation that
entails the efficient use of water, energy, fertilizer, and labor optimum crop production without undue
environmental impact.

Factors affecting frequency of Irrigation

1. Climate and season
-directly affects the variation of evapotranspiration
2. Soil characteristics
-soil retentive capacity
-structures, aggregates, organic matter affects its retentive capacity
3. Crop characteristics
-sensitivity to water stress
-crops have different consumptive use
4. Crop and water management practices
- crop mulching, weeding, hoeing reduces evapotranspiration
- conservation of water practices

Criteria for scheduling irrigation

1. Plant Criteria
- Appearance, physical characteristics
2. Soil Water Status
- Soil Moisture Content
- depth of irrigation
3. Climatological Approach
- Empirical Formula
- Evaporimeter, Lysimeters

Methods of Irrigation Scheduling

Plant Response to ETc and Soil Water

Capacity of Soil Moisture Reservoir
Plant Root Zone Depth
Soil Water Maintenance
Checkbook Accounting Method
Simplified Application of ETc Data
Water Balance Approach
USDA Water Balance Technique
Soil Water Measurement Method
Plant Status Indicators

Irrigation Models

Real-Time Irrigation Scheduling

Canal Irrigation Scheduling
Rigid Schedule
Flexible Schedule
Warabandi
Shejpali

Environmental Impacts
Importance of Irrigation Return Flows
Impact on Water Quality
Measures for Reducing Return Flows
Impact of Drainage