Irrigation & Drainage Systems Engineering

The field experiment was carried out at Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center 07°03’19’’ to 07°04’00’’ N latitude and 38°30’08’’ to 38°31’02’ E longitude during 2015/16 dry season. The experiments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Seven soil moisture depletion levels (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100% of the total available water of the soil) were used. The result indicated that different soil moisture depletion levels had very highly significant (p<0.001) effect on days to flowering, days to seed set, days to maturity, plant height, number of branches per plant, number of capsules per plant, thousand seed weight and seed yield. It was also affected oil yield highly significantly (p<0.01). Moreover, different soil moisture depletion levels significantly (p<0.05) influenced water use efficiency. However, different soil moisture depletion levels showed no significant difference in the oil content of Vernonia. Vernonia grown under 100% SMDL took a shorter number of days to 50% flowering, days to seed setting and days to maturity. On the other hand, 30% SMDL took the longest days to flowering, seed setting and days to maturity. The maximum plant height, number of branches per plant and number of capsule per plant were 162.7 cm, 150 and 196.8 at 30% SMDL, respectively. The highest seed yield (2213 kg ha-1) and oil yield (711.8 kg ha-1) were obtained at 60% soil moisture depletion level. However, the highest water use efficiency based on oil yield (0.15 kg/m3) was obtained at 100% SMDL irrigation is set when soil moisture content touches PWP. Thus, the optimal seed yield, oil yield and WUE could be achieved when 493.4 mm seasonal net irrigation depth of water applied with scheduling at 60% SMDL for the production of Vernonia at Wondo Genet and similar agro-ecological areas.

Groundwater has been noted as a major resource for irrigation water in Nepal Terai. The development of different methods of groundwater withdrawal has been promoted in Rupandehi District. Open dug wells were a major source for domestic water use in the 1980s due to cost and ease of construction. But in later years, the promotion of tube wells, access to diesel pump sets, low yield and the deterioration of water quality from the open dug wells have caused a decline in usage and their abandonment in favor of shallow tube wells. This study was conducted in Mahuwari Village, Rupandehi District to assess the feasibility for the rehabilitation of abandoned open dug wells by reassessing access to irrigation water during the dry season, in areas with limited conductivity of aquifer hydrogeology. The yields of the wells were observed to be too low for large-scale irrigation, especially with the rice paddy cropping system. An assessment of well storage and recharge patterns offer an opportunity for off-season supplementary irrigation of home gardens for establishing vegetables and seedlings, with good water management practices. The potential yield of the open dug wells at the peak of the dry season was 4 m3day-1 (0.44 mm-ha), suficient to irrigate 0.12 ha of a tomato ield, satisfying 25% of a currently fallowed field for home gardening.

The proposed paper aims at determining the most efficient soil moisture monitoring method in an intelligent remotely monitored system. The project also demonstrates the economic viability of an integrated system of production were water requirement, nutrients and pH are kept optimum automatically. The system is designed to overcome the challenges of water wastage, nutrition deficit, pH imbalance and leaching of nutrients. This system is powered by Solar System, controlled by Microcontroller and programmed using LabVIEW Software. The Microcontroller is connected GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) wireless network, which allows the system to communicate with the farmer remotely using a mobile phone. This proposed smart farming technology is environmentally friendly, efficient, cost effective and gives the farmer the power to control and monitor production in real time.

Hetao irrigation district (Hetao) is located in the upper reaches of Yellow River basin. Surface irrigation is used because there is a high charge of sediments in the irrigation water and is appropriate to leach salts. Basin irrigation is the most used irrigation method. Traditional practices are inadequate for saving water and surface irrigation modernization is needed. A better knowledge of the performance of irrigation systems is required to base that modernization. An experimental research work was developed at Dengkou Experimental Station to assess the irrigation performance in laser land leveled fields. It is located on an irrigation sector supplied in agreement with a rotational delivery scheme managed by the Water Users Association (WUA), which usually practices a total of 7 events and the autumn irrigation. The typical field length is 50 m, with a width between 10 and 50 m, with a silt loamy soil. The irrigation performance was assess from field measurements carried out in several fields, cropped with the main irrigated crops, wheat, maize and sunflower. The irrigation field evaluation was based on observations of advance and recession times, soil moisture, inflow discharges, application time, topographic survey and crop development data. In addition, infiltration curves for typical and seasonal irrigation events were developed, and the Kostiakov infiltration parameters were estimated from field observations using the inverse method with the SIRMOD model. The irrigation operative parameters and the performance indicators were obtained, concluding that the distribution uniformity is very high, between 90 and 96%, and that the cutoff time has a very sensitive effect on beneficial water use fraction. Finally, the results of this study allowed the appropriate knowledge, including the crop irrigation scheduling data, for the irrigation design models aimed at developing irrigation alternatives.

Drainage is generally defined as a technical measure to remove excess water which is not desirable in an area, as well as ways of overcoming consequences caused by excess water, so that the function of the area/land is not disturbed. Drainage problems in the BTN Hamzy of Makassar City, caused by a lack of ability to accommodate drainage discharge the water, there is also a channel that does not connect/disconnected with other channels, also less maintained and not maintaining the drainage channels. Location of study is on Housing Complex BTN Hamzy of Makassar City. The study discusses the causes of inundation occurred in the area due to lack of ability to accommodate drainage water discharge and less optimal catcher called inlet channels in capturing the existing water discharge. The analysis shows that there are 4 blocks of housing that have lower altitudes than the surrounding blocks, i.e., Block P, P1, Q, Q1, R, R1 and S, but the existing channels are not capable of removing water from the puddle. The method used is a channel dimension planning useful for normalizing existing channels and re-planning of inlet tracts and making absorption wells in the area

Water resources allocated to the agricultural sector in the Yellow River basin are being reduced due to severe water scarcity and an increasing demand by the non-agricultural sectors, which imply surface irrigation modernization and the adopting water-saving technologies. The Hetao irrigation district has 0,570 Mha of irrigated land; traditional basin irrigation is the most common irrigation method. Its general conditions are adequate for surface irrigation due to the high charge of sediments on irrigation water and, among other factors, due to its appropriateness to leach salts. The new technologies of surface irrigation, including the modernized furrowed and flat basin irrigation systems, require the adoption of effective precise land leveling to reach the best performance standards. In this context, the development of high quality land leveling operation is a main condition for irrigation modernization. The laser land leveling technology provides for high land leveling quality, with significant benefits on water saving, salinity control and crop productivity. The irrigation modernization also requires adopting adequate irrigation scheduling, control of inflow discharges and of related application times. The DSS methodology may contribute to improved design and management. The DSS SADREG aims to support design and selection of farm surface irrigation alternatives; it ranks those alternatives relative to irrigation performance and environmental and economic impacts using Multicriteria analysis. The DSS application bases on three years field work to evaluate the traditional practices and for the parameterization of design models from field irrigation systems evaluation. This paper presents the following SADREG application results: (i) evaluation of land leveling operation based on field observations and the comparison between laser and common practices; (ii) land parcels description, namely its size, slopes and water supply conditions; (iii) SADREG base models parameterization, including crop irrigation scheduling, infiltration, SIRMOD hydraulic simulation and economics; and (iv) presentation and comparison of alternatives of field irrigation modernization.

Numerous daily reference evapotranspiration (ETo) equations were developed for different climatic conditions with different performance even within the same climatic region. Their calibration and validation to the local climate usually increase their performance. The objective of this study was to evaluate Valiantzas’ daily grass ETo equation with comparison to Penman-Monteith equation at 61 weather stations across 10 countries in Africa for the period of 1980-2012. The results showed good performance of Valiantzas’ ETo equation with very low RMSE varying from 0.03 to 0.27 mm/day, low percent error PE from 0.87 to 5.46%, MBE from -0.09 to 0.23 mm/day and MAE from 0.03 to 0.23 mm/day. For the pooled data set, RMSE averaged 0.10 mm/day, mean PE was 1.95%, mean MBE was 0.02 mm/day and the mean MAE was 0.08 mm/day. These indexes indicated the very high performance of the Valiantzas’ ETo equation compared to the Penman-Monteith equation and its adaptation to very broad conditions from humid to semiarid climates. *

Water is the source of life, with population growth, environmental problems and water shortages, water resources management become a major priority for the Algerian government.

The environmental problems and the climate change context apply a high pressure on the policy of groundwater and surface waters management.

Future simulation of water demand is a way for prediction and prevention against climatic and environmental risks through the establishment of real and feasible solutions for better exploitation of water resources. In this study we simulate the future demand of water to supply population need, in the Algerian territory at the horizon of 2020, to show critical situation of lack of water, under a climate change situation. According to the results we are arriving at the conclusion that to solve the continuous arising demand of water we must return to the used unconventional water resources.

Water scarcity is one of the most important problems encountered in arid and semi-arid areas, and as a limiting factor, the growth and development of vegetation in these areas is limited. Considering that Iran is a country of low water and dryness, using solutions to reduce water consumption and optimal use of available water amounts to a solution to many problems. One of the best practices is the optimal utilization of soil and water resources. With the increasing population of the world and the limited supply of water and food, many experts have sought to limit the use of this water for optimal use. One of these existing strategies is to evaluate the effect of coating on irrigation canals to reduce leakage. The results of the research carried out in Kazerun plain in Fars province, which was carried out by the Input flow method, showed that in the case of coated walls of the Arab irrigation canals, Shah Paradise and Khaje bagheri, from dirt to coated, decreased by 57.78, 78.73, and 89.4% in water leakage. The statistical analysis showed that the difference between the amount of water leakage in the Arab soil and coated channel at the level of 5% was significant in the soil and coated channel of the Shah landscape at a level of approximately 1% and in the Khaje bagheri canal at this significant level are not. Also, the results of comparing this method with empirical formulas showed that the maximum leakage value is represented by the Davis and Wilson formulas in the Khaje Bagheri channel and the lowest leakage rate is the Indian Punjab formula in the Arab canal.

Sugarcane is fully irrigated crop in Ethiopia. Open canals are the main systems for supplying irrigation water in sugar farms. However, most of the schemes were frequently criticized for their low conveyance and field water application efficiencies. So far in Tendaho sugar estate; there was no previously done research on the performance evaluation of field water application of the surface irrigation system of furrow irrigation method. As a result, the actual performance of field water application of furrow irrigation of the study area and the level of achievement of the factory not known. This study has done with a purpose of identifying and understanding the current level of field water application efficiencies of Tendaho sugarcane farm using appropriate on-field irrigation performance indicators. Direct field data collection and some secondary data used to answer the planned objectives. Canal conveyance evaluation was done for tertiary canals based on priority of dominant conveyance defects observed in the sugar estate. Field water application evaluations were done during the normal irrigation practice of the sugar estate Tertiary conveyance was evaluated by using volume flow measuring method using Parshall flumes set at inlet and outlet of representative canals. From results, the mean conveyance efficiency of tertiary canal was 59.6% with high amount of water losses and the overall mean on-field water application efficiency of 56.57%, 70.30% storage efficiency and 91.93% distribution uniformity at target application depth

Irrigation scheduling, flow rate and cut-off time are the three field irrigation variables currently affecting irrigation performance of Tendaho Sugar estate (Northeast of Ethiopia). As result, the study was initiated with the objective of improving existing irrigation scheduling and determining significant decision variables (flow rate and cut-off time). The long year’s climatic data were collected and analyzed by CROPWAT8.0 software to calculation of the right amount of water needed for the irrigation of crop fields, and soil samples were collected from representative cane fields to analyze soil characteristics. Parshall flumes were used to measure inflow rates at each field. The results of irrigation scheduling have showed slighter irrigation intervals than existing intervals. Therefore, to improvement of irrigation scheduling have proposed based on soil, crop ages and climatic casus of the area. Besides, the inflow rate and cut-off time of two major soils of study area were proposed to be 5 liters per second and 45 minute for 100 meter length of furrows as best decision variables of the sugar estate. Finally, the author trusts the right combination of these critical variables will help the sugar estate to overcome its existing irrigation problems, and result in better field water application and field conditions.