Irrigation

Primary objectives:

1. To supply essential moisture for plant

growth, which includes transport of
essential nutrients
2. To leach or dilute salts in soil.
Classification of Irrigation Projects Based on
Cultural Command Area (CCA)
[Link] Irrigation Projects:
– CCA>10,000 ha.
– consists huge storage reservoirs, flow diversion structures and
a large network of canals.
– multi-purpose projects serving other aspects like flood control
and hydro power.
[Link] Irrigation Projects:
– Projects having CCA less than 10,000 ha but more than 2,000
ha.
– Multi-purpose surface water projects.
– Medium size storage, diversion and distribution structures .
[Link] Irrigation Projects:
– CCA less than or equal to 2,000 ha.
– The main sources of water are tanks, small reservoirs and
groundwater pumping.
1. Direct Irrigation method:
• Water is directly diverted from the river into the canal by
the construction of a diversion structure like weir or
barrage across the stream without attempting to store
water.
• This method is practiced where the stream has adequate
perennial supply.
2. Indirect or Storage Irrigation Method:
• Water is stored in a reservoir during monsoon by
construction of a dam across the river.
• The stored water is diverted to the fields through a
network of canals during the dry period.
• Evidently indirect irrigation is adopted where the river is
not perennial or flow in the river is inadequate during
lean period.
Based on the Way of Water Application

[Link]/Flow Irrigation Scheme: This is the type of irrigation system in

which water is stored at a higher elevation so as to enable supply to the land
by gravity flow. Such irrigation schemes consist head works across river to
store the water and canal network to distribute the water. The gravity irrigation
scheme is further classified as:
• [Link] Irrigation Scheme: In this scheme assured supply of water is
made available to the command area throughout the crop period to meet
irrigation requirement of the crops.
• [Link]-Perennial Irrigation (Restricted Irrigation) Scheme: Canal supply is
generally made available in non-monsoon period from the storage.
[Link] Irrigation Scheme: Irrigation systems in which water has to be
pumped to the field or canal network form lower elevations are categorised as
lift irrigation schemes.
Year of
Name River State CCA, ha
completion
Bhakra Nangal Punjab and Himachal
Sutlej 40,00,000 1963
Project Pradesh
Punjab, Haryana and
Beas Project Beas River 21,00,000 1974
Rajasthan
Indira Gandhi Harike (Satlej and
Punjab 5, 28,000 1965
Canal Beas)
Koshi Project Kosi River Bihar and Nepal 8.48,000 1954
Hirakund Project Mahanadi Orisa 10,00,000 1957
Tungabhadra
Tungbhadra -Krishna AP-Karnataka 5,74,000 1953
project
Nagarjuna Sagar
Krishna AP 13,13,000 1960
Project
Rajasthan and Madhya
Chambal Project Chambal 5,15,000 1960
Pradesh
Damodar valley Jharkhand, West
Damodar 8,23,700 1948
project Bengal
Gandak project Gandak Bihar-UP 16,51,700 1970
Kakrapar project Tapti Gujarat 1,51,180 1954
Koyna Project Koyna- krishna Maharashtra 1964
Malprabha project Malprabha Karnataka 2,18,191 1972
Mayurakshi Project Mayurakshi West Bengal 2,40,000 1956
Kangsabati and
Kangsabati project West Bengal 3,48,477 1956
Kumari river
Benefits of Irrigation
1. Contribution to Food Production and Food Security:
2. Modify soil or climate environment – leaching.
3. Lessen risk of catastrophic damage caused by drought.
4. Increase income & national cash flow.
5. Increase labour employment.
6. Increase standard of living.
7. Increase value of land.
8. National security thus self-sufficiency.
9. Improve communication and navigation facilities.
10. Domestic and industrial water supply.
11. Improve ground water storage.
12. Generation of hydro-electric power.
13. Sometimes large irrigation channels can be used as a means of communication.
14. Domestic advantages should not be overlooked. Irrigation facilitates bathing, cattle
watering etc., and improves freshwater circulation.
15. When watering facility is provided to a barren land, the value of this land gets
appreciated.
16. Contribution in Employment Generation
17. Contribution to Drought Proofing
18. Contribution in Increasing Cropping Intensity
Problems created by irrigation

1. "Irrigation always results on degradation of water quality. Irrigation, by its nature, uses
pure water consumptively, leaving less water to transport salts and other contaminants.
Irrigation may be viewed as intensification, or acceleration, of a natural process."
2. Waterlogging and Salinity: Excessive seepage into the ground raises the water-table and
this in turn completely saturates the crop root-zone. It causes waterlogging of that area.
3. Bureaucratic approach
4. Sustainability issues and falling growth rates of production
5. Siltation
6. Conflict with other areas, Uses
7. Minimum environmental flows in rivers
8. Contribution in balanced regional development
9. Adverse Health Impacts: Excessive seepage and leakage of water forms marshes and
ponds all along the channels. The marshes and the ponds in course of time become the
colonies of the mosquito, which gives rise to a disease like malaria.
10. It lowers the temperature and makes the locality damp due to the presence of irrigation
water.
11. Under irrigation canal system valuable residential and industrial land is lost.
12. Initial cost of irrigation project is very high and thereby the cultivators have to pay more
taxes in the form of levy.
13. Irrigation works become obstacles in the way of free drainage of water during rainy
season and thus results in submerging standing crops and even villages.
Methods Of Irrigation
• Surface irrigation
(a) Uncontrolled (or wild or free) flooding method
(b) Border strip method
(c) Check method
(d) Basin method and
(e) Furrow method.
• Sub-surface irrigation
• Sprinkler irrigation
• Trickle(Drip) irrigation
Surface Irrigation
• In all the surface methods of irrigation, water is
either ponded on the soil or allowed to flow
continuously over the soil surface for the duration of
irrigation.
• It does not result in high levels of performance.
• This is mainly because of uncertain infiltration rates
which are affected by year-to-year changes in the
cropping pattern, cultivation practices, climatic
factors, and many other factors
Uncontrolled Flooding
• When water is applied to the cropland without any
preparation of land and without any levees to guide or
restrict the flow of water on the field, the method is
called ‘uncontrolled’, wild or ‘free’ flooding.
• Uncontrolled flooding generally results in excess
irrigation at the inlet region of the field and insufficient
irrigation at the outlet end.
• Efficiency is reduced because of either deep
percolation or flowing away of water from the field.
• The advantage of this method is the low initial cost of
land preparation.
Border Strip Method
• Border strip irrigation (or simply ‘border irrigation’) is
a controlled surface flooding method of applying
irrigation water. In this method, the farm is divided
into a number of strips. These strips are separated by
low levees (or borders).
• The border strip method is suited to soils of
moderately low to moderately high intake rates and
low erodibility.
• This method, however, requires preparation of land
involving high initial cost.
Check Method
• The check method of irrigation is based on rapid
application of irrigation water to a level or nearly level
area completely enclosed by dikes.
• In this method, the entire field is divided into a
number of almost levelled plots (compartments or
‘Kiaries’) surrounded by levees.
• This method is suitable for a wide range of soils ranging
from very permeable to heavy soils.
• Loss of water through deep percolation (near the
supply ditch) and surface runoff can be minimised and
adequate irrigation of the entire farm can be achieved.
Thus, application efficiency is higher for this method.
• There is some loss of cultivable area which is occupied
by the levees.
Basin
Method
Furrow Method
• An alternative to flooding the entire land surface is to construct small
channels along the primary direction of the movement of water and letting the
water flow
through these channels which are termed ‘furrows’, ‘creases’ or
‘corrugation’.
• Furrows necessitate the wetting of only about half to one-fifth of the field
surface. This reduces the evaporation loss considerably.
• Furrows provide better on-farm water management capabilities for most of
the surface irrigation conditions, and variable and severe topographical
conditions.
• Possibility of increased erosion
• Furrow irrigation requires more labour than any other surface irrigation
method.
Subsurface Irrigation
• Subsurface irrigation (or simply sub irrigation) is the
practice of applying water to soils directly under the
surface. Moisture reaches the plant roots through
capillary action. The conditions which favor sub
irrigation are as follows:
•Impervious subsoil at a depth of 2 meters or more,
•A very permeable subsoil
•A permeable loam or sandy loam surface soil,
•Uniform topographic conditions, and
•Moderate ground slopes
Sprinkler Irrigation
Sprinkling is the method of applying water to the soil surface
in the form of a spray which is somewhat similar to rain.
Rotating sprinkler-head systems are commonly used for sprinkler
irrigation.
Each rotating sprinkler head applies water to a given area, size
of which is governed by the nozzle size and the water pressure.
Alternatively, perforated pipe can be used to deliver water
through very small holes which are drilled at close intervals
along a segment of the circumference of a pipe
Sprinklers have been used on all types of soils on lands of
different topography and slopes, and for many crops. The
following conditions are favorable for sprinkler irrigation:
• Very previous soils which do not permit good
distribution of water by surface methods,
• Lands which have steep slopes and easily erodible soils,
• Irrigation channels which are too small to distribute water
efficiently by surface irrigation, and
• Lands with shallow soils and undulating lands which prevent
proper leveling required for surface methods of irrigation
Disadvantages
• High initial cost, cannot adopt by ordinary farmers
• Poor application efficiency in windy weather and
high temperature
• High evaporation losses
• Water should be free of debris
• Physical damage to crops by application of high
intensity spray
Advantages:
• Low water loss and hence saves water
• Enhances plant growth and plant yield
• Saves labor and energy
• Control weed growth
• No soil erosion
• Improves fertilizer application efficiency
Disadvantages
:
• High skill in design, installation, and subsequent
operation
• Clogging of small conduits and openings in emitters
due to sand, clay particles, debris, chemical
precipitates and organic growth
• Not suitable for closely planted crops such as wheat
and other cereal grains