7 SPRINKLER IRRIGATION

(January 31, 2011) 63

7.9

Small case study: Irrigation from a well

A well with a practically constant discharge of 20 l/s is to be used for irrigation. The rainfall in the region of 82 [mm/year] is of a high variability. It is planned to have 3 yields per year with 3 dierent kinds of crops on the same area. The crops taken into consideration are cereals, forage (fodder), and vegetables. The cropping periods and the respective irrigation demand are displayed on /tab. 7-5/. These water requirements include crop water demand as well as losses, characteristic for the respective irrigation technology. month monthly share of annual water demand crop 1 4.5 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sums 100

4.5 4.5 1.0 8.5 8.5 8.5 3.0 17. 17. 14. 9.0 [%] [%] [%] cereals forage vegetables water demand for surface irrigation in [mm/a] water demand for for sprinkler irrigation in [mm/a]

840 456

Table 7-5: Irrigation from a well; Monthly distribution of irrigation water requirements for various crops (I) Evaluate the possible size of the area that could be irrigated if no reservoir is provided for a) surface (gravitational) irrigation b) a center pivot sprinkler system Compute the diameter of the center pivot irrigation system. (II) Estimate the size of the irrigated area and the required volume of the reservoir for a lay out of the system with a center pivot irrigation system and an over season (1 year) reservoir. (III) Compute the power of the pump to be installed. hgeo = 65 m, hloss = 14 m, hnozzle = 3.5 bar, pump,motor = 0.75 the energy required during 1 year

(IV)

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

7 SPRINKLER IRRIGATION

(January 31, 2011) 64

Due to a considerable salt content of the irrigation water, high evaporation rates and little, unreliable rainfall, leaching of the soil must be considered in order to avoid salinisation. Estimate the required annual rate of leaching water. Suggest the date for the application of leaching water. The soil of the available land is a sandy loam that can be characterized by an inltration coecient ki = 0.7. The potential evaporation from a lakes surface is P ET = 915 [mm/year]. The salt content of the irrigation water expressed by its electrical conductivity in [S/cm] is ECi = 680 [S/cm]. The envisaged crops have salt tolerances according to the following table. It must, however, be pointed out that the full utilization of the given salt tolerances implies yield reductions of up to 50 %. ---------------------------------------------------crops salt tolerance electrical conductivity EC_t [micro-S/cm ] ==================================================== cereals medium 7000 forage medium-high 11000 vegetables low-medium 4000 ----------------------------------------------------Table Tolerance of selected crops for salt, expressed by the tolerated electrical conductivity ECt of the saturated extract of a soil sample (V) Re-compute the required volume of the reservoir taking into account - the rates of the irrigation water application - the evaporation evenly distributed over the year for the selected shape of the reservoir - the leaching water rate

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

B SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

(31. Januar 2011) 241

B.9
(I)

To: Irrigation from a well

If no reservoir is provided, the cropping period with the maximum demand is crucial: here vegetables: ------------------------------------------------------------------Monthly well supply = 0.020 m^3/s * 3600.s/h *24.h/d *30.5 d/month = 52704 m^3/month a) Water demand for surface irrigation Critical crop water use CWU_max = 0.17 * 0.840 = 0.14 [m/month] 52704 m^3 month A_max,surf = ------ -----------376457 m^2 = 38 ha 0.14 month m b) Water demand for sprinkler irrigation Critical crop water use CWU_max = 0.17 * 0.456 = 0.078 [m/month] 52704 m^3 month A_max,spri = ------ ---------= 675692 m^2 = 68 ha 0.078 month m Diameter of center pivot (cepiv) d_cepiv = sqrt( (4.*A_max,spri)/3.14 ) = 930.5 m r_cepiv = 465 m --------------------------------------------------------------(II) With reservoir, the whole annual water supply of the well can be used. ---------------------------------------------------------------Annual well supply V_well,a = 0.020 m^3/s * 3600.s/h *24.h/d *365 d/a = 630 720 m^3/a Sprinkler irrigation annually required is rate_sprinkler = 456 mm/a therefore 630720 m^3/a A_max,spri = -------------- = 1 383 158 m^2 = 138 ha 0.456 m/a ---------------------------------------------------------------Leaching water and evaporation from reservoir not taken into account!

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

B SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

(31. Januar 2011) 242

----------------------------------------------------------------Annual demand for sprinkler irrigation (m^3 of water) must meet the annual well supply Cereals (dt = 4 months): 0.066 m * 1380 000 m^2 = forage ( ): 0.130 m * 1380 000 m^2 = Vegetables ( ): 0.260 m * 1380 000 m^2 = 91080 m^3 179400 m^3 358800 m^3 =========== 629280 m^3 ok! -------------------------------------------------------------------For the assessment of the required reservoir volume the graphical method of the balance of summed up inows and outows according to /eq.-A9-1/ is used. Vt,inf low =
Q t

Qi,inf low ti ;

Vt,outf low =
Q t

Qi,outf low ti

(A9-1)

m3

1 time Q t m3

12

1 time Q t 3

12

1 time

12

1 time

12

Abbildung A9-1: Various realisations of in- and outow-sum balances may be inserted here -----------------------------------------------------------------------Sum of monthly irrigation contributions in percent month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 SumIrr 4.5 9.0 13.5 14.5 23.0 31.5 40.0 43.0 60.0 77.0 91.0 100 [%] \sumV_irr,i = SumIrr [%] / 100 * rate_sprinkler,a * A_irr -----------------------------------------------------------------------The required reservoir volume Vres 150 000 m3 without accounting for evaporation from the reservoir and leaching water. Vres can be measured from the graph as the greatest volume dierence between the curves or computed from the dierence in the sums of inow and outow at the end of August: Vres = 42.048 104 m3 27.06 104 m3 = 14.99 104 m3 150000 m3

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

B SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES (III) Installed power for pumping the irrigation water PP ump [W ] = where g hmano Qpump pump,motor = 1000 [kg/m3 ] = 9.81 [m/s2 ] = manometric head dierence [m] = pump discharge in [m3 /s] = combined eciency = 65. + 14. + 35. = 114 m water g Qpump hmano pump,motor

(31. Januar 2011) 243

hmano = hgeo + hloss + hnozzle

Qpump = Qwell = 0.020 [m3 /s] Here, it has been assumed that the water is pumped from the well into a reservoir. From there, the water is supposed to be supplied directly into the sprinkler system when required. PP ump = 1000 9.81 0.020 114. 1 = 29822 [W ] 30 [kW ] 0.75

EP ump = PP ump 365 [d/a] 24 [h/d] = 262800 [kW h/a] Required energy during 1 year (IV) Required leaching water according to FAO-Formula Pleach = where Pleach ECi ECt ki ET N = = = = = = leaching rate (Percolation [dm/year] elect. conductivity in inltration water [mS/cm] tolerated elect. conductivity in soil [mS/cm] Inltration coecient of soil [1], see below Evapotranspiration [dm/year] Annual precipitation [dm/year] ECi (ET N ) ki (2 ECt ECi ) (A9-2)

The inltration coecient may be approximated by the following values ki,sand ki,loam ki,clay = = = 0.8 0.6 0.3

----------------------------------------------------------------Rain is not reliable therefore not accounted for. Salt tolerance

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

B SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES for the most sensitive crops (vegetables)

(31. Januar 2011) 244

P_leach = 0.68 * (4.56 - 0.) / (0.7 * (2.*4. - 0.68)) = 0.605 dm/a = 60.5 mm/a V_P_leach = 0.0605*1380000. = 83490 [m/a* m^2 = m^3/a] ---------------------------------------------------------------Considering salt tolerances of the envisages crops, leaching should be applied before cropping vegetables.

(V) Evaporation losses from reservoir surface: ----------------------------------------------------------------Chosen reservoir shape V_res l_res = ---------------------depth_res * width_res l_res A_res = 150000. / 6. (chosen) / 125. (chosen) = 200. = l_res * width_res = 125.*200. = 25000. m^2 m

V_evap,a = PET * A_res = 0.915*25000. = 22875 m^3/year The evaporation loss of the water supply from the well is 22875./630720.*100. = 3.6 [%] An approximately linear evaporation over the year is assumed: V_evap,month = V_evap,a / 12. = 22875./12. = 1906.25 m^3/month ---------------------------------------------------------------Due to the amount of water that cannot be used for irrigation Vloss = VP + Vevap,a [m3 /a] the irrigatable area becomes smaller: ----------------------------------------------------------------V_loss = 83490. + 22875. = 106365 m^3/a A_irr = (V_well,a - V_loss) /rate_sprinkler = (630720. - 106365) / 0.456 / 10000. [m^2/ha]= 115 ha ----------------------------------------------------------------Since leaching water requirements decrease with shrinking irrigated areas, a short iteration, e.g. using the following algorithm,

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

B SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

(31. Januar 2011) 245

----------------------------------------------------------------do { icount++; A_irr1 = A_irr2; V_P = P_leach * A_irr1; V_loss = V_evap + V_P; A_irr2 = (V_well - V_loss) / rate_sprinkler; } while ( (fabs(A_irr1 - A_irr2) > 0.001) && icount < 100); /*** Result: A_irr = 117.69 [ha] ***/ ----------------------------------------------------------------yields the exact size of the irrgatable area. Using the rst approximation of Airr = 115 [ha], however, would be on the safe side. Summing up irrigation water rates, evenly distributed evaporation from the reservoir surface from month to month and adding the leaching water VP at the end of the 8th month, according to the following scheme for example, ----------------------------------------------------------------sum = 0; for(i=1;i<=12; i++) { sum += Irr_rate[i] / 100. * rate_sprinkler * A_irr + V_evap_month; if(i==8) { sum += P_leach * A_irr;} sumV_out[i] = sum; } /* Results see graph */ ----------------------------------------------------------------the curve irr + ev + leach in the graph is obtained. Hence, taking into account occuring water losses, the area of the croppable land changes considerably (115 to 117 [ha] instead of 138 [ha]), but not the necessary reservoir size.

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht

B SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

(31. Januar 2011) 246

Thu Jul 11 13:16:23 1996

60

well_inflow irr_outflow irr+ev+leach

50

40

V [m^3 * 10^4]

30

20

10

0 0 2 4 6 t [months] 8 10 12

Abbildung A9-2: Balance of reservoir in- and outows for the cropping area watered by sprinkler irrigation (center pivot)

Institut f ur Wasserbau, Prof. Dr-Ing. Silke Wieprecht