IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

ENGINEERING

LECTURE III:

COMPONENTS OF AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM

By: Ir. NAHAYO Déogratias
Lecturer, Civil Engineering Department
Main Components of an Irrigation System
 The intake structure: takes or pumps water and
directs from the source of supply, such as river,
reservoir or groundwater source, into the irrigation
system.
 The conveyance systems: Transports water from the
main intake structure to the field ditches.
 The distribution system which assures the transport
of water through the filed ditches to the irrigated fields.
 The application system that transports water within
the fields.
 The drainage: This ensures the removal of excess
water (caused by rainfall or irrigation) from the field.
2
Components of a Surface Irrigation System
and Possible Structures
 The water source
 The intake facilities
 The conveyance system
 The water storage facilities
 The field canal and/or pipe system
 The infield water use system
 The drainage system
 Accessibility infrastructure 3
The water source
 Surface water
 Groundwater

 Water abstracted from a river, lake,

reservoir, borehole, well, spring

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The intake facilities
 The intake is the point where the water
enters into the conveyance system of the
irrigation scheme.
 Water may reach this point by gravity or
through pumping.
 Intake facilities will be dealt with during the
design of head works in Irrigation
Engineering
5
The conveyance system
 Water can be conveyed from the headworks to the inlet of a night
storage reservoir or a block of fields either by gravity, through open
canals or pipes, or through pumping into pipelines.
 The method of conveyance depends mostly on the terrain
(topography and soil type) and on the difference in elevation
between the intake at the headworks and the irrigation scheme.
 In order to be able to command the intended area, the conveyance
system should discharge its water at the highest point of the
scheme.
 The water level in the conveyance canal itself does not need to be
above ground level all along the canal, but its starting bed level
should be such that there is sufficient command for the lower order
canals. Where possible, it could run quasi parallel to the contour
line.


6
The conveyance system (cont’d)
 Although an open conveyance canal may be cheaper
per unit length than a pipeline, the latter would need
to be selected when:
 The water source is at lower elevation than the
irrigation area, and thus pumping is required
 The topography of the land is very uneven; such that
constructing an open canal could either be more
expensive or even impossible (for example when
crossing rivers and gullies).
 A piped conveyance system also eliminates water
losses through evaporation and seepage. An added
advantage is that it does not provide the environment
for water-borne disease vectors along the
conveyance. 7
The water storage facilities
 Night storage reservoirs (NSR) could be built if the
irrigation scheme is large enough to warrant such
structures.

 They store water during times when there is abstraction

from the water source, but no irrigation.

 In countries where irrigation practices are developed, it

is common practice to have continuous flow in the
conveyance system combined with a NSR located at
the highest point of a block or the scheme. 8
The water storage facilities
(cont’d)
 Irrigation would then be practiced during daytime using
the combined flow from the conveyance system and the
NSR.

 Depending on the size of the scheme one could

construct either one reservoir located at the highest part
of the scheme or a number of reservoirs, each located
at the entrance of a block of fields.

 The conveyance system ends at the point where the

water enters the reservoir. 9
The field canal and/or pipe system
 Canals or pipelines are needed to carry the water from
the conveyance canal or the NSR to a block of fields
(main canal or pipeline).

 Secondary canals or pipelines supply water from the

main canal or pipeline to the tertiary or field canals or
pipelines, which are located next to the field.

 Sometimes no distinction is made between main and

secondary and the canal or pipe system from the
reservoir to the tertiary canal is called main canal or
pipeline.

 The tertiary canals or the pipelines with hydrants are

used to supply water to the furrows or borderstrips or 10
basins.
The field canal and/or pipe system (cont’d)
 Where canals are used to deliver irrigation water, they
should be constructed above ground level, as the
water level in canals should be above field level for
siphoning to take place.

 At times, water from the field canal is siphoned to a

field earthen ditch from where the furrows,
borderstrips and basins are supplied.

 When a piped distribution system is used, the gated

pipe is connected to the hydrant and water is provided
to the field from the gates of the gated pipe.

 Alternatively, a hose is connected to the hydrant to

supply water to the field. 11
The infield water use system
 This refers mainly to the method of water application to
the field, which can be furrow, borderstrip or basin
irrigation.

 It is important to note that the method of conveyance

and distribution up to field level is independent of the
selected infield irrigation method.

 In irrigation system design, the starting point is the

infield water use system as this provides information
on the surface irrigation method to use, the amount of
water to be applied to the field and how often it has to
be applied.
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 The infield water use system (cont’d)
With the above information, we can then work
backwards or upstream to designing:

 The field canal,

 Distribution,
 Storage,
 Conveyance system and ultimately the intake
facilities, and

We can work forwards or downstream to determine the

capacity of the drainage facilities. 13
The drainage system
 This is the system that removes excess water
from the irrigated lands.

 The water level in the drains should be below

the field level and hence field drains should be
constructed at the lower end of each field.

 These field or tertiary drains would then be

connected to secondary drains and then the
main drain, from where excess water is
removed from the irrigation scheme.
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Accessibility infrastructure
The scheme is to be made accessible
through the construction of main roads
leading to the scheme, and farm roads
within the scheme.

15
Different Means of Irrigation Water
Supply Systems

16
 Comparison between Irrigation
Systems

Relative moisture varies the least in drip irrigation and the most in furrow irrigation
systems.
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SURFACE IRRIGATION – A
GENERAL OVERVIEW
 Oldest and most widely used system in the world

 95% irrigated land in the world is surface -FAO,

1989.

 Furrow , Border strip and basin irrigation

 Advantages: easy to operate and maintain

 Disadvantages: inefficient, labour intensive 18

CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION
OF SURFACE IRRIGATION
 Soil type
 Type of crop
 Required depth of irrigation application
 Land slope
 Field shape
 Labour availability
 Farmers preferences
 Location of water source in relation to the land
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SOIL TYPE
 All surface methods prefer heavy soils –
low infiltration rates

 Low field application efficiencies on light

soils.

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TYPE OF CROP
 FURROW IRRIGATION – ROW CROPS
e.g. Maize, also suited for shallow rooted
crops
 Borderstrips can be used for row crops or
close growing crops that do not favour
ponding for long times
 BASIN – for crops that can withstand
ponding for up to 24hrs
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REQUIRED DEPTH OF
IRRIGATION APPLICATION
 Low application depths – furrow irrigation

 Large application depths – basin

 Border strip irrigation can have higher

irrigation efficiencies than the 2 above

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LAND SLOPE
 All methods favour relatively flat lands –
less than 5%

 Basin – 0.1% slope

 Border strips – up to 5% depending on

soil type

 Furrow – same as borders but be more

careful as erosion easily sets in 23
FIELD SHAPE
 Regular shaped fields are preferable

24
LABOUR AVAILABILITY
 Basin irrigation for example requires less
labour than the other two methods and
may be preferred in areas where labour is
a problem

 Compare with pressurised system

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IRRIGATION EFFICIENCIES
 Conveyance efficiency, Ec
 Field canal efficiency, Eb
 Application efficiency Ea
 Distribution Efficiency, Ed =Ec x Eb
 Farm level efficiency, Eb x Ea
 Gross project efficiency Ep:= Ec x Eb x
Ea
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 Eas OF THE DIFFERENT SURFACE
IRRIGATION METHODS

 Furrow 65%, range is 50 – 70% -DPL &

runoff

 Border strip: 75%, 60% commonly used

 Basins: 80%, 60 – 65% commonly used

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IMPORTANCE OF LAND LEVELLING
 To enable efficient irrigation

 Removal of surface water

 Low areas may receive excess water – water logging

 High areas may not receive sufficient water – low

yields

 Salt, as in borders may accumulate in high areas

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METHODS OF LAND LEVELLING
 The profile method

 The contour method

 The plane method

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PROFILE METHOD
 Grid points in proposed direction of slope
are used to represent a strip of land

 Points are plotted to show existing profile

 The req’rd gradient is superimposed &

grade line moved thru trial & error until
the volume of cuts =vol of fill
 Check work with level instrument or
profile boards. 30
THE CONTOUR ADJUSTMENT
METHOD
 A method of adjustment by trial and error, of the
contour lines on a plan map

 Applicable where the cross slope can be made

uniform, where grading can be done over a
period of time, shaping land btwn terraces & in
removing extreme ridges from land to irrigated.

 Requires an accurate contour map with adequate

reference points & bench marks both for vert. &
Hor. Control. 31
FLOOD IRRIGATION METHOD
FLOODING IRRIGATION Distribution Channel

Siphons

Farm plot 0.1 – 0.5 ha

Farm Plot Boundaries

32
BORDER IRRIGATION METHOD

BORDER IRRIGATION
Distribution Ridge
channel

Siphons Border width

Border length

33
FURROW IRRIGATION METHOD

FURROW IRRIGATION

34
BASIN IRRIGATION METHOD
BASIN IRRIGATION
Distribution Channel

Earth
Channel

35

Basin Ridge around the basin

UNEVEN WATER DISTRIBUTION DUE TO POOR LAND
LEVELLING AND BIG SLOPE OF THE BORDER

Deep percolation
Plants not received
enough water

BORDER IRRIGATION WITH POOR LAND LEVELLING

Deep percolation at the end of the border

BORDER IRRIGATION WITH BIG SLOPES OF THE SOIL SURFSACE

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NUMBER OF SIPHONS PER BORDER

USING ONE SIPHONS PER BORDER

USING TWO SIPHONS PER BORDER

37
USE THE CORRECT NUMBER OF SIPHONS WITH
THE CORRECT FLOW

USING THREE SIPHONS PER BORDER

USING FOUR SIPHONS PER BORDER

38
Main irrigation structures

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Four phases of surface irrigation

 The advance phase

 The storage or ponding phase

 The depletion phase

 The recession phase

40
Advance phase
 Begins when water is applied onto the field at the
upstream end and ends when it reaches the
downstream end of the field.

 The stream size applied at the head of the furrow,

borderstrip and basin should be greater than the soil
infiltration rate.

 This means that part of the water advances over the

soil surface to the end of the field and part of the water
infiltrates into the soil.

 The time between the start of irrigation and water

advancement to the end of the field is called the
advance phase. 41
Storage or ponding phase
 When the water arrives at the tail end and the water
supply at the head is continued, water floods the
whole field.

 Some water continues infiltrating into the soil, some

water ponds on the field and some excess water is
collected as runoff.

 The time elapsed between the arrival of the water at

the tail end and the stopping of the inflow at the top
end is called the storage phase or ponding phase.

 This phase ends when the inflow at the head of the

field is stopped.
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Depletion phase
 After stopping the inflow at the head end, water may
continue to pond on the soil surface for a while.

 Some water still infiltrates the soil, with the excess

being collected as runoff. At a certain moment water
will start receding from the head end.

 The time between the stop of the inflow at the head

end and the appearance of the first bare soil that was
under water is called the lag time or depletion phase.

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Recession phase
 After water starts receding from the head end, it
continues to the tail end. The time when water starts to
disappear at the head end until it eventually recedes
from the whole field is called the recession phase.

 The time-difference between the recession and

advance curve is called the contact time or the intake
opportunity time.

 This is the time in hours or minutes that any particular

point in the field is in contact with water.

 Thus, by increasing or decreasing the contact time, one

can, within limits, regulate the depth of water applied.
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Recession phase (cont’d)
The following three basic principles are fundamental for
surface irrigation, though the possibility of applying
them depends a lot on the soil type:

 The depth of infiltration varies in relation to contact

time

 The contact time can be increased by using flatter

slopes, increasing the length of run or reducing the
stream flow; any one or a combination of these factors
may be used

 The contact time can be decreased by steepening the

slope, shortening the length of run or increasing the 45
stream flow.
Infiltration and contact time
 Infiltration, which is the movement of water into the
soil, is an important factor affecting surface irrigation
in that it determines the time the soil should be in
contact with water (the intake opportunity time or the
contact time).

 It also determines the rate at which water has to be

applied to the fields, thereby controlling the advance
rate of the overland flow and avoiding excessive deep
percolation or excessive runoff.

 The infiltration or intake rate is defined as the rate at

which water enters into the soil, usually expressed in
mm/hr. No matter where water infiltrates rapidly when
it first arrives, after which it slows down until it reaches
46
a steady state.
Infiltration and contact time (cont’d)
 This steady state is referred to as the basic infiltration
rate, which is close to the value of the saturated
hydraulic conductivity.

 When the basic infiltration rate is reached, the

cumulative infiltration curve becomes a straight line
and the basic infiltration rate curve becomes a
horizontal line.

 This phenomenon is shown using a graph.

 The infiltration rates of soils are influenced, among

others, by the soil texture. 47
Infiltration and contact time (cont’d)
 Heavy soils have low infiltration rates by virtue of their
small pore sizes, while light soils have high infiltration
rates because of larger pore sizes.

 The infiltration rate is a difficult parameter to define

accurately, but it has to be determined in order to
describe the hydraulics of the surface irrigation event.

 When planning a furrow irrigation scheme, one can

determine the infiltration rate by two methods: the
infiltrometer method and the actual furrow method.

 The former method can also be used to determine the

infiltration rate for borderstrip and basin irrigation
schemes. 48
Infiltration and contact time (cont’d)

49
Infiltration and contact time
(cont’d)

50
Intake structure
 water is taken from a water source,
passes through a network of irrigation
canals and is delivered to the farmers’
fields.

 The entrance of water from the field

channel to the farmer’s field is called the
field intake or the farm turnout
51
Methods of water intake
Four common methods of water intake from:
 a field channel,

 with illustrations of a breach,

 a gated intake,

 syphons and spiles

52
Illustrations of a breach

A breach is a temporary opening in the embankment of the

field channel, made by a farmer whose field is to be
irrigated (Figure 2). This method of water intake involves
no capital cost, but it has disadvantages:

 frequent opening and closing of breaches weakens the

embankment;
 opening and closing a breach changes the cross-
sectional shape of the field channel; and
 there is no discharge control. 53
A gated intake and spile structures
 A gated intake structure is made of wood,
masonry or concrete, and is equipped with
a gate (Figure 4). Such a structure enables
the farmer to control the water inflow, but,
in comparison with a breach, it is
expensive

 A spile is a short pipe, commonly made of

a hard plastic such as PVC, but clay pipes
54
are also used (3)
A siphon
 A siphon is a curved pipe, often made of a plastic such as
PVC.

 The pipe is filled with water and laid over the channel
bank at every irrigation (Figure 5). Good water flow
control is possible by changing the number of syphons,
the diameter of the syphons, or both.

 Their disadvantage is the price of the pipes. Also, for

efficient operation, the water level in the field channel
needs to be some 10 cm above the field.
55
A breach and spiles

Disadvantages are that spiles can become blocked with 56

mud or plant debris, and that the pipes can be expensive
A gated intake and syphons

57
Pumping
 A fifth method of water intake to field is
by pumping.

 Because of the high costs – capital costs

for the equipment as well as operating
costs - this is only justified if the water
level in the field channel is lower than
the level of the field to be irrigated. 58
Choice of water intake
The choice of water intake method depends on local
conditions. The factors that have to be considered
include:
 the water level in the field channel;

 discharge control;

 the irrigation method(s) to be used;

 the scheduling of irrigation (duration of water delivery;

whether continuous or rotational supply); and
 the location of the farmer’s field in the canal system
(upper or lower end). 59
Irrigation Schedule
Two factors are important when considering the influence of
the irrigation schedule on the choice of intake method:

 what is the duration and frequency of water supply to the

field, and is only one field supplied or are two or more
supplied simultaneously?

 If the duration of water delivery to a field is short, then

the use of a gated intake is the most practical because it
can be opened and closed easily as many times as 60
needed.
Irrigation Schedule (cont’d)
 The opening and closing of a breach in a
canal embankment will take some time,
and, when a canal bank is opened and
closed frequently, the cross-section of
the field channel will be eventually
become badly degraded.
 For effective use of syphons, the
duration of water delivery should be long
in relation to the time it takes to get them
all started. 61
Discharge
Elements that play an important role in determining
suitable discharges :

 the method of irrigation chosen, influenced by soil

type, field slope, the size and area of the field, etc.
 availability of water;
 the type of crop; and
 its stage of growth.

62
Thank You For Your
Attention

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