BY:

NEELABH GUPTA GAURAV KAPSE MELVIN DSOUZA ADITYA KAPIL PRIYA GAWADE

ST. JOHNS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

1. INTRODUCTION
Not all water taken from a source (river, well) reaches the root zone of the plants. Part of the water is lost during transport through the canals and in the fields. The remaining part is stored in the root zone and eventually used by the plants. In other words, only part of the water is used efficiently, the rest of the water is lost for the crops on the fields that were to be irrigated. The lost of water from canals & distributaries seems to be greater than the loss from irrigation into the soil. This loss is often the cause of unnecessary scarcity in the water supply, especially at the lower end at the canals during the season when water is low.

2. The irrigation water losses in canals; these are due to:

1. Evaporation from the water surface
2. Deep percolation to soil layers underneath the canals 3. Seepage through the bunds of the canals

4. Overtopping the bunds

5. Bund breaks 6. Runoff in the drain 7. Rat holes in the canal bunds

SOURCE:

3. Evaporation Loss :
The evaporation loss is important particularly in water scarce areas. It hardly exceeds 1 to 2 percent of total water in unlined channels. Maximum loss: in summer due to high temp & high wind velocity. The average evaporation loss per day : 4mm-10mm Evaporation loss depends on 1)Climatic Factors such as Temperature, humidity, and wind velocity.

2) Canal Factors such as Water surface area , water depth and velocity of flow.
3) the supply of energy to provide the latent heat of vaporization and 4) the ability to transport the Vapour away from the evaporating surface.

3.1. Calculation of evaporation loss:

Warnaka and Pochop and Ikebuchi et al. gave the following equation : The evaporation loss from a canal can be expressed as:

qe
Where E = Evaporation lost

=E*T

qe = evaporation discharge per unit length of canal (m2/s); T = width of free surface (m).

4. Seepage Loss:
Seepage loss is the major and the most important part of the total water loss.
By the time the water reaches the field, it has been estimated that the seepage losses are of the order of 45% of the water supplied at the head of the canal. The seepage loss results not only in depleted freshwater resources but also causes water logging, Stalinization, and ground-water contamination.

Canals in alluvium are lined in general and reduce the seepage in particular Seepage from a lined canal occurs at a reduced rate.

4.1 SEEPAGE LOSS DEPENDS ON THE FOLLOWING FACTOR

Position of subsoil water table. Porosity of soil and subsoil. Extent of absorbing medium. Design of canal cross section. a) Depth of water in canal : greater depth , greater loss of water. b)velocity of water : loss decreases with increase in velocity.

Physical properties of canal water: a)Temperature of water: loss increases with increase in temperature of water. b) Amount of silt carried in suspension: losses decreases with increase in amount of silt carried in suspension.
Condition of canal system: a) loss decreases with the age of canal. b)increases with the extent of absorbing medium.

4.2 Calculation of seepage loss:

The seepage loss from a canal in a homogeneous and isotropic porous medium, when the water table is at a very large depth, can be expressed as

q s = k*y*F

where qs = seepage discharge per unit length of canal (m2/s);

k = hydraulic conductivity of the porous medium (m/s);

y = depth of water in the canal (m); F = function of channel geometry

4.3 Depending upon the position of the water table the seepage loss from the canal occurs in two ways : 1. Absorption: water table considerably below GL

water seeping through pores: unable to join the water table

wets the subsoil locally forming a saturated bulb Zone between saturated zone and capillary moisture zone-unsaturated

SEEPAGE LOSS BY ABSORPTION

SOURCE : B.C. PUNMIA.

4.4 Percolation:
Water table is close to ground level. Seepage water establishes a direct & continuous flow between canal and WT. Loss depends upon the head difference between the full supply level of canal & water -table

SEEPAGE LOSS DUE TO PERCOLATION

SOURCE : B. C. PUNMIA

5. THE LOSSES ARE EXPRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING DIFFERENT WAYS:

a)
b)

As cumec per million square meters of the wetted perimeter

As a depth of water lost in 24 hours over the area of the wetted perimeter.

c) d)

As a percentage of the discharge of the channel. As a percentage per km length of the canal.

6. ESTIMATION OF DESIGN DISCHARGE

Needs: to design the supply canal and the pump (if any) to check that enough water is available from the source. The amount of water required by a crop depends on : the local environment, the climate, the crop and its stage of growth, and the degree to which the crop may be stressed. This requirement may be expressed as a uniform depth of water over the area in millimetres per day (mm/d). Irrigation requirements: Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is the water use of grass (in mm/d) under standard conditions. Local estimates may be available from meteorological offices. For most crops, the reference evapotranspiration at mid-season can be taken as a reasonable estimate of the peak water requirement.

 It is reasonable to assume that 70 per cent of average rainfall is available to the crop; the net irrigation requirement (In mm/d ) can be estimated as: In = ETo - (0.70 x P)

where P (mm/d) is the average rainfall.

Additional water has to be supplied to take account of field application losses which, with surface irrigation, are typically about 40 per cent, giving an application efficiency of 0.60. The field irrigation requirement (If) can be estimated as: If = In = ETo - (0.70 x P) 0.60*0.60 The field irrigation requirement represents the rate (in mm/d) at which water must be delivered to the field to prevent the crop suffering a shortage of water.

The required canal discharge depends on the field area to be irrigated (known as the 'command area'), and the water losses from the canal. For a design command area A (m sq), the design discharge required Q (l/s) for irrigation hours (H) every day, is given by the field-irrigation requirement multiplied by the area, divided by the time (in seconds):
Q=

If x A
H x 60 x 60

plus canal losses

When the water-surface width in the canal is W metres, a drop of S millimetres per hour corresponds to an average canal loss of: canal loss = W x S 60 x 60 l/s per metre length

Example: What design discharge is required for a canal to irrigate an area of 10 hectares in the semi-arid subtropics, when the mean daily temperature is 30oC, and the mean rainfall is 0.2 mm/d during the peak period (midseason)? The canal is 800m long and is to operate for 12 hours per day. Losses from a similar canal are measured as 48mm per hour with a water-surface width of 1.5m.
1) ETo = 7.5 mm/d 2) Hence the net irrigation requirement is: In = ETo - (0.70 x P) = 7.5 - (0.7 x 0.2) = 7.36 mm/d; 3) the field irrigation requirement is: If = In = ETo - (0.70 x P) 0.60*0.60

= 7.36/0.60 = 12.3 mm/d

4) Canal losses =

WxS 60 x 60 = 48 x 1.5 60 x 60

= 0.02 l/s per metre length

5) A = 10 ha = 10 x 10 000 m2

6) Q =

If x A
H x 60 x 60

canal losses

= 12.3 x (10 x 10 000) + 800 x 0.02 12*60*60 = 28 + 16 = 44 l/s This design discharge of 44 l/s should be compared with the water available from the source. If less is available, the area may need to be reduced, or the irrigation time increased.

 The loss from canals is known to be large, and often produces a serious problem in their management.

This loss is often the cause of unnecessary scarcity in the water supply, especially at the lower end of the canal when the water is low.
The loss in clay soils is less than in sandy soils or gravely soils.

From standpoint of economy , it is important to know the losses and thereby estimating the design discharge to meet the irrigation demand of a system.
As a remedial measures to losses, impervious linings or coatings of fine material as silt or clay can be applied thus making canal lined.

[1] Irrigation and Water power engineering, Dr. B. C. Punmia, Dr. Pande B.B, Laxmi publication [2] Ian Smout and Rod Shaw WEDC Loughborough University Leicestershire LE11 3TU UK www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc/ [3] Harr, M. E. (1962). Groundwater and seepage. McGraw-Hill, New York. Measurement of seepage losses from canals. (1980). IS: 9452 (part I