378
This method has several major ad-
vantages. Subirrigation can be used
effectively on soils that are difficult and
expensive to irrigate by other methods.
Except where water is introduced
through tile drains, the installation
costs are low. Labor requirements are
low. Subirrigation is adaptable to a
large variety of crops and does not
interfere with tillage practices.
Subirrigation also has limitations.
The main one is the unusual combina-
tion of natural conditions required.
Only water of good quality may be
used. Soils may become saline unless
careful control is exercised. High levels
of fertility may be hard to maintain.
Several conditions must be met. An
adequate supply of water relatively
free of salts must be available through-
out the growing season. The topog-
raphy must be nearly level and com-
paratively smooth. Land leveling or
smoothing is required in most cases for
best results. A layer of soil must exist
immediately below the surface soil,
which is sufficiently permeable to per-
mit the free and rapid movement of
water both laterally and vertically. A
barrier against excessive losses through
deep percolation must exist in the soil
profile. This barrier may be in the
form of a relatively impervious layer
in the substratum or a permanently
high natural water table on which an
artificial table can be maintained. An
adequate drainage outlet is needed.
Relatively few places exist in the
humid area where all these conditions
occur together. The use of subirriga-
tion therefore is limited. Among the
more well-known areas where sub-
irrigation is practiced are the Ever-
glades of southern Florida, the Flat-
woods of the Florida Coastal Plain,
and smaller, scattered localities with
organic soils in Michigan, Indiana,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio.
The principles of subirrigation are
the same in all areas, although the
means of introducing water into the
soil profile may diff'er. The controlled
water table is usually 12 to 30 inches
below the surface.
YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1957
Drainage Problems
and Methods
T. W. Edminster and Ronald C. Reeve
Good management of the land
means good management of the
water. Excess water in the soil
interferes with crop growth and
the timely performance of till-
age, seeding, cultivation, and
harvesting. Poor drainage also
abets the accumulation of salts
in soils of arid regions.
The source of the excess water deter-
mines the severity of drainage prob-
lems and the ways to solve them.
The problems are: Periodic flooding
of lands by overflow from streams or by
tidal action in coastal areas; overflow
of low-lying flat lands from hillside
runofí' or return-flow seepage on slop-
ing land; accumulation of too much
water in soils when subsoil drainage is
restricted ; accumulation of excess water
in depressions or low-lying areas, such
as old ponds and lake beds; buildup of
a high water table as a result of apply-
ing excess irrigation water; buildup of
a high water table from seepage losses
from irrigation canals; and the develop-
ment of a high water table because of
the movement of artesian water.
Lands are drained primarily to in-
sure agricultural productivity and in-
crease efficiency of farming operations.
There are other beneficial effects.
Poorly drained areas require large ex-
penditures annually to build and drain
highway subgrades and to prepare con-
struction sites. Mosquitoes and some
disease problems may be related to
poor drainage.
DRAINAGE PROBLEMS AND METHODS
About 103 million acres of land, en-
compassing nearly 2 million farms,
were in organized district and county-
drainage enterprises in 1950. These
public projects were in 40 States and
covered areas from less than 100 acres
to more than i million acres. The aver-
age enterprise covered about 7 thou-
sand acres.
The annual cost of constructing, op-
erating, and maintaining public drain-
age projects was about 32 million
dollars in 1949. It was estimated in
1956 that some 15 million acres were
still too wet for cultivation and that
crop losses were frequent on an addi-
tional 10 million poorly drained acres.
The Soil Conservation Service in
1955 estimated that more than 20 mil-
lion acres would require drainage by
means of group drainage facilities.
An estimated 15.5 million acres of
land have been drained through pri-
vate projects. Soil Conservation Serv-
ice in 1955 estimated that 67 million
acres still required drainage improve-
ment through individual activity.
The development of a drainage sys-
tem will embrace three basic points:
The drainage requirements, the water
transmission properties of soils, and
physiographic features.
THE DRAINAGE REQUIREMENTS in-
volve the adequacy of drainage—
whether there is too much water on or
in the soil—and the amount of water
to be drained.
In humid regions, where rainfall
supplies most of the moisture for crops,
the drainage requirements are related
to the oxygen status and the soil-water
relationships that will influence crop
growth. The optimum moisture con-
tent of the soil for farming is particu-
larly important.
The drainage requirement usually is
referred to as a drainage coefficient
and is expressed in terms of the time
required to remove a given depth of
water—for example, a drainage coeffi-
cient of three-eighths means that the
drainage system w^ould permit the re-
moval of three-eighths inch of water
379
from the soil surface in 24 hours. The
drainage requirement may be adjusted
to the susceptibility of the crop to
damage by exposure to excess water or
to the cost of delaying farm work.
The salinity factor alters greatly the
drainage requirements in arid regions.
Irrigation water contains soluble salts,
which are concentrated in the soil by
evaporation and transpiration. To
l^eep the salts in the soil solution from
becoming so concentrated that they
hurt crop growth, excess water must
pass through the root zone and flush
away, or leach out, soluble salts.
Information concerning the consump-
tive use—the amount of water lost by
evaporation and transpiration—helps
one to estimate the amount of water
that must pass through and beyond the
root zone to provide the required
amount of leaching. That amount is
determined on the basis of the salt
content of the irrigation water and the
salt concentration that can be per-
mitted in the drainage water.
The leaching requirement is an esti-
mate of the fraction of the surface-
applied water that must be leached
through the root zone to control soil
salinity at any specified level. The total
amount of water to be drained will be
greater than the leaching requirement
by an amount equal to the losses in
conveying and applying the water to
the land, plus the water from other
sources, such as management waste
and artesian waters.
The amount of water that must be
removed from the land may be ex-
pressed as a rate of flow per unit area
of land. One must also establish a mini-
mum allowable water-table depth to
prevent damage to crops, either from
excess water in the root zone or from
the concentration of salts in the soil by
upward flow.
The minimum depth is governed by
the crops to be grown, the soil condi-
tions, and the salt content of the drain-
age water. The main requirement in
any case is that the depth to the water
table must be such that the upward
movement of salts from ground water
38o
into the root zone can be conveniently
controlled.
If an adequate water-table depth
cannot be maintained, irrigation and
management practices can sometimes
be altered to allow crop production.
Improvement of irrigation efficiencies
and more uniform application of water
are examples of ways by which drain-
age conditions can be improved and a
net movement of salts maintained.
Irrigation efficiency, losses in con-
veyance and distribution, regulatory
losses, rainfall, the amount of salt in
the irrigation water, and salt tolerance
of crops all enter into the problem of
determining drainage requirements.
The ability of soils to transmit water
has primary importance in the drain-
age of farm lands. The rate at which
water enters a soil after a rain or after
an irrigation and the rate that water
tables can be lowered and excess wa-
ters drained away are directly related
to the rate at which water can move
through the soil. Of the factors that
govern the flow of water in soils, the
transmission properties are the hardest
to evaluate, primarily because soils
vary so much.
THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC FEATURES bear
strongly on drainage design. The to-
pography, stratigraphy (or the vertical
arrangement of strata or layers of dif-
ferent types of soil), and location of
outlets and sources of water must be
considered in the design.
Topography is important when ex-
cess water originates as an application
on the land surface, either as rainfall
or from irrigation. The location of
drains depends largely on topography.
Stratigraphy must be considered in
subsurface drainage. The occurrence of
permeable layers, such as sands or
gravel, within the soil profile at a con-
venient depth to be tapped by open or
tile drains may permit a wider spacing
of drains and thereby reduce the total
number of drains. On sloping hillsides
or at the bottom of a slope, intercep-
tion drains may drain relatively large
acreages, but on relatively level lands
YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1957
a large number of ditches or tile drains
may be required to control the water
table.
The effectiveness of drainage struc-
tures is related directly to their loca-
tion with respect to subsoil layers.
Water that enters the soil in one area
from rainfall or deep percolation from
irrigation may come to the surface in a
nearby area or may appear as a seep
on a hillside, according to the path of
flow through the subsoil. The drains
should be located to remove water
from the more permeable soil layers
through which such flow occurs.
Highly permeable layers may dis-
charge excess water from an area or
may conduct excess water from one
area to another. Impermeable soil lay-
ers may intercept conducting layers
and block the free movement of ground
water away from the farmland.
Proper orientation and placement of
the drains with respect to stratigraphy
may be the most important single fac-
tor in the design of a good system.
In general, the most effective method
of drainage for the control of ground
water tables is one that takes advan-
tage of the most permeable materials
in the profile for intercepting, collect-
ing, and discharging excess waters
from the land.
Crops may be affected in a number
of ways by high water tables or excess
soil moisture. Some affect root devel-
opment—aeration and temperature of
the soil, nutrient uptake, and plant
disease. Salinity problems may also de-
velop and affect crop growth in arid
soils where water tables are just under
the surface.
The roots of most cultivated crops
will not penetrate saturated soil areas.
When a rising water table inundates a
root, there is usually an early change
in the appearance of the crop, reflect-
ing changes in the ability of the root to
function properly.
POOR SOIL AERATION is a primary fac-
tor in this adverse response of roots
and crops. Gas diffusion drops rapidly
if the larger pore spaces are filled with
DRAINAGE PROBLEMS AND METHODS
water. The oxygen level declines and
the carbon dioxide level rises as or-
ganic matter decomposes when the
soil is saturated. Oxygen, which helps
convert insoluble plant nutrients into
a soluble form, also is a critical agent
in the decomposition of organic ma-
terials. It is essential for seed germina-
tion and the development of root hairs.
When the oxygen supply is cut off to
roots of most cultivated plants, the
root suffocates and dies, the intake of
water and plant food is lowered, and
the plant wilts and dies.
Plants that normally grow on well-
drained and aerated soils usually are
most sensitive to the lack of oxygen.
Even plants, such as cranberries, which
can remain covered during a long dor-
mant period, however, will suffer from
poor aeration in summer when the
plant uses more water and nutrients.
Plants that can withstand long periods
of little oxygen have special tissues in
their stems and roots that can conduct
the oxygen to the roots.
Because carbon dioxide rarely occurs
in the soil in amounts sufficient to harm
the roots, the reduction in the oxygen
level is the most critical result of soil
saturation.
The gaseous balance changes more
rapidly under higher temperatures be-
cause of greater biotic activity—one
reason why flooding in summer often
is more damaging than flooding in
winter. A second reason is that the re-
duced plant growth in winter places
fewer demands on the injured and un-
healthy roots that may occur under
winter flooding.
Poor aeration also affects the nutri-
ent uptake by plants. In studies of the
influence of restricted aeration on the
growth and absorption of nutrients by
corn, K. Lawton, while working in
Iowa, reported that the order of reduc-
tion of absorption was potassium >cal-
cium >magnesium >nitrogen >phos-
phorus. Ferrous iron was highest when
the soil was moist. When it was satu-
rated, higher concentrations of reduced
iron and manganese may injure the
plant roots. Hydrogen sulfide gas may
381
reach toxic levels when organic mat-
ter decomposes in saturated soil. De-
nitrification proceeds faster when the
supply of oxygen is low. An upsetting
of the nitrogen balance in saturated
soils has been reflected in the lower
content of crude protein content in
plant tissues under such conditions.
SOIL TEMPERATURE is affected by ex-
posure, amount of shade, radiation
from the sun, moisture, and the rate of
retention and movement of moisture in
the soil.
Well-drained soils warm up faster
than saturated soils. The specific heat
of water is i.ooo at 15° C The specific
heat of dry mineral soils averages 0.20.
That means that raising the tempera-
ture of a unit volume of water i degree
requires 5 times the heat units required
to raise an equal volume of dry mineral
soil the same amount. The higher the
moisture content of the soil, therefore,
the greater is the amount of heat re-
quired to raise its temperature. The
rapid evaporation of water from a sat-
urated soil also has a cooling effect—it
takes 580 calories of heat to transform
I gram of water from the liquid state
to a gaseous state.
This effect of excess moisture on soil
temperature is particularly serious dur-
ing the period when seeds germinate.
Germination and root growth rates
of most species increase slowly with
an increase in temperature through a
range of 20° to 25° G. from mini-
mum to optimum temperature for
normal growth.
Low soil temperatures usually re-
strict the branching and development
of the fine roots. They also affect the
period of dormancy and the rate of
after-ripening and subsequent germi-
nation. The absorption and synthesis
of organic materials, translocation of
food materials within the root system,
and respiration all depend on temper-
ature of the soil.
The power of root cells to accumu-
late various nutrient ions is related di-
rectly to temperature. Low tempera-
tures due to saturated soil do not
382 YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1957

appear to retard seriously the absorp- the root zone of soils in drier locali-
tion of nitrogen, but they do affect the ties often is associated with high water
rate at which the roots reduce or as- tables and inadequate drainage. When
similate the nitrate and convert it into the water table rises near the soil sur-
organic forms. face, the rate of water movement up-
Low soil temperatures similarly re- ward to the surface is accelerated. As
duce- the rate of absorption of water, water is lost by evaporation and tran-
even to the point of causing wilting if spiration, the salts are left behind. If
rapid transpiration creates considera- the process continues, salts soon accu-
ble moisture stress. One or more fac- mulate in the soil root zone and the in-
tors may cause that: Retardation of crease in salinity of the soil solution
root elongation; a lower rate of move- causes a reduction in crop growth.
ment of water from the soil to the root; Salts affect the growth of plants in
greater viscosity of water and of the two ways: By reducing the amount of
root protoplasm; and decreased per- water that the plants can take from the
meability of the root cells. soil as a result of the increase in os-
When low temperatures accompany motic pressure, and by causing toxic
poor aeration, plant roots lack the vigoreffects. As the roots take up water, leav-
necessary to resist infection. Tobacco ing most of the salt behind, the soil
root rot and onion smut are examples solution becomes saltier. The osmotic
of infectious organisms that flourish pressure, which is an expression of the
when temperatures are low and mois- salt content of the soil solution on an
ture is excessive. Disease is usually most
energy basis, increases as the salts build
severe at temperatures that are other- up. Retardation of growth is related di-
wise unfavorable to the seedlings. rectly to increases in the osmotic pres-
sure of the soil solution and is largely
SOIL STRUCTURE—the arrangement independent of the kind of salts.
of soil particles—can suffer from too Chloride, sodium, boron, and bicar-
much water. When soil is saturated, bonate may be toxic to some crops.
normal biotic activity and root devel- Most fruit trees are susceptible to this
opment are reduced. If saturation con- kind of injury. A characteristic leaf-
tinues, the normal wetting and drying burn develops, leaves fall off, and the
cycles, with attendant shrinking and trees may die when harmful amounts
swelling action, are absent. Many per- of sodium or chloride are accumulated.
sons have noted an improvement in soil Most field, forage, and truck crops may
structure after drainage. The low rates have much larger amounts of sodium
of water movement through poorly or chloride in the leaves without devel-
drained soils improve after drainage. oping visible symptoms of injury. Bo-
Soil structure also is destroyed or ron and bicarbonate are toxic to all
harmed when tillage, planting, and species of plants, but the level of toler-
harvesting are done when the soil is ance may vary among crops.
too wet—notably when only a part of The installation of adequate drain-
a field is poorly drained. Rather than age facilities before water tables rise
delay farm operations on the well- close to the surface and the application
drained parts of the field, the operator of proper irrigation and management
will go through the wet places and practices are necessary to prevent the
cause puddling. Imprudent pasturing deterioration of farmlands and reduced
of saturated meadows may cause sim- crop yields due to salt accumulation.
ilar destruction of soil. This breakdown Surface drainage is the collection and
of structure complicates the drainage removal of excess water from the sur-
problem later. Adequate drainage elim- face. The movement of water down-
inates these hazards and permits the ward through the soil and its discharge
use of soil-improvement practices. from the area by natural means or into
The accumulation of excess salts in deep open or tile drains is subsurface
DRAINAGE PROBLEMS AND METHODS
drainage. Subsurface drainage facili-
ties are installed primarily to control
the water table. Deep drains, open and
closed, often are designed to perform
both functions.
EFFECTIVE SURFACE DRAINAGE is par-
ticularly important in humid regions
where excess surface water is a major
problem. Surface drains are used to a
lesser extent in irrigated areas. In arid
regions, however, they have several ap-
plications in relation to effective soil-
and water-management practices. Sur-
face drainage facilities are designed to
meet two objectives: Effective collec-
tion and discharge of excess surface wa-
ters into main drainage outlet channels
and prevention of land inundation be-
cause of overflow from lands at higher
elevation, streams, or tidal action.
These objectives are accomplished by
the use of such practices as land form-
ing or grading, bedding, drainage-type
terraces, field ditches for surface water
removal, random ditches, uniform or
parallel ditches, and deep ditches to
control the water table.
Land forming or grading provides
simple primary drainage by removing
the dead furrows, headlands, spoil
banks, depressions, and ridges that re-
strict the rapid and orderly flow of
water from the field to the collection
and outletting ditches. It may be used
in extremely flat places to create a
positive grade towards an outlet ditch.
Land forming is an effective supple-
mentary practice in tiled areas when it
is used to remove depressions that
might otherwise overload single lines.
Bedding—turning furrows to the
middle of a cut to form a ridge that
gradually slopes towards deep furrows
or field collection ditches—often is of
limited value because of poor outlets.
Bedding is used primarily on slowly
permeable soils having moderate depth
and on slopes ranging from zero to 1.5
percent. Bed width is determined by
the type of crop, field slope, soil per-
meability, and the adaptability to the
farming operations.
Beds are generally wider under culti-
383
vated crops than under pasture and
forage crops. Flatter slopes and soils
with low infiltration and permeability
rates require narrower beds. Bedding
systems generally are hard to manage
with high-speed farm equipment, be-
cause the ridge often is too dry for
effective tillage before the interbed
furrows are dry enough for machine
cultivation. In most instances, bedding
systems should be replaced by good
land-forming practices supported by
carefully designed field ditches.
Drainage terraces, sometimes re-
ferred to as cross-slope ditches, are
particularly effective for shallow soils
underlain by an impermeable subsoil.
The drainage terrace is constructed
with a top width of 15 to 25 feet and is
6 to 10 inches deep. The excavated
material is used to fill depressions be-
tween the terraces. Farming opera-
tions are parallel to the terrace. Care
must be taken to avoid dead furrows
and other tillage scars that trap sur-
face water. The smooth, flat 10:1 side
slopes make this type of drain highly
compatible with mechanized agricul-
ture, and they are replacing conven-
tional field ditches on sloping land.
Field ditches include random field
ditches and uniform or parallel field
ditches. One type has a single flat V-
shaped channel, in which the excavated
material is used to fill depressions.
Another design has twin-type chan-
nels, sometimes referred to as W-
ditches, in which the surplus exca-
vated material is placed between the
channels to form a raised separation.
This type is particularly good on flat
land and on land that slopes to the
drain from two directions. It provides
for ready entrance of row drainage.
Both types are designed with 8:1 to
10:1 side slopes, so that farm ma-
chinery can cross them.
Random field ditches are used to
advantage in draining fields that have
a few depressions that are too deep or
too large to fill in by grading and
smoothing. They are used to connect
several depressions and then convey
the excess water to a suitable outlet.
384
When farm implements must be moved
across these ditches, side slopes should
be no less than 8:1. If operations
are parallel, side slopes of 4:1 may
be used. Used with tile systems, they
frequently eliminate need for costly
surface inlets. Random ditches should
not become a substitute for the more
effective and efRcicnt land-forming
practices and drainage-type terraces.
Uniform or parallel ditches are used
on relatively flat, poorly drained soils
of too variable a topography to permit
surface drainage by land forming or
the other systems. They arc laid out
so that crop rows will lead to the
ditches with a grade of o.i to 0.2 per-
cent. Their spacing depends on the
slope, the erosivity of the soil, and the
cross-sectional capacity of the rows.
Ditches to control the water table
arc used on moderate to highly per-
meable soils and on organic soils where
surface water must be removed and
the water table must be lowered. These
ditches are deeper than conventional
ditches and have moderate to steep
side slopes, depending on the type of
soil material through which they are
constructed. They must be carefully
designed to assure sufficient carrying
capacity when the water is high. When
water-control structures are installed
in the ditches, it is possible to control
the position of the water table by low-
ering it in periods of excess and raising
it during dry periods.
SURFACE DRAINAGE in arid regions
where irrigation is practiced is a funda-
mental part of overall water manage-
ment. Although the ideal irrigation
system uniformly applies and stores
enough water in the root zone for crop
needs without wasting water, practical
considerations in the application of
water to lands makes the ideal hard to
achieve. Consequently surface drain-
age facilities often are required.
On sloping lands, irrigated by the
usual furrow and border methods, it is
impractical to apply just enough water
to wet the root zone uniformly over the
entire length of run. To insure proper
YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1957
application at the end of the run, some
water usually is wasted, and provisions
must be made to collect and remove
the runoff. The usual practice is to in-
tercept the water with shallow ditches
and discharge it into natural channels
or deep drains. In areas where water
supplies are limited, waste water is
sometimes collected at the lower end
of the field and pumped back to the
upper end of the field for reuse. Surface
drains are not needed then.
The level border method of irriga-
tion is an efi^ective way to attain high
irrigation efficiencies on flat land.
Water is impounded and allowed to
penetrate the soil uniformly in long,
narrow, level basins. If rainfall is heavy,
surface drainage is necessary if this
system is to succeed. If provision is not
made to drain the basins, untimely
rains might flood crops.
IN SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE, water
moves into and through the soil and
is discharged through natural drain-
age channels or through deep open or
closed drains, which convey the water
away from the field. The planning and
design of subsurface drainage systems
require knowledge of the drainage
requirements of crops and the water-
transmitting properties of the soil.
Surface drains are designed to remove
ponded water and thus reduce the
amount of water that enters the soil
profile, but usually they are installed to
maintain ground water tables at a suffi-
cient depth to prevent waterlogging of
the root zone. Adequate control of the
water table in arid regions also pre-
vents the accumulation of salts.
Tile drains, one of the five major
types of subsurface drains, are hollow
cylinders that are 4, 6, 8, or more
inches in diameter and have a wall
thickness of about one-twelfth their
inside diameter. Usually they are made
of burned clay or concrete. Clay tiles
are commonly made in i-foot lengths;
2-foot concrete tiles often are used.
Water enters the tile drain through the
space or joint between each tile. The
tile line is surrounded with a gravel
DRAINAGE PROBLEMS AND METHODS
filter in arid regions to prevent the
inflow of soil sediments.
Mole drains are a cylindrical chan-
nel formed in the soil by pulling a ball
or bullet-shaped device through the
soil at the bottom of a narrow blade.
Mole drains are similar to the tile
drains in shape and function, but are
unlined and unstabilized. They depend
on the stability of the soil to maintain
an open channel.They often have a dual
role; they remove excess water during
wet periods and are a conveyance sys-
tem for subirrigation in dry periods.
The life expectancy of mole drains is
related directly to the stability of the
soil in which they have been formed.
Perforated pipe or tubing—long sec-
tions of perforated conduits of metal,
plastic, or bituminous-fiber—may be
placed in a trench and covered or
pulled into a mole channel behind a
mole plow—a technique that elimi-
nates the need for digging a trench.
This system is efícctive in draining or
crossing quicksand pockets that do not
provide adequate stability for conven-
tional tile systems.
Deep open drains or channels, which
are dug to depths of 5 to 12 feet or more
for the purpose of controlling the water
table, actually function as a subsurface
drain. Frequently they serve as main
outlet channels for other drains.
THE TYPE OF SUBSURFACE system used
depends on the nature of the drainage
problem. In treating localized drain-
age problems, such as small depressions
and waterways, and in intercepting
wet-weather springs and seeps, subsur-
face drains are placed where needed
without regard for a uniform pattern.
In draining extensive uniform areas
that are essentially flat, however, a def-
inite pattern usually is established, with
laterals at more or less uniform spac-
ings discharging into main outlets.
These patterns are sometimes called
gridiron or herringbone layouts.
In any system, careful attention must
be given to the design of the outlet
drain to assure that it is of adequate
capacity, especially if the outlet is a
400157*'—57- -20
385
closed drain. If a free-gravity outfall
cannot be obtained, a pump outlet
may be used.
DRAINAGE PRACTICES in arid regions
resemble those in humid areas in many
respects. We mention two important
differences. Because of the salinity fac-
tor, the water-table depth that is re-
quired for favorable conditions for
plants is considerably greater in arid
soils than in soils in humid regions.
The drainage needs in arid regions are
closely related to irrigation practices,
which are subject to control, but in
humid areas drainage needs depend
largely on natural rainfall.
To maintain water tables at depths
sufiicient to control salt accumulation
in arid regions, drains are commonly
installed to depths of 6 feet or more.
Depths of 2.5 to 4 feet are considered
adequate in many humid areas. If sa-
linity is not involved, a shallow water
table may be advantageous in that it
serves as a source of water for crop use.
In the Netherlands a water table
held at a constant depth of about 24
inches is desirable, and many crops arc
grown under constant water-table con-
ditions. The natural rainfall there is in
excess of 20 inches, approximately the
minimum total required to keep the
soils leached and at the same time to
provide sufficient water for crop use.
Good drainage practices must be
accompanied by sound irrigation and
soil-management practices if maximum
benefits are to be obtained.
It is essential that management of
excess water be integrated with other
soil-management practices in order
that the overall farm operational pro-
gram may be successful. In addition to
water management, such practices as
tillage, replenishment of organic mat-
ter, proper fertility practices, insect
and disease control, and good irriga-
tion practices are essential. Improved
irrigation practices and other farming
procedures which control the use of
excess water will considerably lessen
in most cases the need for costly drain-
age installations.