DEDAN KIMATHI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

FOURTH YEAR FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

ECE 2405: IRRIGATION ENGINEERING 1

DATE: 20TH AUGUST 2014 TIME: 2.00 PM – 4.00 PM

INSTRUCTIONS:

(a) This paper contains Four (4) questions.

(b) Answer all Questions
(c) All Questions carry Equal Marks.

1. (a) Explain the meaning of the term Irrigation and discuss its advantages and
disadvantages. (12 Marks)
(b) State any four broad categories of classifying Irrigation projects (4 mks)
(c) Irrigation is a principal user of water. Explain (4 Marks)

2. (i) What is meant by evapotranspiration (3 mks).

(ii) Explain four factors that affect reference evapotranspiration (8 mks).
(iii) With aid of diagrams, explain the following terms as used in irrigation (9 Mks)
Field Capacity
Readily Available Moisture
Permanent Wilting point
3. (a) Define consumptive Irrigation requirements and Net Irrigation requirements (4 Mks)
(b) After how many days will you supply water to soil in order to ensure sufficient
irrigation of a given crop if: - (10 Marks)
Field capacity of the soil – 30%
Permanent Wilting point – 12%
Density of Soil – 1.25gm/cc
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 Effective depth of root zone – 60cm
Daily consumptive use of water for the given crop – 12.5 mm
Assume readily available moisture is 80% of available moisture
(c) Water is released at the rate of 10 cumecs at the head sluice. If duty at the field is 125
ha/cumec and loss of water in transit is 30%. Find the area that can be irrigated.
(6 Mks)
4. (i) Explain the standard (environmental) conditions are assumed when determining the
reference evapotranspiration (ETo) of a hypothetical grass surface with the FAO
Penman-Monteith equation? (4 mks)
(ii) State and briefly explain the four principal weather parameters that affect the
evapotranspiration process? (8mks)
(iii) Give schematically the calculation procedure for the determination of the net and
gross irrigation water requirement for field crops. (8 mks)

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