Essential Components of Drip Irrigation Systems

K.V.Ramana Rao and C. K. Saxena

Senior Scientists, IDED, Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal
Drip Irrigation is one of the best ways to irrigate the plants at ground level where they require it the most. Use of
drip irrigation for row crops, orchards and greenhouses to reduce the volume of water required to irrigate and its
costs has gaining momentum now. Primarily, it is often used under water scarce situations but it should be used
at all places as water is precious and it is a must to save water. Drip irrigation is a method of irrigation wherein water
to the plants is given as per their real need.
Advantages of drip irrigation system:
 Highly efficient water supply
 Suitable for almost all environments
 Maintains moisture level in the soil
 Reduces soil erosion
 Effective for windy areas
 Suitable for all sorts of plants and soil
 Increases crops yields and quality of produce
 No fear of water runoff and evaporation ie., minimizes water losses
 Doesn’t waste water on weeds
Essential components of Micro/Drip Irrigation System
The components of a typical micro-irrigation or a drip system can be grouped into three major groups viz. i)
Control head, ii) Distribution network and iii) Other accessories and fittings. A typical drip irrigation layout is
presented in the following figure.

Photo Courtesy: M/s. Jain Irrigation

Control Head

The control head of drip irrigation includes pump, filter, pressure

regulator, pressure gauge, water meter and chemical/fertilizer
application equipment etc. The pump/overhead tank is required to
provide sufficient pressure in the system. The type and size of pump
selected will depend on the amount of water required, desired pressure
and the location of the pump relative to the distribution network.
Centrifugal pumps are generally used for low pressure drip/trickle
systems. Overhead tanks are generally used for small areas or orchard
crops with comparatively lesser water requirements.

Filters

The irrigation waters used for micro-irrigation could be from various sources like rivers, canals, harvesting tanks
or wells/ tube wells. These waters may contain suspended particles of soils, mineral salts and pathogenic
bacteria, algae etc. Filters reduce the hazard of blocking or clogging of emitters due to physical, chemical or
biological reasons. A filter is used for efficient and trouble free operation of the micro-irrigation system and thus it
requires frequent cleaning or flushing. A single filter or a combination of filters in series is used depending upon
factors like source of irrigation water, level of impurities present, desired quality of filtered water and investment
capacity. In general, three kinds of filters are commonly used in a micro-irrigation
system.

Media filter consists of fine gravel and sand of selected sizes placed in a pressured
tank. It is effective in removing both the organic and inorganic suspended particles.
Modern media filters have auto-cleaning features and these do not pose much pressure
loss.

Screen filters are the most commonly used in micro-irrigation systems. A screen filter
consists of a screen that removes suspended particles from irrigation water. The material
used for screen is generally nylon, polyester or stainless steel. Various mesh sizes are
available ranging between 20 – 200 mesh. In micro-sprinkler system a 70 mesh filter and in
drip 100 mesh or 150 micron are generally recommended to remove most clogging
materials. These filters can be cleaned either by flushing or manually by hand cleaning due
to its easier opening feature. The size of filter perforation is expressed either in mesh or
micron. Mesh size relates to the number of fiber per inch of woven net, whereas, the
micron relates to the distance between two nearest fibres or opening. Mesh and micron
relationship used in screen filters is presented in the following table.

Table: Mesh and micron values used in screen filters

Sl. No. Mesh (no. of fibres per inch) Micron (size of gap between fibre)
1 40 420
2 60 250
3 80 177
4 120 125
5 140 105
6 155 100
7 200 75
Source: Suresh, 2009

Disk filters are improved from of screen and sand media filters. Water passes through a
stack of slightly rough surfaced round disks that form a cylindrical filter clears the
suspended inorganic and organic solids up to very small size. Disks can be separated
and snagged debris can be cleaned by flushing or hand cleaning.
Centrifugal or hydro-cyclonic filter is used to separate the heavy
suspended solids like sand. These are fitted in series with the gravel filter. If
the system pressure is higher the dripper are likely to be damaged as well as
the application rate will be higher than the rated application rate. Pressure
regulators are generally used in drips system to decrease the higher system
pressure to the lower required system pressure. It controls pressures in one
way only, i.e., high to low. The pressure gauge is used in drip system for
measuring the pressure and accordingly pressure regulators can adjust the
rate of application of water. The quantity of water being applied in irrigation
can be recorded with the help of water meters. Fertilizer applicator is used for
application of fertilizer into pressurized irrigation system. Criteria for selecting a
particular filter is presented in the following table.

Table: Criteria for filter selection

Causes of Contamin Criterion for Type of Filters
Clogging ation of selection Hydro Sand Disc Screen
water
cyclone
Soil particle size Low >=0.2 mm F S - T
High <0.2 mm F S - T
Suspended Low <50 mg/l - F S T
solids High >50 mg/l - F S -
Algae organic Low - - S F T
material High - - S F T
Iron and Low <0.5 mg/l - S F F
Manganese High >0.5 mg/l - F S S
F : Recommended First Choice; S : Recommended Second Choice, T : Recommended Third Choice
Source: Rajput and Patel, 2002
Distribution network

Distribution lines consist of a network of graduated pipe sizes starting with a single large main line followed by
smaller submain and lateral lines. It mainly constitutes main line, submain line, sub- submain line and laterals
with drippers and other accessories.

Main and submain line

A typical drip main is generally made of rigid PVC and High Density
Polyethylene (HDPE). Pipes of 65 mm diameter and above with a pressure
2
rating 4 to 6 kg/cm are used for main pipes. For sub main pipes, rigid PVC,
HDPE or LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) of diameter ranging from 32 mm
2
to 75 mm having pressure rating of 2.5 kg/cm are used.

Laterals: These are normally manufactured from LDPE. Generally,

lateral pipes having 10, 12 and 16 mm internal diameter with wall
thickness varying from 1 to 3 mm are used in drip system.

Emitters / Drippers: Emitters act as energy dissipaters, the inlet pressure

head of the pipeline or lateral pipe reduces to nearly atmospheric pressure at
the outlet of an emitter. These are manufactured generally from poly-propylene
plastic. Emitters are classified according to THE criteria, a) Design geometry
and working principle: Orifice, long path, perforated pipe, double wall pipe
types, micro-tubes; b) Emission source: Point source (generally for wide
spaced crops) and line source (for close spaced crops); c) Pressure exponent:
Pressure compensating and non-pressure compensating type, d) Method of
attachment: In line and on-line, e) Flow regime: Turbulent and laminar flow, f)
Operating pressure (of lateral pipe) range: Low (<0.5 m) and High pressure
(>5 m); g) Discharge rates: Low (<4 lph), medium (4-10 lph) and high (>10
lph).

Most of the point source drippers are either on-line or in-line drippers. In-line drippers are fixed along with the
lateral line, i.e., the pipe is cut and drippers are fixed in between the cut ends, such that it makes a continuous
row after fixing the dripper. Vortex type emitters attached from the inside of a lateral while manufacturing is also
common in India. On-line emitters are fixed or fastened on the laterals after punching holes of suitable size in the
lateral pipe. Most common emitters or drippers in surface drip irrigation systems are non-pressure compensating
and pressure compensating (PC) types. Other types of emitting devices like adjustable discharge type, porous
pipes/tapes are also being commonly used. In case of micro-spray, the emitters are classified as per droplet size
viz. aerosol emitters, foggers, misters, mini sprinklers, micro sprinklers and jets etc.

Other accessories and fittings: Other accessories include take-out/starter,

rubber grommet, end plug, joiners, tees, reducers, elbows, connectors, gate
valves and manifolds etc. Sometimes silt escapes through the filters and
settles in sub mains and laterals. Also some algae and bacteria lead to the
formation of slimes/pastes in the pipe and laterals. To remove these, the sub
mains should be flushed by opening the flush valves. The lateral lines are
flushed by removing the end caps. By flushing, even the traces of accumulated
salts will also be removed. The flushing is stopped once the water going out is
cleaned.

References:
Rajput TBS and Neelam Patel , 2002
Suresh R. 2009.