cmutsvangwa irrigation systems design: dept. of civil and water eng.

, nust, 20/04/2007 14:46:25

Chapter 5

Introduction to surface irrigation

1 Types of irrigation
• Surface
• Overhead
• Trickle

2 Surface irrigation
It uses open channel flow to spread water over the field and the driving force is
gravity. Abundant water supplies are required with a smaller initial investment.

3 Factors affecting surface irrigation

• Slope
• Roughness of field
• depth of water to be applied
• length of run and time required
• Field resistance to erosion

4 Types of surface irrigation

There are mainly two types pf surface irrigation namely, flood and furrow.

4.1 Flood irrigation

In flood irrigation, water is applied by flooding a smooth and flat land and this type
of irrigation can be divided into the following categories:

• Free flooding
• Border strip
• Check
• Basin

4.1 Free flooding

Water is applied from field ditches without any check or guidance to the flow
and on the other side of the field, a drain is provided to take away excess
water. A schematic illustration is shown in Fig. 1.

4.1.1 Advantages
• Cheap
• Suitable where supply of water is plenty
• irregular surface field

4.1.2 Disadvantages
• No perfect control of flow and therefore low efficiency
• Flow sometimes rapid to fulfil soil moisture deficiency
• Sometime water is retained on the field for a very long time and
consequently the water lost to infiltration
1

Chapter 5 Introduction to surface irrigation

cmutsvangwa irrigation systems design: dept. of civil and water eng., nust, 20/04/2007 14:46:25

Lateral
main ditch or drain

15 to 45m

Lateral

Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of free flooding

4.2 Border strip

The field is divided into number of strips and the strips are separated by low
embankments or levees.

Disadvantages of border irrigation

• smooth topography or deep soils are required for adequate levelling
• levelling costs may be high
• growing crops may be damaged
• extra tillage is required for crusting soils
• a light irrigation less than 25mm is difficult to apply

5 Furrow irrigation
Furrow irrigation can be divided into the following groups:

• Deep furrows
• Corrugations (small furrows)
• Furrows

Phases of water distribution on soils which are applicable to all types of

surface irrigations systems

• Advance phase: the potion of the total irrigation time during which water
advances in flow from the upper to lower field boundary. The advance curve is
obtained by noting the time required for the stream of water to reach distances
down the field.

Chapter 5 Introduction to surface irrigation

cmutsvangwa irrigation systems design: dept. of civil and water eng., nust, 20/04/2007 14:46:25

Fig. 2 Illustration of water movements across borders (Basset et all, 1975)

• Storage phase: The time that elapses between the end of advance phase and
inflow shut-off. Water continues to be applied to the field even though the advance
curve has reached the end of the field and when water is out off the head of the
field. (Toc-Tt).

Depletion phase: The time between inflow shut-off and the beginning of recession
at the upper field boundary. It continues until the soil surface at the head of the field
is visible (no longer submerged in water at the head of the field). This marks the
beginning of recession phase which continues until water has drained completely
off the surface of the field.

• Recession phase: The time that elapses between the start of recession and the
disappearance of the last water from the field surface.

• Advance or wetting front: the leading edge of water as it advances over a bed
initially free of water.

• Recession or drying front: the trailing edge of surface water as the depth of
water in surface flow approaches zero.
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Chapter 5 Introduction to surface irrigation

cmutsvangwa irrigation systems design: dept. of civil and water eng., nust, 20/04/2007 14:46:25

• Advance rate: the rate with which the advance front moves over the field surface.

• Recession rate: the rate with which the recession front moves over the field
surface.

Irrigation efficiencies
Extraction efficiency , ex =volume delivered to distribution
volume extracted from supply

Conveyance efficiency, ec =volume delivered to application devises

volume delivered to distribution

Application efficiency, ea =volume delivered to application surface

volume delivered to application devices

Distribution pattern efficiency ed =volume in crop root zone

volume delivered to application surface

Irrigation system efficiency, es =volume stored in crop root zone

volume extracted from supply

e s = (e x )(ec )(ea )(ed ) i.e. overall efficiency indicates the efficiency for the complete
system from water supply to the field.

References
1. Agritex
2. Cuenca R., (1989), Irrigation Systems Design: An Engineering approach.
Prentice Hall. USA.
3. Jensen M.E., (1980), Design and Operation of Farm Irrigation Systems,
American Society of Irrigation Engineers, USA

Chapter 5 Introduction to surface irrigation