Module 3: Principles of irrigation and drainage

engineering

Willis Gwenzi:
 Review of previous lecture
• Role of an agricultural engineer in irrigation

• Irrigation feasibility studies

• Irrigation agronomy
- Available water
- Total available water
- Allowable moisture depletion
- Crop water use
- Irrigation interval
- Irrigation requirements
 Introduction
• IRRIGATION: series of operations according to water is conveyed and
applied to crop-field with the aim of increasing the productivity (an in
some cases thermal regulation, nutrition, fieldworks, chemical soil
treatments are included but less important)

• MOTIVATION: plants under water stress reduce the stomatal

openings, and are not able to assimilate CO2 from the
atmosphere at the maximum rate. Production of new tissues,
flowers and fruits is thus reduced

• plants under water stress reduce the stomatal openings, and are not able
to assimilate CO2 from the atmosphere at the maximum rate. Production
of new tissues, flowers and fruits/yield is reduced
 The agricultural engineer in irrigation

• Traditionally, the task of the engineer was to design a

system for conveying water from source and distribute
it evenly over the agricultural field (irrigation
engineering)

• Due to failure of irrigation projects arising from saline

and waterlogged soils => extended to removal of
unwanted water (drainage engineering)

• Agricultural engineer: fills gap between civil engineer

and agriculturalist
 Irrigation feasibility studies
• Often done by a team of consulting engineers
• Features:
• Surveys land and water resources

• Evaluate present state of agriculture

• Develops proposal for new irrigation projects

• Outline possible designs of engineering works incl. costs relative

to other alternatives
• Formulate estimated costs for the project

• Economic analysis – costs vs benefits

=> Output: feasibility report
 Irrigation scheduling
Answers the following questions:

(1) How much soil moisture is available in the rootzone?

(2) How much water is lost through crop water

use/evapotranspiration?

(3) How much water should be applied to replenish depleted water?

(4) When should the water be applied?

 Irrigation agronomy: a primer

Remember our previous lecture on engineering properties:

•Water occurrence in pore spaces
•The soil moisture retention curve
•The concepts of filed capacity, permanent wilting point and
available water

•In addition to this we need to appreciate what happens to crop

water use when soil moisture changes

•And a bit of agrometereology too – what is the maximum

possible evaporation for any given condition?
 Irrigation scheduling; step by step
(1) What is the unit available water for the soil (SMRC):

Available water (AW) = FC- PWP

(2) What is the total available water in the rootzone? We need to know the rooting
depth of the crop at any stage of growth, Dr

Total available water = AW x Dr

(3) How much should we apply?

We need to know the level of depletion of total available water before we irrigate
– this is called allowable water depletion (AMD) – AMD often given as a %
e.g. 60%
So we apply when available moisture is 60% of TAW i.e. we apply to replenish
moisture depleted through evapotranspiration

Amount to apply = 60/100 x TAW

Irrigation scheduling: step by step
•(4) When should we apply?
•We need to know amount lost by actual crop water use or evapotranspiration
on a daily basis.
•To do this we need weather data or an estimate of maximum or potential
evapotranspiration under the given weather conditions when moisture is not
limiting. This can be estimated from open pan evaporation (Epan)
measurements

•ETmax = Epan x Kpan

•But ETmax is not the actual ET => to estimate actual ETa or actual crop water
use;

•ETa = ETmax x Kc => This is the actual crop water use per day

•Kc varies with stage of crop growth

 Irrigation scheduling: step by step:
• (5) When should we irrigate, in other words how may days will
we deplete the AMD in the soils give crop water use per day?
• The days that should elapse before we irrigate again is called
the irrigation interval
• Irrigation interval = AMD (mm)/ETa (mm day-1)

(6) In your view, what happens to the irrigation interval when the
rooting depth of the crop increases?
 Example
Ex. 1. Consider an sprinkler irrigated winter wheat
crop grown on a sandy loam soil with moisture at
field capacity and permanent wilting point of 30%
and 15%, respectively. No effective rainfall
occurred during the growing period. Open pan
evaporation measured from a Class A evaporation
pan = 6 mm/day. Pan coefficient is 0.9. Crop
coefficient for wheat = 1.2. Effective rooting depth
= 1.0 m. Field irrigation efficiency = 0.7. Allowable
moisture depletion = 65%.
 The notion of effective rainfall and leaching
requirement
Effective rainfall (Peff):

• Portion of the rainfall not lost via surface

runoff and percolation i.e. rainfall that
contributes to evapotranspiration

• Effective rainfall reduces total irrigation

requirement, => should be subtracted
from calculated irrigation requirement
 Leaching requirement (LT)

Leaching requirement (LR)

• Amount or irrigation water required to flush out excess salts i.e.
salinity control

• Depends on irrigation water quality, crop tolerance to salinity,

soil type and acceptable yield reduction

𝐸𝐶𝑤
𝐿𝑅 =
[5ECe − ECw ]
After Ayers and Westcot, 1985
ECw: salinity of irrigation water, dS/m
ECe: average salinity tolerated by the crop. dS/m
 Irrigation efficiencies
• ef: field irrigation efficiency

• ed: irrigation water distribution efficiency i.e from tertiary or

lateral inlet to field edge

• ec: conveyance efficiency i.e from project intake (river or

storage dam) to tertiary or lateral inlet
•
• Crop water use, effective rainfall, LR and efficiencies used to
calculate net, gross and project irrigation requirements
 Net, gross and project irrigation requirement
• Net irrigation = Kc.ETm – P effective

• Gross irrigation = (Kc.ETm-Peff +LR)/ef

• Water requirement at project intake (m3/day):
𝐾𝑐. 𝐸𝑇𝑚 − 𝑃𝑒𝑓𝑓 +𝐿𝑅
𝑄𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 = 10. 𝐴
𝑒𝑓. 𝑒𝑑. 𝑒𝑐

• A: cropped area, hectares

• ef.ed.ec = project efficiency, ep
Wetting patterns under furrow
irrigation
Surface irrigation
Sprinkler irrigation
Wetting patterns under sprinkler
irrigation
Wetting patterns under sprinkler
irrigation
Sprinkler irrigation
Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation
 Surface irrigation vs other methods
Surface: benefits/advantages:

• Low initial capital requirements

• Suitable for most crops
• Ideal for all weather conditions
• High labour requirement
• Low operation and management skills
• Low energy requirements
• In-field water application often gravity-fed
• Irrigation water quality not very critical
Surface vs other irrigation methods
Constraints/disadvantages:
• Requires large water supply
streams/discharges
• Requires land with low to moderate slopes
• Not suitable for soils with high infiltration
rates
• Low potential for chemical application e.g.
fertigation
• Low irrigation efficiencies (60-70%)
 Politics and socio-economics of irrigation: focus
on Southern Africa
• Policy issues

• Constraints in the irrigation sub-sector:

-Political

-Socio-economic

-Agronomic
 Policy issues
Irrigation policy: framework outlining the national objectives in
the irrigation sub-sector

Key cross-cutting policy issues in Southern Africa:

• Improve food security ad household income

• Commercialization of the sector to improve viability

• Improve crop and water productivity

 Irrigation policy
Current status in Zimbabwe:

• No approved irrigation policy

Previous attempts:
(1) DERUDE 1983 – smallholder irrigation policy
(2) FAO irrigation policy 1994 – development of farmer-managed
schemes
(3) Part of irrigation issues covered in Agricultural policy framework
(1995-2020) and agricultural policy – commercialization
(4) Irrigation water allocation issues covered in Water Policy, 1998
 Current efforts: post-land reform policy issues:

• Land tenure re. access to finance

• Infrastructure ownership - shared infrastructure

• Financial policy – resuscitate National Irrigation Fund

• Strengthen and legalize Irrigation management committees

• Formation of irrigation consortia

 Constraints in the irrigation sector: smallholder
irrigation schemes
• Political issues:
-Soon after independence water and power were free

-Recent developments e.g. Water Act, and need for cost recovery
requires farmers to pay for water and electricity

-Irrigation development often driven by politicians with limited

consultation of the end-users

-Land tenure still a contentious issue

-Perceptions – farmers feel water should be free

 Constraints in the irrigation sector
Socio-economics:
• Lack of investment in the sector

• Limited or no access to cheap funds

• Lack of land tenure

• Lack of collateral security

 Constraints in the irrigation sub-sector
Socio-economics:

• Negative perceptions by the financial sector

• Limited/no stakeholder consultation in project identification

and implementation

• Lack of access to markets

• Poor resource base and low literacy levels => low

maintenance

• Community shared schemes and impacts on operation

 Constraints in the irrigation sub-sector

Agronomic:

• Poor crop management practices e.g. fertilizers

• Poor crop selection e.g. maize vs horticultural crops
• Plot size – sometimes too small to be viable

-These political, and socio-economic constraints are prevalent

the SADC regions

They largely account for failure of smallholder irrigation schemes

• => Consider both engineering and non-engineering issues

during the different phases of irrigation development
 Principles of drainage engineering
• Plants require both water and air – oxygen
• Extended waterlogged conditions cause crop failure

• => unwanted water should be removed through a drainage

system

• Sources of the excess water

• (1) Over-irrigation
• (2) Leaching practices
• Excessive rainfall and floods
• Seepage from canals and other hydraulic structures
• High groundwater table – artesian conditions
 Drainage
Surface drainage
• Removal of storm runoff where sub-surface drainage is not
feasible
• Collection and disposal of surface irrigation runoff

• Methods: Drainage ditches, land grading

• Drainage water discharged into constructed channels,

infiltrates, or lost via evapotranspiration

• Shallow surface drains not adequate for groundwater control

 Surface drainage

• Cross-sections of surface drains:

• V-shaped
• Trapezoidal
• Parabolic
 Sub-surface drainage
Sub-surface drainage
• To control groundwater levels
• To improve internal drainage of low permeability soils

• Types:
• Pipe drains
• Mole drains – similar to pipe drain but not lined
 The Drainage problem: depth and spacing

• Factors influencing spacing:

• Soil permeability or saturated hydraulic conductivity
• Crop type
• Soil management practices

Formulas exist for estimating depth (D) and spacing (L):

Procedure:
(a) Determine the drainage rate or water table height
(b) Estimate/measure sat. hydraulic conductivity/permeability
(c) Select suitable depth for drains
(d) Compute drain spacing
 Steady state conditions
(1) Basic ellipse equation:
4𝐾𝑠 (𝑏 2 −𝑑 2 )
L=
𝑞

• Ks: saturated hydraulic conductivity/permeability (L/T)b

• b: Height of water table from impervious layer (L)
• d: height of drains from impervious layer (L)
• q; Total flow rate into a drain from both directions (L3/T)

(2): Hooghoudt-Donnan equation: based on assumptions

8𝐾𝑠 (𝑏 2 −𝑑 2 )
q= 𝐿2
 Non-steady state – fluctuating conditions
• Computational analysis more complex than steady state

• The Dupuit-Forchheimer theory/assumption:

• Horizontal flow velocity proportional to slope of free water surface

1/2
9𝐾𝑠 . 𝑑𝑒 . 𝑡
𝐿=
𝑓. [ln 𝑚0 2𝑑𝑒 + 𝑚 − ln 𝑚 2𝑑𝑒 + 𝑚0 ]

• de: equivalent depth (L)

• m: height of water above centre of drain after time t (L)
• m0: initial water height (L)
• t: time for water table to drop from m0 to m
• f: drainable porosity