MSc Programme

Integrated River Basin Management

Elective Course Module

Irrigation and Drainage Planning

Block 4 - Drainage System Design

Topic 4.2: Basic principles of surface and subsurface

drainage
Contents
Topic 2: Basic principles of surface and subsurface drainage
Chapter Three: Principles of surface drainage systems
3.1 Surface drainage systems
3.1.1 The random system
3.1.2 The parallel system
3.1.3 The cross-slope system
3.2 Drainage Canals and Related Structures
Chapter Four: Principles of Subsurface drainage
4.1 Subsurface drainage system
4.2 Types of subsurface drainage systems
4.2.1 Singular versus composite drainage systems
4.2.2 Random versus parallel drainage systems
Learning outcome
At the end of the lecture, the student is able to:
 do the basic drainage systems( surf & sub
surf); and their design principles & selection
 3. Surface drainage system
 Surface drainage - is the orderly removal of excess water from the
surface of land through improved natural channels or constructed
ditches and through shaping of the land surface.

Surface Drainage
 3. Surface drainage system
 Surface drainage systems, when properly planned,
 eliminate ponding,
 prevent prolonged saturation and
 accelerate flow to an outlet without siltation or erosion of soil.

 Surface drainage system is comparatively simple to plan, design

and construct and is usually rather inexpensive.

 All possible excess water from all sources should be removed

before it percolated to the groundwater table and create or
intensify a more expensive subsurface drainage problem.
 3. Surface drainage system
 The various conditions which cause surface drainage problems
are:
I. Uneven land surface with pockets or ridges which prevent or
retard natural runoff.
II. Low-capacity disposal channels within the area which remove
water so slowly that the high water level in the channels
causes ponding on the land for damaging period.
III. Outlet conditions which hold the water surface above ground
level such as tide water elevation.
 Soils also need surface drains under any of the following
situations:
I. A hard pan or tight layer exists in the upper zone,
II. The subsoil within a depth of 100 cm remains dry even after
an extended rainy period, and
III. In tropical and subtropical area which receives high intense
rainfall and where the soil is heavy and slow permeable
 3. Surface drainage system
 The basic surface drainage systems are:
 the random,
 the parallel, and
 the cross slope or diversion system.

 The system to be used will depend upon the requirement of the

site.

Basic Surface Systems

 3. Surface drainage system
The random system

 When the topography is irregular, but so flat or gently sloping as to

have wet depressions scattered over the area, a random system is
used.

 The field ditches should be so located that they will transect as

much depression as feasible along a course through the lowest
part of the field towards an available outlet.

Land grading, smoothing or bedding will usually be necessary on

the less permeable soils to assume complete surface water removal.
 3. Surface drainage system
The parallel system

Where topography is flat and regular, and a random system is

impractical or inadequate, field ditches should be established in
parallel but not necessarily at equidistance.

 Orientation of field ditches will depend upon directions of land

slope; location of diversions, cross slope ditches and mains and
laterals of the disposal system.

 Usually, field ditches should run parallel to each other across a

field to discharge in to field laterals bordering, the field.
 3. Surface drainage system
The cross-slope system

 The cross-slope system is used to drain sloping land, and to

prevent accumulation of water from higher land.
The system consists of one or more diversions, and field ditches
built across the slope.
 To choose between diversions or field ditches depends on
the steepness of the slope,
the permeability of the soil, and
the possibility of water flowing from higher land onto the field
being drained.
 Field ditches are best on slopes under 2%.

 Diversions apply to steeper land.

 3. Surface drainage system
Field drains:- these are shallow ditches with flat side slopes, which
farm machinery can cross.
 A field drain normally 23 to 35 cm (sometimes 46 cm) deep with
side slopes 6 :l or flatter.
Lateral ditches:-these are deeper than field drains, usually with a
depth of a 30 cm or more and often with flat side slopes that farm
machinery can cross.
Main ditch:- the main ditch is normally constructed with a drag line
and requires most of the planning and design in a drainage
project.

 Main ditches generally run along proper1y lines or roads,

although sometimes a small natural channel may be used after
enlargement in its original location.
 3. Surface drainage system
Drainage Canals and Related Structures

 Systems of drainage canals and their related structures collect and carry
away excess water to prevent damage to crops and to allow farm
machinery to work the land.
Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of drainage canal systems:
 A system to intercept, collect, and carry away water from sloping land
adjacent to an agricultural area. Most of the water in this system originates
from surface runoff.
It will be discharged for brief periods only, causing high flow rates and
sediment transport;
 A system to collect and carry away water from a relatively flat agricultural
area.
 Here the main source of water is precipitation on the area or irrigation.
 Because of surface detention and groundwater storage, water, discharged
over a longer period than above.
Furthermore, the flat gradient canals have little or no sediment transport
capacity.
 4. Subsurface drainage system
 Subsurface drainage is the removal of excess water and dissolved
salts from soils via groundwater flow to the drains, so that the
water table and root zone salinity are controlled.
Types of Subsurface Drainage System
 Subsurface drainage aims at controlling the water table - a control
that can be achieved by:
 open drains, or
 subsurface drains - pipe drains or mole drains
 tube well drainge

Sub-Surface Drainage Using Ditches

 4. Subsurface drainage system
Tube well drainage and mole drainage are applied only in very
specific conditions.
Moreover, mole drainage is mainly aimed at a rapid removal of
excess surface water rather than at controlling the water table.
The usual choice is, therefore, between open drains and pipe
drains.
The difference between them is the way they are constructed:
an open drains is an excavated ditch with an exposed water
table; whereas,
a pipe drains is a buried pipe.

Sub-Surface Drains Using Buried Drains

 4. Subsurface drainage system
A drainage system has three components:
 A field drainage system - the network that gathers the excess water
from the land by means of field drains, possibly supplemented by
measures to promote the flow of water to these drains.
 A main drainage system - which is a water conveyance system that
receives water from the field drainage systems, surface runoff and
groundwater flow, and transports it to the outlet.
The main drainage system consists of some collector drains and a
main drainage canal.
 A Collector drains can be either open drain or pipe drains.
 The main drainage is the principal drain of an area.
 It receives water from collector drains, diversion drains, interceptor
drains (drains intercepting surface flow or groundwater flow from
outside the area), and conveys this water to an outlet for disposal
outside the area.
 An outlet - which is the point where the drainage water is led out
of the area.
 4. Subsurface drainage system
 The combined systems of surface and subsurface drainage may be
appropriate in the following situations:
 A soil profile with a layer of low permeability below the root
zone, but good permeability at drain depth; and

 Areas with occasional high intensity rainfall that causes water

ponding on the land surface, even if a subsurface drainage
system is present.

Arrangements of Sub-Surface
Drains
 4. Subsurface drainage system
Singular versus composite drainage systems
 A singular drainage system is a drainage system in which the
field drains are buried pipes and all field drains discharge into
open collector drains.
 A composite drainage system is a drainage system in which all
field drains and all collector drains are buried pipes.
 The choice between the singular and composite system depends
on:
 Surface water ditch collector (singular system) provides an
outlet for excess surface water,

 Field size and land loss- pipe collector longer than 300m,
limiting field width in the singular system to 300 m (single sided
entry), or 600 in (double sided entry).
 Land loss by ditches in a singular system may add up to
some 2-3%,
4. Subsurface drainage system
 Blockage - the outflow of a pipe drain into a ditch collector
(singular system) is easy to inspect and malfunctioning easy to
localize.
 Moreover, blockage affects a small area only. In a
composite system, blockage may affect a large area.

 Maintenance - ditch collectors require much more

maintenance than pipe collectors - once or twice a year
compared to once per five or ten years.
 Outlets - the many pipe outlets in the singular system
represent weak spots as they are easily damaged.

 Hydraulic gradient - a pipe collector requires about 5-10 times

as much gradient as a ditch collector.
 Costs - installation costs for composite systems are
considerably higher than for a singular system.
 4. Subsurface drainage system
Random versus parallel drainage systems

 For subsurface drainage, a distinction can also be made between

different types of systems.
 A random system connects scattered wet spots, often as a
composite system.
 If the drainage has to be uniform over the whole area, the drains
are installed in a regular pattern.

 This pattern can be either a parallel grid system, in which the field
drains join the collector drain at right angles, or a herringbone
system, in which they join at sharp angles.

Both regular patterns may occur as singular or composite system.