AGRICULTURAL LAND

DRAINAGE

MELKAS AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER

MOLTOT ZEWDIE (PHD) HIOT
APRIL 2013
 Land drainage

What is land drainage?

Ill effects/lack of drainage
 Loss in land productivity
 Restricted choice of crops

 Decrease in cropping intensity with ultimate decrease in the

arable area
 Migration from the villages

 High cost of reclamation calling for huge investments

 Increased socio-economic
Land drainage

Areas inundated by excessive rainfall and high

groundwater levels have negative impacts on
agricultural production

• land drainage has not yet been clearly

Incorporated into the concept of integrated
water resources management
Land drainage

agricultural drainage has positive effects on the

land resource and agricultural productivity.

• However, drainage infrastructure and drainage

services entail investment and maintenance
costs that are difficult to meet.
Land drainage

many developing countries have successfully

transferred state-managed irrigation systems to
various kinds of water users organizations.

• Unlike the case of irrigation management, no such

approach has been worked out for drainage,

• review of country experiences(Freisem and

Scheumann 2001) shows that institutions for
managing agricultural drainage, waterlogging,
and salinity are still lacking.
History of Land Drainage
 Development
 Materials used
 Technologies
 In Mesopotamia, control of the watertable was based on
avoiding an inefficient use of irrigation water
and on the cropping practice of weed-fallow in
alternate years. The deep-rooted crops shoq and agul
created a deep dry zone which prevented the rise of salts
through capillary action (Jacobsen and Adams 1958).
Land drainage

Closed drain into a ditch is made of a large stone on top of two other stones.

‘During the Middle Ages, in the countries around the North Sea, people

began to reclaim swamps

Land reclamation by gravity drainage was also practised in the Far East, for

instance in Japan (Kaneko 1975)

In 1810, clay tiles started to be used, and after 1830 concrete pipes made

with portland cement

invention of fuel engine in the 20th century has led to the development of

high-speed installation of subsurface drains with machines

 Land drainage cont.

 Currently, about hundreds of million ha are served by drainage and flood-

control systems (Field 1990).

 In how far the actual performance of these systems can be forecast by the above

models, however, is largely unknown. There is a great need for field research in

this direction.

 Moreover, as there is no substitute for irrigated agriculture in terms of its

production volume, drainage has a role to play here. The slogan of engineering

science "No irrigation without drainage" can be extended: no sustainable

agriculture without drainage.

 Irrigation must be reinvented - with drainage taking due consideration of its

effects on nature and the environment.

Land drainage cont.
Why drainage?
1. protects the resource base for food production
 close to 0.5 to 1.0 million hectares of irrigated land are lost annually due to
soil deterioration caused by water logging and salinity
2. sustains and increases yields and rural incomes
 Lack of drain limit crop choice, diversification, and intensification,
adversely affect crop germination and yields, and can make soils difficult to
work.
 leads to income losses, reduces job opportunities, may induce migration,
and has negative effects on overall food production.
 In Pakistan US$ 300 million from decreased farm production due to soils
affected by salinity; US$ 208/year in Australia, and US$ 31.2 million/year,
or a 10 percent yield decline, in the San Joaquin Valley (USA) (1995)
3. protects irrigation investment
 Salinity costs the world's farmers US$ 11 billion annually in terms of
reduced income - almost 1 percent of the total value of agricultural
production (WRI 2000)
 Land drainage

Why drainage?
4. protection of water quality
 Costs of new irrigation projects will increase further when
adequate drainage is included. Assuming an annual loss of
between 0.5 and 1.0 million hectares that cost between US$
8,000 or 10,000 for surface irrigation schemes, overall losses
amount to US$ 4/ 8 to 5/10 billion.
5. infrastructure serves rural and urban residents as well as
industry
6. protects human lives and assets against flooding and high
groundwater levels
7. improve health conditions
Land drainage

The basic objective of agricultural drainage is to provide for

a root zone environment that facilitates plant growth and
optimizes crop production.
 In arid and semi-arid regions, linked to excess irrigation water, leaching
 in temperate regions and the humid tropics drainage excess rain water
control of high groundwater.

• Since the 1950s, land drainage has been a technique well-established

and elaborated in engineering science; got increasing attention in
connection with the development of water resources for agriculture.
• On the political international scene, however, many events that took
place during the 1990s suggest that land drainage should have become
an essential issue in the global dialogue on food security
Land drainage

Like irrigation system management, drainage

management is a core element for the
sustainability of irrigated (and partly also for rain-
fed) agriculture
50 percent of the world's irrigated land has
developed drainage problems and that about 25
million hectares have become unproductive due to
irrigation inefficiencies and lack of adequate
drainage (UMALI. 1993).
costs for drainage development be in the order of
US$ 900 million per year (SMEDEMA and OCHS,
undated).
Good reasons for drainage

50 percent of the world's irrigated land has developed

drainage problems and that about 25 million hectares

have become unproductive due to irrigation
inefficiencies and lack of adequate drainage (UMALI.
1993).
costs for drainage development be in the order of US$

900 million per year (SMEDEMA and OCHS, undated).

Land drainage

Reports indicate that close to 0.5 to 1.0 million hectares

of irrigated land are lost annually due to soil

deterioration caused by water logging and salinity.

• The FAO estimates that of the 250 million hectares under

irrigation 30 million hectares are severely affected by salinity
and 60 to 80 million hectares are affected to some extent (FAO,
1994).
Why drainage

60

50

40

30

20

10

% of irrigated land lost due salinity and water logging

(Scheumann & Freisem,2002)
Need for land drainage research

Need for drainage research

 to study of agricultural drainage systems and their effects to

arrive at optimal system design

 Address need for increasing for food

 50% of world irrigated land 50% developed drainage problems

 25 million hectares have become unproductive (UMALI. 1993).

 On other side land is limiting resource in production

Need for land drainage research

Growing environmental awareness has contributed

to the very negative image that irrigation projects

and irrigated agriculture have.
Reports on poor system performance, soaring

costs, social inequity, etc. have led to even greater

suspicions and given rise to the one-sided call that
irrigation development be abandoned.
Need for land drainage research

• However, rain-fed agriculture interferes with nature in

much the same way as irrigation does, albeit to a lesser
extent, in subsistence farming as well as commercial
agriculture, on small farms as well as in large
enterprises.
• Since there is no substitute for irrigated agriculture in
terms of its production volume, drainage has a role to
play here. The slogan of engineering science "No
irrigation without drainage" can be extended: no
sustainable agriculture without drainage.
 Irrigation must be reinvented - with drainage taking due
consideration of its effects on nature and the environment.
Land drainage

Salt affected soil

 Land drainage cont.
Institutional arrangements for drainage, and 'good drainage
practices'
 Unlike irrigation infrastructure and irrigation water supply, which
provide immediate benefits, drainage is a more difficult task, and it is
assumed that – for many reasons - the state will have to play a greater
role
Research goals:
 To develop drainage practices that enable crops to use shallow
groundwater efficiently, while reducing the use of agricultural
chemicals.
 To use controlled drainage systems in semiarid and arid areas that
reduce the environmental effects of salts and trace elements carried in
drainage discharge.
 To use controlled drainage or water-table management systems in
humid areas that reduce flood flows and the environmental effects of
nutrients carried in drainage discharge.
Land drainage cont.

Research Goals in general to:

 reclamation of agricultural land
 conservation of agricultural land
 optimization of crop yield
 crop diversification
 cropping intensification
 optimization of farm operations.
Land drainage cont.

Aspects to be covered
 Agricultural land drainage has:
 The soil physical processes include soil aeration, soil structure,
soil stability, and soil temperature.
 The chemical processes include salinity soil acidity and soil
alkalinity
 The hydrological processes include evaporation runoff and soil
salinity.
 environmental hydrological,
 engineering ecological and
 sociopolitical aspects.
 All these aspects can be subject of drainage research.
Land drainage cont.

Management options of drainage water

 Reuse of drainage water
 In Israel, the Middle East, and North African countries, this has become a widespread
practice and is supported by water-resource policies and agricultural policies.

 Risk of reuse
 The salinity of drainage water during the irrigation season ranged from 7.2 to 8.6 dS/m’
(SAR, 8.3 to 10.7). The salinity from pre-sowing irrigation with drainage water of 8.2
dS/m could decreased the straw and grain yield of wheat significantly. Taking the wheat
yield obtained with canal water as the potential (l00%), the mean relative yield of wheat
irrigated with only saline drainage water was 63%, whereas substitution of canal water for
pre-plant irrigation and
 Land drainage cont

Mitigation of risk
 The slogan is: Reduce potential negative impacts at the
outset, and not at the end of the drain.
 Improvements in land and water management and wastewater
treatment prior to its disposal in drains reduce negative effects on
freshwater ecosystems and health and facilitate drainage
management
Land drainage cont.

Research areas
 The economic and environmental impacts of drainage systems are
also matters of concern at the DRI.
 The performance of drainage systems is the measure of their success
against the relevant design bjectives.

 Drainage water re-use: the formulation of an appropriate strategy

to ensure optimum utilization of available water resources to

 Reclamation of salt-affected heavy clay soils, canal seepage, water

quality and drainage water re-use related issues have been the most
common problems of the past few years
Data analysis

The analysis of the data aims at reaching conclusions

The methods of analysis can be distinguished three

types:
 standard statistical types; `
 conceptual statistical types;
 conceptual deterministic types.
Data analysis
standard statistical types
 routinely to assess the characteristics of the measured parameters
and to detect trends `

 applied to the entire mass of measured values of the

parameter, or on their subdivision into groups representing
different periods of time, sub-areas or treatments.
 The standard methods mainly comprise the statistical
analysis of:
 Frequencies;
 Time-series;
 Correlations.
Data analysis
standard statistical types
Frequency analysis :
 is used to assess the order magnitude of measured parameters and factors, evaluate to
judge how often a certain range of values occurs.

Time series:
 are made of time dependent data to obtain insight in the time-variation and/or time-
trends.
 To detect time trends of the variables, the data can best be analysed in graphic from.

Correlation analysis:
 is applied to detect a trend between two or more parameters/factors even though the
relation between them is diffuse (scattered).
Data analysis
Data analysis

2 conceptual statistical types;

 about cause-effect relations between the measured parameters and
aim at expanding the conclusions and recommendations found
from the standard types
 derives the conclusions by relating the data to each other on the
basis of certain hypotheses. These methods can also be called
deductive or empirical methods.
Data analysis

3 conceptual deterministic types.

 based on available theoretical knowledge in the form of
mathematical equations,
 inductive, methods one applies deterministic (each set of input
data produces one set of output) theories, concepts and models,
which describe the expected relations between their parameters,
using some of the measured data as input and checking the
outcomes with other measured data
Data analysis

Parameters in the analysis

 1 - Crop yields
 2 - Depth of the water table
 3 - Soil salinity, alkalinity, and acidity
 4 - Hydraulic conductivity
 5 - Drain discharge
 6 - Rainfall
 7 - Irrigation
System analysis

Criterion factors are factors influenced by drainage on the one hand

and the agricultural performance on the other.
An example of a criterion factor is the depth of the water table:
 A drainage system influences this depth; the relation between drainage system design
and depth of water table is mainly physical and can be described by
drainage equations, in which the drainage requirements are to be found from a
water balance.[1]

 The depth of the water table as a criterion factor needs to be translated into a criterion
index to be given a numerical value that represents the behavior of the water table on
the one hand and that can be related to the target (e.g. crop production) on the other
hand.

 The relation between criterion index and target can often be optimized, the maximum
value providing the ultimate aim while the corresponding value of the criterion index
can be used as an agricultural drainage criterion in the design procedure.
Thank you