KIMATHI UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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:

TIME: 2 HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

(b) Answer Question One and any other Two (2) Questions
(c) All Questions carry Equal Marks.
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1. (a) Explain the meaning of the term Irrigation and discuss its advantages and
disadvantages. (12 Marks)
(b) Water Resources development encompasses many scientific and engineering
disciplines. Explain. (8 Marks)

2. (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 – 1.25 gm/cc
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)
3. (i) What is meant by evapotranspiration (3 mks).
(ii) Explain four weather parameters that affect reference evapotranspiration (8 mks).
(iii) With aid of diagrams, explain the following terms as used in irrigation (9 Mks)
(a) Field Capacity
(b) Available Moisture
(c) Effective rainfall
4. (i) What is Irrigation System Efficiency?
(ii) Describe five concepts of Irrigation efficiency
(iii) Explain why reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is a climatic index.