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Irrigation requirement and conveyance efficiency are requisites in the design and
preparation of large-scale national water master plan or small-scale irrigation projects at the
community- or farm-level. In a water distribution system, conveyance losses are inevitable be it in
open channels or in pipes. The quantity of water available from the source together with the
efficiency of the conveyance system define the total hectarage of a particular irrigation project
can carry. After compounding conveyance losses, the remaining amount of irrigation water
from the source until this water reaches the farmers’ fields is called diversion water requirement.
It is this net amount of water the irrigation project needs to provide at all times in order to sustain
crop production in the project area. This is our concern in this laboratory exercise.
Prior to preparing irrigation water master plan, sufficient information must be known. This
includes (Philippine Agricultural Engineering Standard 602, 2016):
a. Area to be irrigated. Location, layout or shape, fixed boundaries and obstruction in the
area shall be determined. A map of the area shall be obtained. Details on elevation and
topography shall be known.
b. Water supply. The physical and chemical suitability, location and supply reliability of
water supply shall be assessed.
d. Crop. The type of crop/s, suitability to climate and soil shall be assessed.
g. Irrigation method. The type of irrigation method and future flexibility shall be determined.
After gathering the needed data and information about the project area and
accomplishing the required computational activities, you should be able to solve the total
irrigation water requirements of the project area particularly:
Qty Description/Specification
1 pc Scientific calculator
1 pc Ballpen or pencil
1 lot Writing pad/paper
Step 1 Gather from reliable sources and from the field the aforementioned data and
information about the project area.
After initial investigation, the layout of the irrigation system can be prepared which, in turn, is the
basis in determining the irrigation water requirements. The design process and computational
activities are schematically presented below:
Seepage and percolation in the service area can be determined by using reference values
given in Table 1.
Problem: Determine the crop water requirement of lowland rice when planted on
a silty clay soil and the ETc of rice at full grown stage is 4.5 mm/day.
Solution:
Therefore, the crop water requirement (CWR) of lowland rice is 6.0 mm/day when planted on
a silty clay soil and ETc is 4.5 mm/day.
Note: Crops attain maximum ETc at full grown stage usually at the onset of
flowering. The 6.0 mm/day maximum crop requirement shall be supplied
by the irrigation project so that the water needs during any other growth
stage are readily supplied.
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or
(An example is postponed at this point until after the presentation of the required parameters
needed in the FWR calculation.)
When rain falls on the soil surface, some of it infiltrates into the soil, some stagnates on the
surface, while some flows over the surface as runoff. When the rainfall stops, some of the water
stagnating on the surface evaporates to the atmosphere, while the rest slowly infiltrates into the
soil. From all the water that infiltrates into the soil, some percolates below the root zone, while the
rest remains stored in the root zone.
In other words, the effective rainfall (ER) is the total rainfall minus runoff minus evaporation and
minus deep percolation. Only the water retained in the root zone can be used by the plants,
and represents what is called the effective part of the rainwater. The term effective rainfall is
used to define this fraction of the total amount of rainwater useful for meeting the water need of
the crops.
Effective rainfall shall be determined using a minimum of 10-year rainfall data. This can be
calculated by using hydrologic frequency analysis discussed in the course – Hydrology (AE 163).
To estimate the fraction of the total rainfall which is used effectively by crops, the following
formulas can be applied, which applies in areas with a maximum slope of 4 to 5 percent:
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and
Problem: Calculate the effective rainfall for the following mean monthly rainfall
(mm/mo) derived from a hypothetical 10-year data set:
Solution:
Note that effective rainfall shall be subtracted from the crop water requirement as reflected in
Equation 2.
The land preparation water requirement (LPWR) shall be calculated as the total of land soaking
water requirement (LSR), standing water (SW) and replenishment for evaporation (ETo), thus:
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Information on the depth of the crop root zone and soil physical properties shall be known and
obtained from reliable sources. Land soaking requirement (LSR) shall be computed using the
formula:
(Eq. 5)
Table 2. Representative physical properties of soils (in parentheses are normal ranges)
Soil Apparent Specific Total Pore Permanent Wilting Point or Residual
Texture Gravity (As) Space (n, %) Moisture Content (RMC, %)
Sandy 1.65 38 2–7
(1.55 – 1.80) (32 – 42)
Sandy Loam 1.50 43 6 – 16
(1.40 – 1.60) (40 – 47)
Loam 1.40 47 7 – 17
(1.35 – 1.40) (43 – 49)
Clay Loam 1.35 49 22
(1.30 – 1.40) (47 – 51)
Silty Clay 1.30 51 17 – 29
(1.30 – 1.40) (49 – 53)
Clay 1.25 53 20 – 24
(1.20 – 1.30) (51 – 55)
Abridged from: Orcullo (1997)
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Problem: Consider the same data in Example 1, determine the land soaking
requirement given the following:
Solution:
Therefore, the land soaking requirement (LSR) for silty clay lowland paddy is 63.3 mm when the
ETc is 4.5 mm/day.
Note that this 63.3 mm depth of water is the amount needed to saturate the given silty clay
soil. In calculating the land preparation water requirement, this 63.3 mm depth of water shall
be applied in addition to standing water and evaporative power of the atmosphere, as
illustrated in Example 5 below.
Problem: Consider the same data in our previous examples, determine the land
preparation water requirement given the following:
Solution:
Note that this amount of 76.7 mm/day shall be supplied by the irrigation project.
Seepage and percolation in farm ditches can be determined by using reference values of
seepage and percolation and canal dimensions:
Equation 6 is very seldom used. Instead, the application efficiency is more convenient to use.
Application losses can be expressed using values of field application efficiency (Ea), which
depends on the type of field application system (see Table 3).
Light soils include sand and loamy sand; while sandy loam, loam, silt loam and silt are medium
soils. Heavy soils are silty clay loam, silty clay and clay.
At this point that all parameters have been discussed, an example in the calculation of farm
water requirement (FWR) using Equation 2b is in order.
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Problem: Consider the same data in our previous examples, determine the farm
water requirement given the following:
Solution:
Note that this amount of 170.7 mm/day shall be supplied by the irrigation project.
or
Seepage and percolation in the conveyance structures such as supplementary farm ditches,
main farm ditches, lateral canals, sub-lateral canals and main canal shall be determined to
account for the conveyance losses.
The conveyance loss per meter of channel length differs per channel type and is 0.2 m³ per day
for clay channels and 0.01 m³ per day for concrete channels.
For planning and design purposes, reference values in Table 4 for conveyance efficiency (Ec)
can be used.
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Problem: Consider the same data in all of our previous examples, determine the
diversion water requirement, or total irrigation needs, or total capacity of
the irrigation project given the following:
Solution:
Therefore, the irrigation water needs of the project area is 189.7 mm/day or 1,897 m3/ha/day.
In other words, the irrigation project shall be designed to deliver not lower than this amount.
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If space is not enough, continue at the left-side directly opposite the term being defined.
1. What are the information and data needed in the calculation of irrigation water
requirements? Describe their relevance.
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Assume other data, if necessary. Determine the total irrigation water requirements of the
project area in terms of:
(Draw conclusions as to the things you have learned and/or experienced out of this exercise.)
16
Doorenbos, J. & Pruit, W.O. (1977). Guidelines for predicting crop water requirements. FAO
Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 24.
Food and Agriculture Organization. (n.d)a. Irrigation water requirements. Retrieved from
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w4347e/w4347e0c.htm
International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. (n.d). ICID [Logo]. Retrieved from
https://icid2019.com/international-commision-on-irrigation-and-drainage/
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. (n.d). NASEM [Logo]. Retrieved
from http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/biso/SS/index.htm
National Irrigation Administration. (1979). Design guides and criteria for irrigation canals, O&M
roads, drainage channels & appurtenant structures.
Orcullo, N.A. (1997). Irrigation systems handbook. 1st ed. Pasig City, Philippines: Busy Book
Distributors.
Roa, G.S. (2017). Irrigation scheduling. Lecture notes in AE 152 – Irrigation and Drainage. 1st
Semester, SY 2016-2017. Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College, Provincial institute of
Agriculture, Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur.
Sabia Landscaping and Tree Service. (n.d). SLTS [Logos]. Retrieved from
http://www.sabialandscaping.com/landscaping/seasonal-yard-garden-services/ and
http://www.sabialandscaping.com/irrigation-drainage/
van Lieshout, A.M. & Brouwer, J.A.M. (n.d). Irrigation water requirement. International Institute for
Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), The Netherlands.