ARBAMINCH UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF WATER TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF WATER RESOURCE & IRRIGATION ENG’G

Drainage Managment of Irrigation System

 Definitions
• In many irrigation
projects, crop yields
are reduced due to
waterlogging and
salinization of the land.
• In some case, there is
total loss of productions
and therefore the land
is abandoned.
 Definitions
• Ponding is the
accumulation of
excess water on
the soil surface.
• Waterlogging is
the accumulation
of excess water in
the root zone of
the soil.
Definitions
 Definitions

• Drainage is the removal of excess

water and dissolved salts from the
surface and subsurface of the land in
order to enhance crop growth.
 Drainage

natural artificial
 Definitions

• A man-made drainage system is an

artificial system of surface drains
and/or subsurface drains, related
structures, and pumps (if any) to
remove excess water from an area.
 Aims of Drainage

• Drainage to Control Ponding

• Drainage to Control Waterlogging
• Drainage to Control Salinization
Drainage to Control Ponding

• To remove ponding water from

the surface of the land, surface
drainage is used.
• Normally, this consists of digging
shallow open drains (mostly) or
pipe drain.
 Drainage to Control Ponding
• Surface drainage is the removal of
excess water from the surface of the
land by diverting it into improved
natural or constructed drains,
supplemented, when necessary, by
the shaping and grading of the land
surface towards such drains.
By shaping By grading
 DRAINAGE TO CONTROL
WATERLOGGING
• To remove excess water from the
root zone, subsurface drainage is
used (Figure 6). This is done by
digging open drains or installing
pipes, at depths varying from 1 to
3 m.
Subsurface Drain-open drain
Subsurface Drain-pipe drain
 Drainage to Control Salinization

• To remove salts from the soil, more

irrigation water is applied to the field than
the crops require.
• This extra water infiltrates into the soil and
percolates through the root zone.
• While the water is percolating, it dissolves
the salts in the soil and removes them
through the subsurface drains.
Drainage to Control Salinization
Components of a Drainage
System

Field drain

Diversion
Collector Drain
Drain

Drainage system
component

Outlet Main Drain

Interceptor
Drain
 Components of a Drainage
System
• A field drainage system, which prevents
ponding water on the field and/or controls
the water table.
• A main drainage system, which conveys
the water away from the farm.
• An outlet, which is the point where the
drainage water is led out of the area.
 Components of a Drainage
System
• Collector drains can be either open
drains or pipe drains.
• interceptor drain: drains intercepting
surface flow or groundwater flow from
outside the area
• The outlet is the terminal point of the
entire drainage system, from where the
drainage water is discharged into a river, a
lake, or a sea.
 Field Drainage
System

Surface Drainage Sub Surface Drainage

System System

Pipe Drain Open Drain Pipe Drain Open Drain

• The main drain is
often a canalized
stream (i.e. an
improved natural
stream), which
runs through the
lowest parts of the
agricultural area
(Figure 9).
 outlet
• An outlet can be one of two kinds: a gravity outlet or a
pumping station.
• A gravity outlet is a drainage structure in an area
which has outside water levels that rise and fall.
• There, the drainage water can flow out when the
outside water levels are low (Figure 10).
• In delta areas, drainage by gravity is only possible for
a few hours a day when tides are low.
• In the upstream regions of a river, drainage by gravity
might not be possible for several weeks, during
periods when river levels are high.
 Drainage System

Surface Sub Surface

 Components of Surface Drainage
System

• Open field drains (or on uncommon cases

pipe drain) to collect the ponding water
and divert it to the collector drain.
• Land forming to enhance the flow of water
towards the field drains.
 Components of
Surface Drainage
System

Field Drain Land Forming

 Land Forming

Bedding Land grading Land planing

 Bedding
• Bedding is a
surface
drainage
method
achieved by
ploughing
land to form
a series of
low beds,
separated by
parallel field
drains.
 Bedding
• The bedding system is normally used
for grassland
• In modern farming, bedding is not
considered an acceptable drainage
practice for row crops, because rows
near the field drains will not drain
satisfactorily.
• To overcome the disadvantages of the
bedding system, the two other methods
of land forming have been developed:
land grading and land planning.
 Land grading

• Land grading for surface drainage consists

of forming the land surface by cutting,
filling and smoothing it to predetermined
grades, so that each row or surface slopes
to a field drain (Figure 14).
 Advantages of Land grading
method

• Compared with bedding, land grading

reduces the number of field drains, thus
reducing the need for weed control and
maintenance.
• Land grading also means that more land is
available for use.
 Land planing

• Land planing is smoothing the land

surface with a land plane to eliminate
minor depressions and irregularities
without changing the general topography.
 Surface Drainage
System Layouts

Random Field Parallel Field

Drainage System Drainage System
 Random field drainage system
• The random field drainage system
connects the depressions by means of a
field drain and evacuates the water into a
collector drain (Figure 16).
• The system is often applied on land which
does not require intensive farming
operations (e.g. pasture land) or where
mechanization is done with small
equipment.
 Parallel field drainage system
• The parallel field drains collect the surface runoff
and discharge it into the collector drain.
• The spacing between the field drains depends
on the size of fields that can be prepared and
harvested economically, on the tolerance of
crops to ponding, and on the amount and costs
of land forming.
• The system is suitable in flat areas with an
irregular micro-topography and where farming
operations require fields with regular shapes.
Subsurface drainage systems

• A subsurface drainage system is a man-

made system that induces excess water
and dissolved salts to flow through the soil
to pipes or open drains, from where it can
be evacuated.
Subsurface drainage systems
• If it is decided to install a subsurface drainage
system, a choice has to be made between open
drains or pipe drains.
• Open drains have the advantage that they can
receive overland flow and can thus also serve as
surface drainage.
• The disadvantages are the loss of land, the
interference with the irrigation system, the
splitting up of the land into small farm blocks,
which hampers farming operations, and that they
are a maintenance burden.
Subsurface drainage systems
• The choice between open drains or pipe
drains has to be made at two levels: for
field drains and for collector drains.
• If the field drains are to be pipes, there are
still two options for the collectors:
• Open drains, so that there is a singular
pipe drainage system;
• Pipe drains, so that there is a composite
pipe drainage system.
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.
 Combined Drainage System
• Sometimes, combined surface and
subsurface drainage systems are used.
• Whether this is needed or not depends on
a combination of factors:
the intensity and duration of the rainfall,
surface storage,
the infiltration rate,
the hydraulic conductivity and
groundwater condition.
 Basic concept of drainage water mangment
• Drainage water management refers to the
management and control of the quantity and
quality of the drainage water generated in an
agricultural fields and its final safe disposal
 in arid and semi-arid areas…..why only there?

• This can be achieved through;

 irrigation water conservation measures…what are
they?
 the reuse, disposal and treatment of drainage water

• Managing drainage water at the field, irrigation-

scheme and river-basin levels entails a number of
activities including:
• regulating water table levels in the drainage system to
 Basic concept of drainage water mang’t…
 Developing irrigation and drainage water management
strategies to ensure its quality and safe disposal
 setting distribution priorities and criteria for reuse it in
water scarce areas
 establishing cost sharing imposed on stakeholders for the
use of poor quality water
• The main reasons for developing a drainage water
management strategy are:
 prevention of economic and agricultural losses from
waterlogging, salinization & water quality degradation;
 concern for quality degradation of shared water resources
 the need to conserve water for different water users under
conditions of actual or projected water scarcity
 the need to comply with drainage water policies &
regulations
 Basic concept of drainage water mang’t…
Fig 1: Example of WM
situation within the
system

• Fig 1 shows
some of main
characteristics
features of a
system

Fig 2: Example of a
simplified holistic
picture of the on-farm
WM sub-system

• Fig2 shows the subsystems that contains a mixture of physical,

economical, social, legal and subjective considerations that all
have some important influence on on-farm water management
 Basic concept of drainage water mang’t…

• The soft system

approach to identifying
causes and designing
appropriate solutions
for the problems
• This methodology was
developed for
managing changes in
the context of human
activity systems Figure 3. The seven stages in the soft system
methodology
• Because in the agricultural drainage water management, the root
cause of the problem(s) nearly always stems from human
interference in the natural environment
• Models are used to suggest solutions for certain problems and
also used to anticipate the results
Physical drainage water management options
• The following figure presents the physical DWM
options that are available to planners, decision-
makers and engineers and how they relate to
one another
• The measures have been grouped into four
categories:
 water conservation
 drainage water reuse
 drainage water treatment and
 drainage water disposal measures
Physical DWM options….
 Conservation measures….
Table 1. Conservation measures, practices and points for consideration
Options Practices Points for consideration
Source Reduce the volume of deep percolation Farm- and system-level costs of system improvements
reduction through: improving irrigation performance have to be considered against the regional benefits.
by surface irrigation, changing from surface Salinization and concentration of toxic elements in the
to precision irrigation methods, modifying root zone need to be prevented by guaranteeing
irrigation schedules, upgrading irrigation minimum leaching.
infrastructure, etc.

Shallow Encourage the use of shallow groundwater There is a danger of salinization and concentration of
groundwater to meet crop evaporation through toxic elements in the upper soil layers due to induced
table maintaining sufficiently high groundwater capillary rise. Moreover, the risk of insufficient aeration
management tables and practising deficit irrigation. during rainfall in the root zone needs to be addressed.

Groundwater Pumping from vertical wells could control Prevent overexploitation of groundwater resources.
management water tables. Pumped water of adequate There is a danger of intrusion and upwelling of saline
quality could serve as a substitute for groundwater. As groundwater often contains elevated
surface water. concentrations of salts and trace elements, their build-
up to toxic levels and soil degradation needs to be
prevented.

Land Retire or fallow irrigated lands that are Retired lands can become excessively salinized and
retirement heavily affected by waterlogging and high concentration of toxic elements can build up in the
salinity or those lands that generate topsoil preventing natural vegetation from establishing
drainage effluent with extremely high itself. Contaminated bare lands can affect productivity
concentrations of salts and/or other trace and be a health risk to humans in the vicinity due to
elements. wind erosion.
 Conservation measures….
• the first line of action in on-farm water conservation is
source reduction or reducing deep percolation
• the goal was not achieved as indicated in the table above
implies how it is difficult to achieve a goal using single
measures because;
 crops require different amounts of water for optimal growth

 rooting patterns/depth differ among crops

 source reduction and water table management could be
combined with other conservation measures

• Changes in cropping pattern should only be considered

where compatible with the broader development objectives
for the area under consideration
 Reuse measures
• The major aim of reuse measures is;
 to reduce the amount of drainage effluent
 to avail additional water for irrigation and

 other purposes

• As indicated in the following table, the reuse measures

comprises:
 reuse in conventional agriculture;

 reuse in saline agriculture;

 Integrated Farm Drainage Management (IFDM) systems;

 reuse in wildlife habitats, wetlands and pastures; and

 reuse for initial reclamation of salt-affected lands

 Table 2. Reuse measures, practices and points for consideration
Option Practices Points for consideration
Reuse in Agricultural drainage water is collected and The extent of reuse depends on the quality of the
conventional redistributed among farmers. Reuse can be direct drainage effluent, time of availability, crop
agriculture or in conjunction with other sources of irrigation tolerance, etc. Soil quality degradation and
water. Conjunctive use can be through blending or production losses need to be prevented through
by cyclic use of drainage water and other sources mitigation measures.
of irrigation water.

Reuse in saline Moderately and highly saline drainage water is Sustainability of the saline agricultural systems
agriculture collected and used to cultivate salt tolerant shrubs, needs to be safeguarded while the highly
trees and halophytes. concentrated drainage effluent needs to be
managed.
Integrated Farm On-farm sequential reuse of agricultural drainage To maintain adequate control of soil salinity and
Drainage water on crops, trees and halophytes with sodicity and to prevent a build-up of toxic
Management increasing salt tolerance. In every reuse cycle the elements, the leaching fraction must be sufficient.
Systems volume of drainage water decreases while the salt The solar evaporator should be designed in such a
concentration increases. The final brine is manner that it will not sustain aquatic life and
disposed in a solar evaporator. Salt utilization attract birds. The salts have to be disposed of in a
might be feasible. safe and sustainable manner.

Reuse in wildlife Where of suitable quality, drainage water may be Of primary concern is the possible presence of
habitats and utilized to support wildlife, including water birds, trace elements that may be toxic to wildlife
wetlands fish, mammals and aquatic vegetation that serves through bioaccumulation in the food chain e.g.
as food and cover for wildlife. selenium, molybdenum and mercury.
Reuse for Use of (moderately) saline drainage water for Once initial reclamation is obtained, water of
reclamation of initial reclamation of saline, saline sodic or sodic sufficient quality and quantity needs to be
salt-affected soils soils. On sodic soils the saline water may help available for desired land use. Initially, the
prevent soil dispersion and degradation of soil drainage effluent will be highly saline and/or sodic
structure. and needs to be disposed of in a safe manner.
 Reuse measures…
• Reuse measures can be implemented in combination with
conservation measures
• the drainage water is of relatively good quality, its reuse
potential in conventional agriculture is high
• If it is moderately to highly saline, its reuse may be limited
to salt tolerant plants
• Freshwater is used to grow salt sensitive crops, and
subsurface drainage water is reused to grow salt tolerant
crops
• Drainage water from the salt tolerant cropland is used to
irrigate salt tolerant grasses and halophytes
• the drainage water is no longer usable, it is disposed into
solar evaporators for salt harvest
 it is always necessary to generate a minimum volume of
drainage effluent to prevent the root zone contamination
 Treatment Measures
• Drainage water treatment in a drainage water management
plan normally takes place only under severe constraints
 such as stringent regulations on disposal of saline drainage
waters into streams, or severe water shortage
• The drainage water treatment options are based on
physical, chemical and/or biological processes
• Many of these processes are borrowed from water
treatment processes for drinking-water, sewage and
industrial wastewater
• The water quality requirements of the treated water need to
be well understood prior to the selection of any treatment
measure
• The high costs of many of the treatment processes make
them unsuitable for agricultural reuse
 Desalinazation is possible … too expensive
 Treatment Measures….
Table 3. Array of drainage water treatment options
Description Processes Constituents removed or treated
Remove sediments and associated nutrients, pesticides and
Sedimentation/coagulation trace elements in sedimentation ponds with or without
coagulants.
Adsorption Remove soluble constituents onto surfaces of adsorbents.
Exchange constituents with another using ion exchanger resins
Physical/ chemical Ion exchange
or columns.
Under pressure, separate out dissolved mineral salts through
Reverse osmosis
semi-permeable membranes.
Use chemicals such as alum to coagulate or precipitate
Coagulation/precipitation
constituents of concern.
Reduce oxidized mobile forms such as selenite to reduced
Reduction/oxidation immobile forms such as elemental selenium through microbial
mediated processes.
Some plants and microbes are capable of taking up constituents
Volatilization such as selenium and volatilizing the methylated forms into the
atmosphere.
Certain terrestrial plants and algae are capable of extracting
Biological Plant/algal uptake large amounts of constituents such as selenium, nitrate and
molybdenum.
Constituents such as selenium and heavy metals are
removed from drainage water. For selenium, the principal
Constructed flow-through removal mechanism is reduction to elemental selenium and
wetlands organic forms in the detrital matter. For heavy metals, the
principal sink mechanism is sorption or fixation on the
Disposal Measures
• Even after the successful implementation of conservation and
reuse measures, there will always be a residuals of drainage
effluent requiring disposal
• Disposal options depend mainly on the situation of the
drainage outlet in relation to natural disposal sites such as;
 rivers,
 streams,
 lakes and
 oceans
• the suitability of each of these
measures depends on:
 the quality and quantity of
drainage water requiring
disposal;
 environmental & health
risks;
 available technology &
resources; and
 economic considerations
Disposal Measures …
• Drainage water disposal into natural surface water bodies
should entail minimal deleterious impacts on other
downstream water uses
 agricultural
 industrial and municipal
 wildlife
• Disposal on land in closed basins and agricultural
evaporation basins should avoid undue harm to the
ecology
 particularly aquatic biota including fish & water
birds
 Table 4. Disposal measures, practices and points for consideration
Option Practices Points for consideration
River discharge The drainage effluent is released into Disposal in rivers and lakes should not unduly
rivers, streams, etc. from where it finds its impair other downstream uses including water
way to an ultimate salt sink, i.e. oceans and required for sustaining fragile aquatic ecosystems.
salt lakes. This option is especially River disposal is often limited by disposal
appropriate during high discharge periods. regulations.

Evaporation ponds Disposal of drainage water in natural Concentration of trace elements could adversely
depressions or specially designed unlined affect birds and wildlife through bio-concentration
basins. The impounded water dissipates in the aquatic food chain to toxic levels. Adverse
through evaporation and inadvertent toxic impacts should be mitigated through special
seepage losses, and deposits salts and trace measures. Excessive seepage losses may pose a
elements. serious contamination risk to groundwater
resources.
Outfall to saline lakes Constructed main drain or disposal into Construction of outfall drains over long distances is
or oceans river mouths to discharge effluents into the normally an expensive undertaking and should only
ocean or saline lakes. be considered where other alternatives are not
feasible or the stream water quality is fragile.
Disposal into oceans, bays and estuaries may be
restricted if toxic trace elements are present.
Disposal into tidal rivers needs tidal gates to
prevent saltwater intrusion during high tide.
Deep-well injection Treated drainage water is often injected Formation of microbial slimes and colloidal
into deep underlying permeable particles may affect permeability in the stratum.
substratum in confined aquifers. There is a risk of seepage of poor quality water into
fresh groundwater bodies.
Non-physical drainage water management options
• In order to be fully effective, non-physical management
measures, i.e. policy and legislation, should accompany
physical drainage water management options
• One of the most frequently mentioned principles with
respect to pollution is that of the polluter pays
• This means that economic policy instruments are applied
to change the behaviour of farmers in such a way that
pollution is minimized
 the polluter pays for its effects
• The main problem of policy instruments in drainage water
management is that water quality degradation from
agriculture is non-point source pollution
• Direct links between agricultural practices & water quality
degradation are often difficult to determine and quantify
Non-physical drainage water management options
• Weersink & Livernois (1996) divided the policy instruments
into two groups:
(i) those based on the performance of an agricultural system
(ii) those based on agricultural practices such as fertilizer and
agrochemical uses
• In the latter case, the underlying assumption is that certain
agricultural practices will lead to more or less pollution
• These policy instruments try to influence the practices
and, indirectly, the pollution resulting from these practices
• Fees are levied on the discharge of the polluter into the
water
• The aim is to stimulate the polluter to adopt practices that
minimize pollution or to make the polluter pay for some of
the damage caused