Problems of Irrigated Lands

Water logging: When water rises near the ground surface or above the ground surface water
logging occurs. When the root zone of plants gets affected by water logging, air spaces in the
soil are filled by water and plant roots become ill aerated due to lack of oxygen. Therefore the
crop yield gets reduced. When the water table rises up, the salts which are present in the
water also rise to the surface causing deposition of salts in the roots of crops. These salts have
a corroding effect on the roots, checks the plant growth and the plants fade away. Water
logging ultimately leads to salinity.

Causes of water logging

1. Excessive inflow of water to the ground
2. Poor outflow of water

Factors effecting excessive inflow

 Excessive rainfall: Excessive rainfall in absence of adequate drainage cause water
logging
 Over irrigation: Over irrigation results in water logging due to heavy percolation and
subsequent rise in water table.
 Induced seepage: Induced seepage from nearby surface water bodies, irrigation
canals can cause rise in water table
 Submergence due to flood: If a land is continuously submerged by flood water table
may rise
Factors effecting poor outflow
 Inadequate surface drainage: Storm water and excess irrigation water must be
removed from the land and should not be allowed to percolate below. If proper
drainage is not provided then water logging may occur.
 Topography: On flat or irregular terrain with depressions water logging may occur
 Obstructions to subsoil flow: Natural obstructions (rock or clay strata) and artificial
obstructions (the constructions of embankments, highways etc) to the flow of sub soil
water may cause water logging.

Effect of water logging

1. Reduction of crop yield: Growth of plant depends on nutrients like nitrates which are
produced by bacteria under a process called nitrification. These bacteria need oxygen
for their survival. The supply of oxygen cuts off when root zone of the plant gets
flooded with water due to water logging and thus become ill aerated resulting in the
death of these bacteria and fall in the production of plant’s food (nutrients).
Consequently the plant growth is inhibited and the crop yield is reduced.
2. Disturbance in normal cultivation activities: The normal cultivation activities like
tilling, ploughing, etc cannot be easily carried out in wet soils. In extreme cases the
 Problems of irrigated lands

free water may rise above the land surface making cultivation activities impossible.
Such a land is called swampy land.
3. Salinity and alkalinity of soil: Ground water is found to contain many dissolved
salts. As the water table rises the evaporation rate increases duo to capillary rise.
While the water gets evaporated, salts get deposited into the root zone. The
accumulation of salts beyond acceptable limit turns the soil saline and alkaline in
nature making soil impervious, anaerobic, corrosive and toxic. Such soils are unfit for
agriculture.
Control of water logging
1. Lining of canals: Seepage loss of water from canals can be reduced by lining them.
This is a very effective method to control water logging.
2. Reducing the intensity of irrigation: In areas where there is a possibility of water
logging intensity of irrigation should be reduced.
3. Introducing crop rotation: Certain crops require more water than others. If a field is
always sown with crops requiring more water then the chance of water logging is
more. To avoid this high water requiring crop is followed by a less water requiring
crop.
4. Optimum use of water: Only a certain quantity of irrigation water gives the best
results. Less than that or greater than that may reduce the yield. The cultivators must
be educated to make the optimum use of water.
5. Provision of adequate drainage system: An efficient drainage system should be
provided to drain away storm water and the excess irrigation water.
6. Improving natural drainage: The natural drainage must be improved by removing
debris, rocks and other obstruction from the water way. Slope of natural drainage
lines should be improved.
7. Conjunctive use of ground and surface water: The main reason of water logging is
the rise of ground water table due to percolation of excess irrigation water and
seepage of surface water. To keep the water table stable it is necessary to use ground
water for irrigation. This practice of conjunctive use of ground and surface water can
be a effective anti water logging measure.
8. Better irrigation methods: Sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation methods can be
produced to prevent water logging.

Reclamation of saline and alkaline soil

Land reclamation is a process by which an uncultivable land is made suitable for cultivation.
Saline and water logged lands give very less crop yields and therefore almost unfit for
cultivation unless they are reclaimed.
If the water table rises up, then the salts dissolved in water also move up with water and get
deposited in the soil within the plant roots as well as on the surface of the land. This
phenomenon of salt coming up in solution and forming a thin crust (5 to 7.5 c) on the surface
is called efflorescence. Land affected by efflorescence is called saline soil.

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 Problems of irrigated lands

Since the plants roots act as semi permeable membranes so we have almost pure water on one
side of the membrane and highly concentrated salt solution on the other side. So water will
start flowing out of the roots by osmosis and plant will die to lack of water.
Efflorescence can be avoided if the water table is maintained sufficiently below the roots so
that the capillary water is not able to reach the plant roots. Therefore, all the measures which
are suggested for preventing water logging hold good for preventing salinity of lands also.
After the high water table has been lowered by suitable drainage the soil is freed from
existing salts by a process called leaching.

Leaching
In this process the land is flooded with sufficient depth of water. The alkali salts (Na2CO3,
Na2SO4 and NaCl) present in the soil get dissolved in water which percolate down to join the
water table or drained away by sub-surface drainage. This process is repeated till the salt
present in the soil get reduced to a tolerable limit. The land is then said to have been
reclaimed. This process is known as leaching.
When sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) is present in the saline soil, gypsum (Ca2SO4) is generally
added to the soil before leaching and thoroughly mixed with water. Sodium carbonate reacts
with Ca2SO4 forming Na2SO4 which can be easily leached out.

Leaching fraction
To leach out the excess salts or to avoid accumulation of salts, water is applied in a quantity
more than the requirement of the crop. This excess water which met the leaching needs is
expressed as a percentage of total applied water to the soil and termed as leaching fraction.

depth of water leached below the root zone

Leaching Fraction 
depth of water applied at the surface
=
Total salt balance of soils can be expressed as :

Where Ciw = salt content in irrigation water applied at the surface

Cdw = salt content in drained water

Since the salt content is directly proportional to the electrical conductivity (EC) , therefore

where, ECiw = Salinity of the applied irrigation water at the surface.

ECdw = Salt Concentration of water percolating below the root zone

Salinity of the drained water, ECdw =

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 Problems of irrigated lands

Leaching Requirement
Minimum leaching requirement needed to control salts within the crop tolerance with
ordinary surface method of irrigation.

LR =

ECe → avg. soil salinity tolerated by a crop on a soil saturation extract.

Applied water to meet the crop demand and leaching requirement-

AW = mm/year

ET → total annual crop water demand , mm/year.

Blending of Water Supplies

- Poor quality water is to be blended with better quality supply thus increasing the
total quantity of usable water available.
- Blending may allow more crop area to be planted because of the increase in
volume obtained by dilution.
- The quality of blended water can be found by:

Concentration of blended water = concentration of water (a) × proportion of water used (a) +
concentration of water (b) × proportion of water used (b)

Precaution in Saline Water Use

1. Excess amount of water for leaching down the surplus salt.

2. Excess salt leach down before sowing.
3. Soil → Light textured, porous, permeable (for easy leaching operation).
4. Frequent irrigation application.
5. Evaporation should be reduced.
6. Ground water table should be lowered.
7. Land should be properly graded.
8. Adequate drainage to prevent water logging.
9. Soil should be maintained with addition of organic matter and by proper tillage.
10. Liming of soil, addition of Gypsum in water.
11. Sodium ion concentration should be as low as possible.
12. Method of irrigation (preferably check method).
13. Salt tolerant crop (barley, sugarbeat, mustard, cotton).