CHAPTER TWO: BASICS IN

IRRIGATION ENGINEERING
 2.1. IRRIGATION ENGINEERING: This involves
 Conception,
 Planning,
 Design,
 Construction,
 Operation and
 Management of an irrigation system.

 An irrigation engineer is one who has a long theoretical and

practical training in planning, design, construction, operation and
management of irrigation systems.
 Considerations in Planning
Irrigation Systems
 i) Location: The main point to consider in locating an
irrigation project is the need to investigate available resources in
the area e.g.
 Climate,
 Adequate water in quality and quantity,
 Land with good agricultural potential and
 Good topography,
 Availability of labour (sophisticated or not),
 Land tenure,
 Marketing,
 Transport facilities etc.
 Considerations in Planning
Irrigation Systems Contd.
 ii) Crops to be grown: Should be determined by available
resources as well as marketability of the crops especially in
terms of what people like to eat.

iii) Water Supply: Consider

(a)Sources of water
(b) Quantity and quality of water
c) Engineering works necessary to obtain water e.g. if
underground, pumping is needed
 d) Conveyance System: can be by gravity e.g. open channels
or canals or by closed conduits e.g. pipes.
 (e) Water measuring devices e.g. weirs, orifice, flumes, current
meters
 Other Considerations
 iv) Systems of Applying Water:
e.g. Surface (90% worldwide),
Sprinkler(5%),
Trickle and Sub-irrigation(5%).

 v) Water Demand: The water requirement for the

given crop has to be determined. This is by
calculating the evapotranspiration (to be treated later)

 vi) Project Management: Consider how to manage

the irrigation system
 2.2 CROP WATER AND NET
IRRIGATION REQUIREMENTS

 In irrigation, it is essential to know the amount of water needed

by crops.
 This determines the quantity of water to be added by irrigation
and rainfall and helps in day to day management of irrigation
systems.

Total water demand of crops is made up of:

 i) Crop water use: includes evaporation and transpiration

(evapotranspiration described in section 2.3 below)

 ii) Leaching requirement:

 iii) Losses of water due to deep seepage in canals and losses

 EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
 2.3.1 DEFINITIONS

 a) Evaporation: The process by which water is changed from

the liquid or solid state into the gaseous state through the
transfer of heat energy.

 b) Transpiration: The evaporation of water absorbed by the

crop which is used directly in the building of plant tissue in a
specified time. It does not include soil evaporation.

 c) Evapotranspiration, ET: It is the sum of the amount of

water transpired by plants during the growth process and that
amount that is evaporated from soil and vegetation in the
domain occupied by the growing crop. ET is normally
expressed in mm/day.
 FACTORS THAT AFFECT
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
Weather parameters, Crop Characteristics,
Management and Environmental aspects are
factors affecting ET

 (a) Weather Parameters:

 The principal weather conditions affecting
evapotranspiration are:
 Radiation,
 Air temperature,
 Humidity and
 Wind speed.
 CROP FACTORS THAT
AFFECT ET
 Crop Type  Crop Roughness

 Variety of Crop  Ground Cover

 Development Stage  Crop Rooting Depth

 Crop Height
Management and Environmental
Factors
 (a) Factors such as soil salinity,
 Poor land fertility,
 Limited application of fertilizers,
 Absence of control of diseases and
 Pests and poor soil management
 May limit the crop development and reduce soil
evapotranspiration.

 Other factors that affect ET are ground cover, plant density and
soil water content. The effect of soil water content on ET is
conditioned primarily by the magnitude of the water deficit and
the type of soil. Too much water will result in waterlogging
which might damage the root and limit root water uptake by
inhibiting respiration.
 EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
CONCEPTS
 (a) Reference Crop Evapotranspiration (ETo):
Used by FAO.
 This is ET rate from a reference plant e.g. grass or alfalfa, not
short of water and is denoted as ETo. The ET of other crops
can be related to the Et of the reference plant.
 ETo is a climatic parameter as it is only affected by climatic
factors.
 The FAO Penman-Monteith method is recommended as the
sole method for determining ETo. The method has been
selected because it closely approximates grass ETo at the
location evaluated, is physically based, and explicitly
incorporates both physiological and aerodynamic parameters.
 CROP ET UNDER STANDARD
CONDITIONS (ETc)
 This refers to crop ET under standard conditions, i.e.
ET from disease-free, well-fertilized crops, grown in
large fields, under optimum soil water conditions.

 ETc can be derived from ETo using the equation:

ETc = Kc . ETo where Kc is crop coefficient

 Crop Evapotranspiration under non- standard

conditions as mentioned above is called ETc
(adjusted). This refers to growth of crops under non-
optimal conditions.
 DETERMINATION OF
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
 Evapotranspiration is not easy to measure.
Specific devices and accurate measurements
of various physical parameters or the soil
water balance in lysimeters are required to
determine ET. The methods are expensive,
demanding and used for research purposes.
They remain important for evaluating ET
estimates obtained by more indirect methods.
ENERGY BUDGET METHOD
 This method like the water budget
approach involves solving an equation
which lists all the sources and sinks of
thermal energy and leaves evaporation
as the only unknown. It involves a great
deal of instrumentation and is still under
active development. It is data intensive
and is really a specialist approach.
Energy Budget Method Contd.
 Water Balance Method
 The Water Balance or Budget Method is a
measurement of continuity of flow of water.
 This method consists of drawing up a balance sheet
of all the water entering and leaving a particular
catchment or drainage basin.
 The water balance equation can be written as:
 ET = I + P – RO – DP + CR + SF + SW

 Where: I is Irrigation, P is rainfall, RO is surface

runoff, DP is deep percolation, CR is capillary rise,
SF and SW are change in sub-surface flow and
change in soil water content respectively
 Lysimeters For Water Balance
Method
 Lysimeters are normally adopted in water balance studies.
 By isolating the crop root zone from its environment and
controlling the processes that are difficult to measure, the
different terms in the soil balance equation can be determined
with greater accuracy.
 Using Lysimeters, crop grows in isolated tanks filled with either
disturbed or undisturbed soil.
 In weighing lysimeters, water loss is directly measured by
change in mass while
 In non-weighing ones, the ET for a given time is determined by
deducting the drainage water collected at the bottom of the
lysimeters, from the total water input.
Non-Weighing Lysimeter
 ET Computed from
Meteorological Data:
 ET is commonly computed from weather data. A large number
of empirical equations have been developed for assessing crop
or reference crop evapotranspiration from weather data. Some
of these methods include the Blaney-Criddle, Penman,
Thornthwaite, Radiation, Hargreaves, Turc and many others.
Most of these methods have been found to only work in specific
locations.
 Following an Expert Consultation by Food and Agriculture
Organization in May 1990, the FAO Penman-Monteith method
is now recommended as the standard method for the definition
and computation of the reference evapotranspiration. The FAO
Penman-Monteith equation is described in the Notes.
 ET Estimated from
Evaporation Pans:
 Evaporation from an open water surface provides an
index of integrated effect of radiation, air
temperature, air humidity and wind on
evapotranspiration. However, differences in the
water and cropped surface produce significant
differences in the water loss from an open surface
and the crop. The pan is used to estimate reference
ETo by observing the evaporation loss from a water
surface (Epan) and applying empirical coefficients
(Kpan)to relate pan evaporation to Eto thus:

 ETo = Kp x Epan
Standard Pan: United States Class A
Pan
 The most common Evaporation Pan used is the United States
Class A pan. This is made up of unpainted galvanized iron, 1.2
m in diameter and 25.4 cm deep. The bottom supported on a
wooded frame, is raised 15.24 cm above the ground surface.
The water surface is maintained between 5.0 and 7.6 cm below
the rim of the pan and is measured daily with a gauge. The
daily evaporation is computed as the difference between
observed levels corrected for any precipitation measured in an
adjacent or nearby standard rain gauge. A pan coefficient of 0.7
(0.6 - 0.8) is normally used to convert the observed value to an
estimated value for lake or reservoirs. This is because the rate
of evaporation in small areas is greater than that from large
areas.
 US Class A Evaporation Pan
Incoming Radiation
Evaporation q’ Absorbed By
Water
Air Flow
Incoming
q’ conv Radiation Heats
absorbed by Pan Wall q’’ rad

the water

Conduction
Through Walls
Convection of pan
q”conv heats up
pan walls

Heat Transfer Mechanisms Involved In Heating Of Water In The Standard Pans (diameter D) And Their Walls (After Jagroop,2000).
Types of Evaporation Pans
A Comparison of Standard Open
Pans
Pan Dimensions Pan Coefficient

US Class A 1.2 m Diameter; 250 0.7 (0.6 to 0.8)

mm Deep

Australian Pan 900 mm Diameter; 900 0.9 ( 0.6 to 1.2)

mm Deep. Large Pan:
1200 mm Diameter and
850 mm Deep
British Tank 1.83 m Square 0.9 (Very Variable)
2.4. LEACHING REQUIREMENT
 Most irrigation water contain dissolved salts.
 Evaporation removes pure water leaving a
concentration of salt in soil.
 Salt concentration may reach a level that is
detrimental to the growth of the crop and should be
controlled. The only practical way of achieving this is
by leaching.

 Leaching requirement is an extra water needed to

pass through the root zone in addition to the normal
requirement to ensure that salts are placed below the
root zone.
 LEACHING REQUIREMENT
CONTD.

LR  Salt Concentration in Irrigation Water (ET  Rain)
Acceptable Salt Content in the Root Zone
Ec (ET  Rain)
 irrig
EC
acceptable

Ec acceptable = 4 mmhos/cm. For water quality, Ec of 0.8

Mmhos/cm is medium, quality while Ec of 4 mmhos/cm is saline.
 2.5. EFFECTIVE PRECIPITATION
 This is the component of rainfall that is
available to crops ie. does not runoff.

 It can be estimated as 65% of total rainfall.

 It can also be estimated as the rainfall value,

which has 80% probability of being exceeded
(D80).
 2.6 NET IRRIGATION
REQUIREMENT (Nir)

 This is the moisture that must be supplied by irrigation to satisfy

evapotranspiration plus that needed for leaching and not
supplied by off-season storage, and the effects of precipitation
and groundwater storage.

 Nir = ET + Wl - Ws - Re

 Where: Nir is the net irrigation;

 ET is evapotranspiration,
 Wl is leaching requirement;
 Ws is off-season soil moisture carry-over.
 All parameters are in mm of water.
 2.7 GROSS IRRIGATION
REQUIREMENT (Gir)

 Gross Irrigation Requirement is equal to:

 Net Irrigation Requirement Divided by

Irrigation Efficiency

 Irrigation efficiency accounts for losses in storage

and distribution systems, losses in application
systems as well as operation and management
losses.

 Irrigation Efficiency depends on the Method of

Applying Irrigation Water
 2.8 IRRIGATION TERMS
 2.8.1. Depth of Irrigation: This is the
depth of the readily available moisture.
This is the net depth of water normally
needed to be applied to the crops
during each irrigation
 2.8.2 Irrigation Interval (II):
 This is the time between successive
irrigations.
 Irrigation interval is equal to:
 Readily Available Moisture or Net Irrigation divided by
Evapotranspiration, ET
 The shortest irrigation interval is normally use in
design. The irrigation interval varies with ET.
 It is equivalent to Readily Available Water divided by the
Peak ET
 Irrigation Period (IP)
 This is the number of days allowed to
complete one irrigation cycle in a given
area.
 Irrigation Period Contd.

1 2 4 5 7 9 10
3 6 8

Assuming water is applied in a border in a day,

the total period of irrigation is then 11 days.
 Irrigation Interval and Period
 In irrigation scheduling, the irrigation period
should be less that the irrigation interval. This
is because if the period is not smaller, before
the latter parts of the area are to be irrigated,
the earlier irrigated areas will need fresh
irrigation.
 At peak evapotranspiration (used in design),
irrigation interval should be equal to irrigation
period. i.e. Generally IP < II
 2.8.4 Desired Irrigation Design
Capacity (Qc)

 This is the flow rate determined by the

water requirement, irrigation time,
irrigation period and the irrigation
application efficiency.
 It is the flow rate of flow of the water
supply source e.g. pumps from a
reservoir, or a borehole required to
irrigate a given area.
 Desired Irrigation Design Capacity
(Qc) Contd.

Qc  A. d
F. H . Ea

Where:
•Qc is the Desired Design Capacity;
•d is the Net Irrigation Depth = Readily Available Moisture;
•F is the number of Days to complete the Irrigation (Irrigation Period);
•H is the number of Hours the System is perated (hrs/day) and
• Ea is the Irrigation Efficiency