SURFACE IRRIGATION

Chapter one
 1.1 Definition and scope of irrigation
 Definition: Irrigation is the science of artificial application of water to the
land, in accordance with the crop requirements throughout the crop period
for full nourishment of the crops.

 It is the Engineering of controlling and harnessing the various natural

sources of water, by construction of dams & reservoirs, canals & head
works and finally distributing the water to agricultural fields.

 To have maximum yield it is essential to supply the optimum quantity of

water with the schedule.
factors that
Necessities of irrigation . necessitate
- inadequate rainfall irrigation
- uneven distribution of Rainfall
- increasing the yield of the crops
- growing a number of crops
- growing perennial crops.
Scope of Irrigation Engineering
 application of water to the land for raising crops. It includes all aspects and

problems extending from the watershed to the agricultural fields.

 It deals with
Hydrology, river engineering, design and construction
of dams, weirs, canals and various other hydraulic and
irrigation structures.

It also deals with surface and sub surface drainage

system, soil reclamation, water-soil-crop relationships.
Other allied sciences such as flood control, Ground
water development, hydropower, and inland navigation
are also studied in IRRIGATION ENGINEERING.

Various aspects of Irrigation Engineering is:

1. Water resources and hydrology aspect –Study the hydrology of the region. This
includes locate various water sources meteorology, precipitation, stream flow,
floods, river engineering, reservoirs flood control and ground water hydrology.
2. Engineering Aspect - involves the development of a source of water for
irrigation and construction of various irrigation structures.
 Dams and water power Engineering
 Diversion and Distribution structures
 Minor irrigation schemes (well, Tank / Pond, inundation Irrigation).
 Ground water development.

information are required while designing various irrigation structures.

 The quantity of water that will be available at a reservoir site for storage.

 Maximum discharge at a river site.

 Reservoir capacity that ensures adequate Quantity of water for various

purposes.
 Quantity of ground water which can be economically exploited.

3. Agricultural aspect – Involves irrigation practice and the study of

agricultural characteristics of the land and Crops.
4. Management Aspect- deals with successful implementation and efficient
management of engineering aspects and agricultural works.
Ill-effects of irrigation
It is occur when the scheme is not properly designed, implemented and
application management.
Some of the common ill-effects are
Water logging: when cultivators apply more water than actually required by
the crops, excess water percolates in to the ground and raises the water
table.
Long term application of pesticides under large scale irrigation system might
have a negative influence on soil microbial activities, on the quality of
surface and sub surface water resources due to pollution application
fertilizer that contains nitrates.

 Irrigation may result in colder and damper climate causing outbreak of

disease like malaria.

 Irrigation is complex and expensive in itself. Some times cheaper water is

to be provided at the cost of the government and revenue returns are low.
BENEFITS OF IRRIGATION
 Increase in food production:
 Optimum benefits

 Elimination of mixed cropping

 General prosperity

 Generation of hydroelectric power:

 Domestic water supply

 Facilities of communication

 In land navigation:
 1.3. IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN ETHIOPIA
 Irrigation potential
 The potential for development of MS & LS Irrigation scheme was
identified as 3.3 M ha by WAPCOS in 1990
 Other study which was conducted by FAO argues that the estimation
made by WAPCOS is over estimated.
 According to their study the country has 12 river basin such as

Rivers Basin Mean annual Ground water potential gross Net area
area Vol.x109m3 potentialx10 m irrigable area(ha) Under irrigation(ha)
9 3

(Km)2
Awash 112696 4.60 0.14 205400 69900
Abay() 204000 52.62 1.80 1001550 21010
Baro-Akobo 75912 11.81 0.13 600000 350
Rift valley lakes 52739 56.3 0.10 139300 12270
Omo-Gibe 79000 17.96 0.10 86520 27310
Genale-dawa 17104 5.88 0.03 423300 80
Wabi-Shebelle 202697 3.16 0.04 204000 20290
Tekeze 86500 8.20 0.02 189500 1800
Oaden 72121 0.86 - - -
Denakil 62882 0.86 - 3000 -
Aysha 2223 0.22 - - -
Mereb-Gash 5700 0.65 0.05 67560 8000
Total 1127312 112.45 2.59 2920130 161010
1.3. IRRIGATION …
 From the above table the total basin area covers
1,127,312 km2 and have a potential of 112.45*109m3
and 2.59*109m3 as annual runoff and ground water
respectively.
 With in the basin there is 2,920,130 ha potentially

gross irrigable area and out of which only 161,010 ha

is net area under irrigation.
 This shows that the country has developed irrigation

scheme <3% of it’s potential.

 This is also concentrated around awash basin.

 Now, the country is forced to develop more irrigation

scheme to alleviate food shortage due to the

repeated occurrence of drought.
 Thus irrigation is expanding to many of other basin

such as wabi-shebel, genale…

 1.3. IRRIGATION …
 Overall Objective Of Irrigation Policy In Ethiopia

The overall objective of the irrigation policy is to

develop the huge irrigated agriculture potential for
the production of food crops and raw materials
needed for agro-industries, on efficient and
sustainable basis and without degrading the fertility
of the production fields and water resource base.
FUNCTIONS OF IRRIGATION
WATER
 It adds water to the soil to supply the
moisture essential for plant growth.
 It acts as a solvent for the nutrients.
 Provide moisture essential for the life of
bacteria beneficial to the plant.
 Water cools the soil and the atmosphere

 Irrigation water, with controlled supplies,

washes out or dilutes salts in the soil; it

reduces the hazard of soil piping.
 It softens tillage pans.
1.4. STANDARDS OF IRRIGATION
WATER
 Every water is not suitable for irrigation. Since it’s
quality is influenced by the content of soil and
water itself.
 A particular water may be harmful to irrigate a

particular type of soil but the same water may be

useful to irrigate some other type of soil.
 If water contain
 Toxic chemical
 Reactive chemical

 Injurious bacteria

It is said to be poor quality or unsatisfactory for

irrigation purpose
1.4. STANDARDS …
 Therefore it is important to make a complete
water quality assessment by considering
A. sediment content
B. total concentration of soluble salt
C. concentration of specific element that can
be
potentially toxic to the crop
D. proportion of sodium ion to other cations
E. pH value of water
 Sediment content
It’s effect is depend on the source of
sediment
 Cs=

1.4. STANDARDS …
 Total concentration of soluble salt
 Water with high concentration of salt can be the
cause “physiological drought” to the plant
 Salinity concentration of soil solution Cs after the
consumption use(Cu) is given by;

C *Q

Q  (C u  Peff ) 
Where Q is quantity of water applied
Cu is consumptive use of
Peff is useful rainfall
Cu-Peff is used up irrigation water
C concentration of salt in irrigation water
1.4. STANDARDS …
 It can be express in terms of
Item Unit
1 TDS mg/L,
ppm
2 EC mmhos/cm,
µmmhos/cm,
dS/m

 Low conductivity EC is 0.1-0.25 mmhos/cm

 Medium conductivity EC is 0.25-0.75 mmhos/cm
 High conductivity EC is 0.75-2.25 mmhos/cm
 Very high conductivity EC is >2.25 mmhos/cm
 1.4. STANDARDS …
 EC,total cations and osmotic pressure of soil water extract
have the following relationship.
• Salt concentration, mg/l or ppm = 640 * EC millimhos/cm
• Total cation concentration, meq/lit = 10* EC millimhos/cm,
• Osmotic pressure, atm. = 0.36 *EC millmhos/cm,
• ppm/Eq.W = meq/lit.
 1dS/m =1 mmhos/cm = 1000 µmmhos/cm
 Proportion of sodium ions to other cations(SAR)
 Irrigation water having high SAR level can lead to the build up of
high Na in the soil.
 When the amount of sodium increases, it has effect on the soil
structure(break down) or soil dispersion
 Then the soil become plastic, sticky and porn to form clogs &
crust on drying
 Infiltration & permeability of the soil will be reduced
 1.4. STANDARDS …
 The proportion of sodium ions present in the soil is generally measured by
a factor called sodium-absorption ratio (SAR) and SAR is defined as:
Na 
SAR =  Ca    Mg   
 
 2 

Adj. SAR = SAR 1  8.4  pHc ……Ayers &Westcot, 1976

 Where;

 Input required are meq/lit of ca, mg, Na, CO3 and HCO3
1.4. STANDARDS …
 pH :- The pH value of a soil or natural water is a
measure of its alkalinity or acidity.
 More accurately stated, the pH value is a measure of the
hydrogen ion concentration in water.
 PH=-log(H)
 Potentially toxic elements: elements like Boron,
Selenium, etc may be toxic to plants.
 Concentration of Boron exceeding 0.3 PPM may be toxic
to certain plants. >0.5 PPM dangerous to nuts, citrus
fruits.
 1.5. Feasibility studies of irrigation
projects
 What is irrigation project?
 Is a project which aims to satisfy the paramount need
of adequate water provision for crop production.
 Irrigation project may classified as
Type of project Command area Development cost*
(ha) U.S dollars/ha
Average cost Range in cost

Large scale >10,000 16,000 5,000-50,000

Medium scale 2,000-10,000 9,000 4,000-15,000

Small scale <2,000 4,000 1,000-6,500

 The country has 3,637,000 ha potentially irrigable area.
 Out of which
 27% for SS Irrigation scheme & the rest 73% is for MS and LS
Irrigation scheme.
 Stages of irrigation project investigation and
development are
 Conception
 Planning
 Designing
 Construction
 Operation
 Common procedure for development of irrigation project
are
 Locating site area
 Reconnaissance survey of the site
 Detail investigation
 Fixing contractor and starting construction wok
 Approach of data collection
 Type of data to be collected
 how and why data is going to be collected
 Cost analysis
 Some of the data to be collected are
 Physical data: includes location, size and climate
 Hydrological data: precipitation, evapo transpiration, stream

size, water quality

 Geological data: rock & soil type, ground water, minerals

 Cartographic data: maps of the area

 Ecological data: vegetation cover, wildlife found in the area

 Demographic data: population statistics

 Economical data:

 Legal data: water right, land ownership

 Public option: opinion of different section of the society about

the project
 Flood control data: records of past flood condition and extent

of damage caused
 INFORMATION TO BE COLLECTED ARE
 Land resource
 Land Suitability is the fitness of a given type of land(a land
mapping unit) for a defined use.
Land mapping unit is parts of an area which are more or less
homogeneous with respect to a certain land characteristics.
• There are four structure of suitability classification. Namely
 Suitability orders: indicate whether land suitable or not suitable for
the use under consideration. Symbolized by letter S or N
 Suitability class: reflect the degree of suitability or not suitability with
in the suitability order. Symbolized by S1,S2, S3… and N1 &N2
STRUCTURE OF THE SUITABILITY CLASSIFICATION
INFORMATION …
 Soil survey
 This is assessment of soil in terms of type, infiltration
characteristics, hydraulic conductivity, workability , fertility ,salt
content and extent exposure for flooding and etc…

Examples of the minimum grade of a number of land qualities

and land suitability ratings for irrigated rice
Land qualities Land suitability rating
S1 S2
Soil depth (cm) >60 >30
Soil fertility high low-medium
Soil salinity (ECin mmhos/cm) <4 <8
Rock outcrops (% of ground surface) <2 <25
Net field water requirements (mm/day) <20 <20
Slope (%) <2 <4
Field size medium-large small
Land development costs (US $ /ha) <200 <600
Flooding nil or slight moderate
INFORMATION …
 Water resource
 Surface water sources
 Ground water sources

 Quality of water
 Agricultural & engineering aspect
 Present farm practice
 Number of farm, size of farm, farming methods, crop yield/ha
and it’s cost of production labour availability, existing market
and transport system
 Feature state of agriculture
 Here there should be a clear demonstration about soil,
climate, crop rotation, market accessibility and also advisory
and training facilities
 Engineering aspect
 focuses on the development of source of water and
construction of different structures to store, divert, convey
and apply irrigation water.
 INFORMATION …
 Social and economical aspect
 Benefit and cost analysis
 Cost: the various type of costs such as capital cost, interest on the
capital cost depreciation cost, operation and maintenance cost
should be determined.
 Benefit: the feasibility of an irrigation project shall be expressed in

terms of cost ratio.

Cost ratio= NABI

ACP
If CR >1.5, the poject is said to be economically justified
INFORMATION …
 Other aspects to be considered
 Organizational/institutionmanagement aspect: which
are responsible for the management of project
 Feature expansion potential of the project
 Environmental impact assessment(EIA)
CONT………………
Current Irrigation Development Plan:
Development 20,000ha at Kassem for expansion of Methara
sugar factory farm.
Large scale project – 60,000ha of land at Tendhao underway
Medium Scale project – Koga Irrigation project (Near Bahir Dar)
Final Detail Design:
Ziway Pressurized Irrigation project (15500ha)
Raya Pressurized Irrigation project (18000ha)
Final feasibility studies at:
Gode for about 3000ha
Dedessa for more than 10,000ha
Humera for about 20,000 to 40,000ha
Wolenchiti for about 15,000ha
Bilate for more than 5000ha
Gidabo for more than 5000ha
Tana lake watersheds (megech, Rib etc 30
Sugar industry 300, 000 ha
Flower companies – Oromia, south