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Chapter 1 – Introduction, importance and

methods of Irrigation
 Topics to be addressed in this chapter
 Definitionof Irrigation
 Purpose / Objective of Irrigation

 Necessity of Irrigation

 Advantages and ill-effects of irrigation

 Scope of Irrigation Engineering

 Methods of Irrigation

 Involvement of person with irrigation engineering

Chapter 1 – Irrigation Canal

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Chapter 1 – Definition of Irrigation

 Definition of Irrigation
 Irrigation is the science of supplying water to the plants
for its growth and maturity i.e. the science of artificial
application of water to the land, in accordance with the
crop requirements throughout the crop period for full-
fledged nourishment of the crops. It also can be
defined as the application of water to soil for the
purpose of supplying moisture which is essential for
plant growth

Chapter 1 – Definition of Irrigation

 FulllIrrigation: When all the moisture or water that is

required for crop is supplying artificially then the
irrigation is termed as full irrigation. Full irrigation
needed in dry season
 Partial Irrigation: When some of the moisture or water
in addition with natural water is artificially supply for
the growth of crop then this type of irrigation is termed
as partial or supplimentary irrigation. Partial /
supplementary irrigation needed in rainy season

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Chapter 1 – History of Irrigation

 Started in ancient civilization in arid and semi-arid

climatic zones where food shortage was acute
 Old cities excavated in Asia and Africa have disclosed
that more than 5000 years ago people in Lebanon,
China, Indo-Pakistan, Egypt adopted a permanent
irrigation canal system. They knew that without digging
canals and taking water from rivers through canals,
land cultivation was not possible

Chapter 1 – History of Irrigation

 Chinese are known to have practiced irrigation since

2627 BC. They has the longest irrigation canal, known
as the Grand Canal of 1285 miles, constructed
originally by the Sui Empire during 589 to 618 AD and
completed 1300 AD. This oldest and longest canal links
Beijing and Hanchow by crossing the Great Yangzi and
Yellow Rivers and still serving 159223 sq.km of area
 One of the largest irrigation canal of North Kiangsu
Province of China which is 170 km long and 127 m
wide in bed was dug by 1300000 people in 80 days.

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Chapter 1 – Objectives of Irrigation

 Main purposes/objectives of irrigation

 To add water to soil

 To apply moisture essential for plant growth

 To provide crop insurance against short duration

droughts
 To cool the soil and atmosphere thereby making more
favorable environment for plant growth
 To wash out or dilute salts from the soil

 To reduce hazards of soil piping

 Soften the tillage pan

Chapter 1 – Importance of Irrigation

 Following are the factors which govern the

importance/necessity of irrigation:
 Insufficient rainfall: when the total amount of rainfall is less than
the amount required by the plant i.e. demand of crop is more
than rainfall in the area
 Uneven distribution of rainfall: rainfall is sufficient but spatial
distribution is not as per requirement
 Rainfall is sufficient, spatial distribution is also good but temporal
distribution is not as per requirement
 Development of agriculture in desert area

 Due to advanced scientific development: for cultivation of high

yield variety

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Chapter 1 – Advantages of Irrigation

 Increased in food production

 Improvement of cash crops

 Source of revenue

 General prosperity

 Generation of hydro-electric power

 Domestic water supply

 Facilities of communications

 Inland navigation

 Afforestation

Chapter 1 – Indirect advantages

 Increase value of property

 Development of nutrition level

 Employment opportunity

 Industrial development with raw agricultural product

 Recreation facilities

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Chapter 1 – Disadvantages / ill-effects

 Rising of water table: water-logging

 Salinity and alkalinity of land

 Loss of manure (fertilizer)

 Loss of precious water which is developed and

preserved
 Problem of water pollution (nitrates: seepage into GW)

 Formation of marshy land

 Dampness in weather

 Loss of valuable lands

Chapter 1 – Ill-effects of Water Logging

 Normal cultivation operation such as tilling, ploughing

etc can not be easily carried out in wet/watery soils
 Certain water loving plants like grasses, weeds etc are
grown and interfere with the growth of crops
 Reduce yield/production: plant depends on nitrates
which produced by bacteria, these bacteria needs O2
for their servival. Water logging results the death of
these bacteria which eventually reduce soil fertility

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Chapter 1 – Causes of Water Logging

 Over and intensive irrigation

 Seepage of water from the adjoining high lands

 Seepage of water through the canals

 Impervious obstruction

 Inadequate surface drainage

 Excessive rains

 Submergence due to flood

 Irregular topography

Chapter 1 – Leaching

 In this process, the land is flooded with adequate depth

of water. The salt present in the soil, get dissolved in
this water, which percolate downward to join the
watertable or drained out by sub-surface drains. The
process is repeated until the salts in the top layer of the
land are reduced to such an extent that some salt
resistant crop can be grown. This process is known as
leaching.

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Chapter 1 – Persons Involve in Irrigation

 Following persons are closely related with irrigation engineering

 Hydrologist
 Agriculturist
 Soil scientist
 Administrator
 Meteorologist
 Farmer
 Irrigation Planner
 Environmentalist
 Economist
 Social Scientist

Chapter 1 – Irrigation Engineer

 Job description of an irrigation engineer

 Computation of water required
 Determination of water resources
 Collection, storage and diversion of water
 Conveyance/transport
 Distribution
 Drainage of excess water
 Protection against flood

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Chapter 1 – Environmental Consideration

 Followingfactors to be considered
 Submergence of land and forestry
 Atmospheric pollution for organic decomposition
 Water logging
 Mosquito habital
 Water borne diseases

Chapter 1 – Method of Irrigation

 Broadly classified into:

 Surface/Gravity Method (Soil surface is used to convey
water)
 Sub-surface irrigation (application of water beneath
the soil surface)

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Chapter 1 – Surface Irrigation

 In the surface methods of irrigation, water is applied

directly to the soil surface from a channel located at the
upper reach of the field.
 Water may be distributed to the crops in border strips,
check basins or furrows.
 Two general requirements of prime importance to obtain
high efficiency in surface methods of irrigation are:
 distribution systems to provide adequate control of water to the
fields
 proper land preparation to permit uniform distribution of water
over the field.

Chapter 1 – Surface Irrigation

 They are also designed to minimize labor and capital

requirements.
 Effective management practices are dependent on the
type of irrigation, and the climate and topography of the
region.

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Chapter 1 – Surface Irrigation

Chapter 1 – Surface Irrigation

 Perennial Type: In perennial system of irrigation, constant

and continuous water supply is assured to the crops in
accordance with the requirements of the crop, throughout
the ‘crop period’.
 Flood Type: Soil is kept submerged and thoroughly
flooded with water, so as to cause thorough saturation of
the land. The moisture soaked by the soil, when
occasionally supplemented by natural rainfall or minor
watering, brings the crop to maturity.

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Chapter 1 – Subsurface Irrigation

 In sub-irrigation, water is applied below the ground

surface by maintaining an artificial water table at some
depth, depending upon the soil texture and the depth of
the plant roots
 Water reaches the plant roots through capillary action
 Water may be introduced through open ditches or
underground through pipelines
 Water application system consists of field supply
channels, ditches or trenches suitably spaced to cover the
field adequately and drainage ditches for the disposal
of excess water.

Chapter 1 – Subsurface Irrigation

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Chapter 1 – Subsurface Irrigation

Chapter 1 – Subsurface Irrigation

 Natural Sub-irrigation: When underground irrigation is

achieved, simply by natural processes, without any
additional extra efforts, it is called natural sub-irrigation
 Artificial Sub-irrigation: When a system of open jointed
drains is artificially laid below the soil, so as to supply
water to the crops by capillarity, then it is known as
artificial sub-irrigation

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Chapter 1 – Methods of surface irrigation

 Free/Wild/Uncontrolled Flooding
 Border Flooding
 Check Flooding

 Basin Flooding

 Furrow Irrigation Method

 Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Drip Irrigation Method

Chapter 1 – Free Flooding

 Free Flooding or Ordinary Flooding

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Chapter 1 – Free Flooding

 Free Flooding or Ordinary Flooding

 Ditches are excavated in the field
 Water is applied from field ditches without any levee
to guide its flow
 Movement of water is not restricted, it is sometimes
called ‘wild flooding’
 It is suitable for close growing crops

 It is practiced large where irrigation water is abundant

and inexpansive

Chapter 1 – Free Flooding

 Free Flooding or Ordinary Flooding

 It involves low initial cost of land preparation, extra
labour cost in application of water may required
 This method may be used on rolling land (topography
irregular) where borders, checks, basins and furrow are
not feasible
 Application effieiency is low

 Not a very scientific method

 Since water is applied without any control, so one area

can be over-irrigated with respect to another

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Chapter 1 – Free Flooding

 Advantages
 Initial cost is low
 Disadvantages
 Not a scientific method
 Water loss is high

 Inefficient

Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

 Border Flooding

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Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

 Border Flooding
 Land is divided into a number of strips

 Strips separated by low levees called ‘borders’

 Strip area: width 10~20 m and length 100~400 m

 Water is turned from the supply ditch into these strips along
which a flow slowly toward the lower end, wetting the soil
as it advances. When the advancing water front reaches the
lower end, the stream turned off.
 The surface is essentially level between levees and
lengthwise slope is somewhat according to natural slope of
the land (0.2 ~ 0.4%)

Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

 Border Flooding
 Itis suitable to soils having moderately low infiltration rates
and to closely growing crops
 Uniform distribution and high water application efficiencies
than free/wild flooding are possible
 Large streams can be used efficiently

 This method involves high initial cost for land preparation

 Ridges between borders should be sufficiently high

 Land should be perpendicular to the flow to prevent water

from concentrating on either side of the border

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Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

 Time estimation for Border Flooding

A relationship between the discharge through the supply ditch (Q),
the average depth of water flowing over the strip (y), the rate of
infiltration of the soil (f), the area of the land irrigated (A), and the
approximate time required to cover the given area with water (t), is
given by the equation

where,
Q = Discharge through the supply ditch
y = Depth of water flowing over the border strip
f = Rate of infiltration of soil
A = Area of land strip to be irrigated
t = Time required to cover the given area A

Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

 Derivation of the equation

Considering small area, dA of the border strip of area A

Depth of water, y over this area A
Assume that in time dt, water advances over this area (dA)
Now, the volume of water that flows to cover this area = y.dA ---------(1)

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Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

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Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

So, we get, Amax = Q/f

Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

 Problem
Determine the time required to irrigate a strip of land of 0.04
hectares in area from a tubewell with a discharge of 0.02
cumec using Border Flooding method. The infiltration capacity of
the soil may be taken as 5 cm/hr and the average depth of
flow on the field as 10 cm. Also, determine the maximum area
that can be irrigated from this tubewell.
Solution:
Here, A = 0.04 ha = 0.04 x 104 m2 = 400 m2
Q = 0.02 cumec = 0.02 m3/s = 0.02 x 60x 60 = 72 m3/hr
f = 5 cm/hr = 0.05 m/hr
y = 10 cm = 0.10 m

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Chapter 1 – Border Flooding

Solution Contd:

Chapter 1 – Check Flooding

 Check Flooding

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Chapter 1 – Check Flooding

 Check Flooding
 Similar to Ordinary flooding
 Minor slope

 Water is controlled by surrounding the check area with low and

flat levees
 Check area is filled with water at a fairly high rate and allowed
to stand untill the water infiltrates
 Confined plots are varies from 0.2 to 0.8 hectares

 Excess water is drained through drainage channel

Chapter 1 – Check Flooding

 Adaptability
 It is suitable for low as well as high intake soils and for rice or
other crops which can withstand temporary flooding
 Advantages
 Effective leaching
 Maximum use of seasonal rainfall
 High application efficiency

 Limitations
 Large Q is required
 Small application is not feasible
 Unsuitable for crops that cannot accommodate innundation

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Chapter 1 – Basin Flooding

 Basin Flooding
 Special type of check flooding

 Whole area is divided into some basins with 4 levees

 Basins are perfectly levelled, so no highest or lowest

point or no slope
 Excess water is not drained

 Surface is flooded as in check method by ditch water

 Water will be remain on the basin until percolation

Chapter 1 – Basin Flooding

 Adaptability
 It is suitable for low as well as high intake soils
 Advantages
 Effective leaching
 Maximum use of seasonal rainfall

 High application efficiency as the infiltration depth is uniform

 Limitations
 High initial cost for land preparation
 Unsuitable for crops that cannot accommodate innundation

 Small applications are not feasible

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Chapter 1 – Diff betn Check and Basin

 Land Preparation
 Check: check area is not perfectly levelled
 Basin: basin area is perfectly levelled

 Water application
 Check: water is applied from highest point as area is not
levelled
 Basin: water is applied from one or two points as there is no
highest point
 Efficiency
 Check: low efficiency than basin flooding
 Basin: high efficiency than check flooding

Chapter 1 – Furrow Irrigation

 Furrow Flooding

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Chapter 1 – Furrow Irrigation

 Furrow Flooding

Chapter 1 – Furrow Irrigation Method

 Furrow Irrigation
 Furrow are narrow field ditches, excavated between rows
of plants and carry water through them
 Spacing of furrows is determined by proper spacing of the
plants
 Furrows vary from 8 to 30 cm deep and may be as much as
400 meters long
 Deep furrows are widely used for row type of crops
(potato, tomato etc)
 Water flows to the root zone by lateral movement of water

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Chapter 1 – Furrow Flooding

 Adaptability
 It is suitable for row crops (like potato, groundnut, sugarcane
etc) and for medium to moderately fine textured soil
 Advantages
 Only about one-fifth to one-half of the land surface is wetted
by water. So, it results in less evaporation
 Disadvantages
 Excessively long furrows may result in too much percolation
near upper end and too little water near the down-slope end
 It involves high initial cost and salt accumulation in the ridges
due to lateral and upward movement of water

Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

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Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Sprinkler Irrigation
 Water is applied to the soil in the form of a spray through
a network of pipes and pumps
 It is kind of an artificial rain and gives good results
 It is a costly process and not widely used in our country
 It can be used for all types of soils and for widely different
topographies and slopes
 It fulfils the normal requirement of uniform distribution of
water
 Although highest amount of water surrounding the pipe, but
due to overlapping of the irrigated area, uniform
distribution of water is possible

Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Types of Sprinkler Systems

 Permanent system: In permanent system, pipes are
permanently buried in such a way that they do not
interfere with the farming operations
 Semi-permanent system: In semi-permanent system, the
main lines are buried in the ground, while the laterals
are portable
 Portable system: In the portable system, the mains as
well as laterals are portable. These portable networks
can be moved from farm to farm

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Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Sprinkler Irrigation Method

Chapter 1 – Methods of Irrigation

 Sprinkler Irrigation Method

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Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Adaptability
 This method can be used for almost all crops (except rice and
jute) and on most soils
 It is best suited to sandy soils that have a high infiltration rate

 It can be applied to any topographic conditions without

extensive land preparation
 Advantages
 Seepage losses which occur in earthern cannels of surface
irrigation methods are completely eliminated. Moreover, only
optimum quantity of water is used in this method

Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Land leveling is not required and thus avoiding removal of top

fertile soil, as happens in other surface irrigation methods
 No cultivation area is lost for making ditches results in
increasing about 16% of the cropped area
 water can be applied at a rate lesser than the infiltration
capacity of soil and thus avoiding surface run off
 This method leaches down salts and prevents water-logging or
salinity
 It is less labor oriented and hence useful where labor is costly
and scarce
 Small and frequent application of water can be applied
readily

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Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Up to 80% of applied water can be stored in the root zone of

plants
 Fertilizers can be uniformly applied, because they can mixed
with irrigation water
 Limitations
 High winds may distort sprinkler pattern, causing non-uniform
spreading of water on the crops
 In areas of high temperature and high wind velocity,
considerable evaporation losses of water may take place
 They are not suited to crops requiring frequent and larger
depths of irrigation, such as rice production

Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Initial cost of the system is very high (due to cost of pipe,

nozzle, pump), and the system requires a high technical skill
 A constant water supply is needed for commercial use of
equipment
 Only sand and silt free water can be used, as otherwise pump
impellers lifting such water will get damaged

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Chapter 1 – Sprinkler Irrigation Method

 Advantages, Limitation, Conditions for adaptation: Book

Garg
 Discuss the feasibility or adaptability for suitability of
Sprinkler system in context of Bangladesh
Not Suitable because
(a) High initial cost,
(b) High operating cost,
(c) Rice is the main crop of our country, for which sprinkler
system is not suitable,
(d) For our country, we need labour intensive method rather
than mechanized method

Chapter 1 – Drip Irrigation Method

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Chapter 1 – Drip Irrigation Method

 Drip Irrigation
 This one is relatively new field irrigation technique (also called
trickle irrigation)
 Irrigation water is applied by using small diameter (12 to 32
mm) plastic lateral lines
 The lateral lines contains some devices called ‘emitters’ at
selected spacing to deliver water to the soil surface near the
base of the plants
 It is best suited for widely spaced plants, salt problems and for
areas with water scarcity
 Water is applied where root of plant remains and water is
applied at a very low rate (drop by drop)

Chapter 1 – Drip Irrigation Method

 In this method, water is slowly and directly applied to the root

zone of the plants for minimizing the losses by evaporation and
percolation
 This method is being used for small nourishes, orchards or
gardens (suitable for widely spaced and small plants)

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Chapter 1 – Drip Irrigation Method

 Advantages
 Conventional losses such as deep percolation, runoff and soil
water can be minimized by applying a volume of water
approaching the consumptive use of the plants
 Small area is wetted thereby reducing weed growth, insects
and diseases etc
 Soil crusting and interference with harvesting is minimized
 Greater crop yield and better quality can be obtained
 For widely spaced like fruit trees, the system may be even
more economical than sprinkler method of irrigation
 When compared to the sprinkler system, the drip method
operates on much lower line pressure, thus providing a saving
in energy requirements

Chapter 1 – Drip Irrigation Method

 Advantages
 Like the sprinkler method, drip irrigation permits the
simultaneous application of fertilizers through the system
 Disadvantages
 High initial cost of the drip irrigation equipment sometimes
limits its use to orchard and vegetables in water scarcity areas
 Clogging of emitter may disrupt the irrigation system

 Plastic pipes may damage by rodents

 Wind erosion can harm the pipes

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