PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 1

1. Define irrigation.
2. List six purposes for applying irrigation water to the soil.
3. How is irrigation accomplished?
4. What are the four major sources of irrigation water? Define and explain each.
5. What precautions should be kept in mind I determining the amount of water available from
precipitation?
6. Is all the precipitation that falls in cropland available to the crops? Defend your answer.
7. What atmospheric conditions, other than precipitation, will produce significant amounts of
supplemental water?
8. Does ground water contribute directly to the water needs of plants? When? When it is
harmful?
9. What are some of the advantages of irrigation in humid areas?
10. How does the need for irrigation in humid areas differ from that of arid regions?
11. What are the major factors which should be considered in the development of an irrigation
project?
12. Answer the following questions in relation to the agricultural area most familiar to you.
a. What is the present status of irrigation?
b. How do the climate, water supply and soils influence irrigation practices?
c. In what manner will the agricultural economy be improved by more extensive and
improved irrigation?

CHAPTER 2

1. Why is accurate information regarding water supply important to the development of an

irrigation system?
2. What is a snow survey?
3. What are the advantages of small ponds and reservoirs for irrigation? What are some of the
disadvantages?
4. What factors should be considered when selecting a site for a reservoir?
5. How can reservoir silting be reduced or eliminated? List four ways and describe the
operation of each.
6. What can be done to reduce loss of irrigation water by evaporation?
7. What are phreatophytes? Are they beneficial? Why?
8. What are the two principal methods of “rainmaking”? Explain each.
9. Discuss the feasibility of saline water conversion for irrigation purposes.
10. What are some of the sources of water that can be used for recharging ground water
reservoirs?
11. What are the methods used in ground water recharge operations?
12. What does “safe-yield” refer to?
13. List three approaches to ground water investigations and describe the techniques used in
each.

CHAPTER 3
1. Is it practicable for the irrigation farmer to greatly modify the texture of his soils? Why?
2. What soil structure is best suited to irrigation and crop production? Describe ways in which
the farmer can maintain a favorable structure in his soil.
3. Distinguish between a real and the apparent specific gravity of a soil. Is it possible for the
apparent specific gravity to be equal to or larger than the real specific gravity? Explain.
4. What substances occupy the pore space of a soil? Is the percentage pore space of a field soil
influenced by its water content?
5. Why is the rate of water flow into soils of importance in irrigation practice?
6. For a soil of given texture and structure, will a 1.4 m depth of well drained root zone soil
hold twice as much irrigation water as one of 0.7 m depth? Assume that the water table is
10 m or more below the land surface. Give reasons for your answers.
7. What properties of the soil determine the percentage of these three classes of moisture in
the soil: hygroscopic, capillary, and gravitational?
8. Are irrigated soils that are naturally well drained ever completely saturated? Explain.
9. Why are the actual heights to which water will rise by capillary action in a soil usually less
than the theoretical heights computed from equation 3.5?
10. How can the concept of field capacity be determined and used even though there is no point
on the moisture drainage curve that uniquely defines field capacity?
11. Why is the moisture content at which a crop permanently wilts a function of consumptive-
use rate as well as soil texture?
12. A sharp-edge cylinder 150 mm in diameter is carefully driven into the soil so that negligible
compaction occurs. A 200 mm column of soil is secured. The wet weight is 5525 grams and
the dry weight is 4950 grams.
a. What is the percent moisture on a dry weight basis?
b. What is the apparent specific gravity of the soil?
13. A cylinder was carefully pushed into the soil without compressing or distributing the soil. The
cross-sectional area of the cylinder was 0.025square meters. The length of the column of the
soil within the cylinder was 9.5 kg when it was dried. The weight of the soil before drying
was 11.4 kg. Determine Pw, AS, Pv.
14. A stream of 115 liters per second is used to apply 130 hectare-millimeters of water per
hectare to a 3.5 hectare field. How long will it take?
15. An irrigator uses a stream of 100 liters per second for two days (48 hours)to irrigate 12
hectares of sugar beets. What is the average depth of water applied?
16. A farmer desires to irrigate a border which is 12 meters wide and 150 meters long. He wants
to apply an average of 75 millimeters depth of water to the area with a stream of 60 liters
per second. How long will it take him to irrigate this border?
17. The soil moisture at field capacity is 27.2 percent and the moisture content at the time of
irrigating is 19.0 percent. The apparent specific gravity is 1.3 and the depth of soil to be
wetted is 1 meter.
a. How many hectare-millimeters per hectare of water must be applied?
b. How long will it take to irrigate the 5 hectares with a 115 liters per second with a
stream?
18. Soil samples indicate an average of moisture and apparent specific gravity in the soil as
follows:
19.
 Depth Pw As
0 – 300 mm 14.7 1.34
300 – 600 mm 15.3 1.39
600 – 900 mm 17.6 1.32
900 – 1200 mm 18.2 1.30

Compute the depth of water held in the first 1.2 meters.

20. A farmer owning “bench” land, in which the sandy loam soil average about 1.25 meters in
depth and was underlain by gravel and coarse sand to a depth of 10 meters or more,
discovered in march by borings with a soil augers that the light winter precipitation had
penetrated the soil to a depth of only 150 mm. he at once applied a 150 liter per second
stream of flood water to his 10 hectare tract and kept the stream well spread out of the
land for a period of four 24 hour days in order to give a soil a good soaking. There was no
surface runoff. Find approximately what percentage of the water applied was lost by deep
percolation.

CHAPTER 4

1. Why is measurement of soil moisture important?

2. What characteristics should be considered when deciding whether to use a spiral-bit auger
or a posthole auger to obtain a soil moisture sample?
3. Concerning the Oakfield probe:
(a) Under what conditions does it work best?
(b) What conditions make it difficult to use?
4. For what purpose would you consider feel and appearance of the soil sufficiently accurate as
an indication of soil moisture content?
5. What are the principal advantages and disadvantages of absorption blocks for determining
soil moisture?
6. What characteristics should be considered when deciding whether resistance blocks or
tensionmeters should be used?
7. Describe the principle of operation of the neutron method of measuring soil moisture.
8. List eight methods of estimating soil moisture.

CHAPTER 5

1. Show by computation that kinetic energy can usually be ignored for flow-through soils.
2. From Equation 5.5 and the definition following, it is seen that A is the gross area at right
angles to the flow direction. What approximate change would occur in the computed
magnitude of permeability k for flow-through loam soil if A were taken as net cross-sectional
area?
3. Imagine a soil column of unit cross-sectional area at right angles to the direction of flow of
water and state whether or not it is practicable to measure accurately the net cross-
sectional area of the channels through which flow occurs: (1) for a saturated soil; (b) for an
unsaturated soil. Give reasons for your answer.
4. Consider a vertical soil column of 0.25-square meter cross-sectional area and 1 meter long. If
0.4 cubic meter of water percolate through the column in 36 hours from a supply pipe which
 permits the water to flow onto the soil just as fast enough to keep the soil surface covered,
what is the permeability in meters per 24-hour day?
5. Measurement of the permeability of a 15-meter stratum of saturated clay soil overlying a
water-bearing gravel shows that k = 0.5 mm/hr. If the pressure head in the gravel is 25
meters of water (measured at the lower surface of the clay) and 0 m near the soil surface,
water is flowing vertically upward through the clay. Compute the flow in cubic feet per
second through a block of clay 15 meters thick and 250 hectares in area.
6. A contour map of water pressures overlying an artesian basin shows an average fall in
pressure head of 5 meters per kilometer. Assume a mean thickness of water-bearing gravel
of 8 meters and that k = 0.06 mm/s. Compute the underground flow in cubic feet per second
through a section of gravel 300 meters long at right angles to the direction of flow.
7. Assume that a 16-hectares tract of land is irrigated frequently and given enough water to
keep the soil practically saturated below the 2-meter depth but that the water table is 30
meters deep. If the average k = 35 l/s per ha, compute the number of hectare-millimeters of
water that flow vertically downward to the water table each month.
8. A soil sample weighting 455 grams when brought from the field in a cylinder of 300 cubic
centimeter volume, weighed 375 grams when dried. The soil particles displaced 145 cubic
centimeter of water. Compute the following:
(a) Proportion of the total volume filled with water.
(b) Percentage of the pore space filled with water.
9. The following intake data were taken prior to the designing of an irrigation system:

Elapsed Time Accumulated Intake

(min) (mm)
2 7.1
4 10.6
6 11.9
10 15.2
30 27.9

Determine the values of a and n in Equation 5.8

10. Intake data obtained using cylinders and buffers will most closely approximate the actual
intake resulting from what method of irrigation?
11. Discuss the characteristics of the three basic zones in the phenomena of water movement
through soil during irrigation.

CHAPTER 6

1. Explain why humid-region soils do not contain excessive amounts of alkali.

2. How does the amount of water moving through the soil affect the salinity or lack of salinity
in the soil?
3. Water having a conductivity of 500 micromhos per centimeter has how many tons of salt per
hectare-millimeter? What is the concentration in milliequivalents per liter and in milligrams
per liter?
 4. Is sodium carbonate a black salt? What is black alkali? What salts give rise to the occurrence
of black alkali?
5. Why is exchangeable-sodium percentage important in reclamation of soils?
6. Provided one-half of 831 milligrams per liter of alkali salts in lower Sevier River irrigation
water were deposited in the upper 1 meter of soil each year, how many years would it take
to add 0.5 percent total salts to the soil provided 0.67 meter of water is applied to the soil
each year? Assume A s = 1.40.
7. A drain tile main outlet from a 400-hectare tract discharges an average of 30 liters per
second during each of the 12 months of the year. If the average salt content of the drainage
water is 1200 milligrams per liter, the irrigation water applied to the tract is practically free
from salinity, and the mean depth of drains is 2 meters, what is the annual reduction in salt
content of the soil in terms of the percentage of the weight of the dry soil?
8. What added precautions are necessary in reclaiming an alkali soil that need not be
considered when reclaiming a saline soil?
9. Explain why it might be easier to leach an alkali soil with salty water than with pure water.
10. Explain fully why lowering of the water table is helpful in the prevention of accumulations of
soluble salts on the surface of the soil.
11. In addition to the lowering of the water table, describe other means of preventing, or at
least decreasing, the accumulations on the surface of the soil.
12. Under what conditions, if any, is it advisable to use, for irrigation purposes, water that
contains appreciable percentages of soluble salts? What precautions are necessary to
minimize the danger of using saline irrigation water?
13. Are the texture and the structure of soils related to the salinity and alkali problems? If so,
explain.
14. What is the primary reason for adding chemical amendments to the soil?
15. What is the most important reclamation procedure for saline soil?
16. Of what value is water-quality data?
17. Define alkali soil. Define saline soil.
18. Describe an agricultural area where in your judgment proper management of a high water
table would be a better solution economically than drainage.
19. Discuss the practicality of each of the three methods for temporarily controlling salts on
irrigated land.
20. In the permanent reclamation of saline and alkali lands, what four conditions should be
maintained? Why are all four necessary?
21. What management precautions must be taken when using saline waters for irrigation?
22. Is the following statement true? If the irrigation water is salty, less water should be applied
because this will result in less salt being applied to the soil. Discuss.

CHAPTER 7

1. Are studies of the consumptive use of water in irrigation likely to increase in importance as
time advances? Why?
2. Are the terms “consumptive use” and “evapotranspiration” the same? Explain.
3. Draw a graph showing how both transpiration and evaporation vary during the growing
season for a particular crop. Explain briefly the trends shown.
4. List all of the factors that affect consumptive use.
5. List those factors affecting the evaporation component of consumptive use and state which
factors management can alter, thereby changing evaporation.
6. How is the wilting of a plant related to the amount of available energy in the atmosphere?
7. Will a light rainfall reduce the consumptive use? Explain.
8. What are the principal liabilities and limitations of the following methods of determining
consumptive use:
(a) Tanks and lysimeters?
(b) Soil-moisture studies?
9. What kind of valley is best suited for determining consumptive use by the inflow-outflow
method?
10. What climatic data is required for each of the following formulas: Hargreaves, Jenson-Haise,
and Blaney-Criddle?
11. Would you expect a Piche evaporometer and an atmometer to indicate a higher evaporation
ratio than an evaporation pan? Why?
12. Explain why consumptive use rates will vary from day to day because of the stage of growth
of the plants.
13. Estimate the value of the consumptive use-evaporation ratio for the following stages of crop
growth:
(a) Tasseling of corn.
(b) Flowering of potatoes.
(c) Filling of pea pods.
(d) Ripening of tomatoes.
(e) Cutting of alfalfa.
(f) Digging of sugar beets.
(g) Cutting of sugar cane.
(h) Harvesting of lettuce.
(i) Picking of cotton.
14. A field of corn about 1.5 meters tall is growing vigorously, and tasseling has just started.
What would you estimate the consumptive use-evaporation to be? If records indicate the
evaporation to be 5 millimeters per day, what would the consumptive use be?
15. Using the Penman method, compute the consumptive use in millimeters per day for spring
wheat at Logan, Utah.
Air temperature = mean max. = 27°C, mean min. = 10°C.
Dewpoint = 7°C.
Wind speed, U 2 = 175 km/day at 2m.
Average solar radiation = 585 langleys/day.
Average clear day solar radiation = 800 langleys/day.
16. Using the Jenson-Haise method, compute the average daily consumptive use in inches of
water per day for the same conditions: as Problem 15.
17. Using the Hargreaves method, compute the average daily consumptive use in millimeters
per day for the same conditions as Problem 15.
18. Using the Blaney-Criddle method, calculate the annual consumptive use for cotton growing,
with the temperature and percent daytime hours given in Table 7.4 Assume an average k =
0.70.
CHAPTER 8

1. List the three principal factors which influence time of irrigation and amount of water to
apply.
2. Outline the reasons for reduced yield when the soil is too wet or too dry.
3. List several crops which show by their appearance that soil moisture is deficient. Describe
the appearance of each crop listed.
4. Why is it poor practice to wait until a crop shows signs of drought before irrigating?
5. By early spring snow surveys show that irrigation water supplies will be critically short during
the latter part of the growing season. The crops normally grown are alfalfa, sorghum, and
cotton. Outline the adjustment in cropping practice that you would recommend to meet the
impending drought.
6. What irrigation and fertility practices should be followed when vegetative growth is desired?
7. What are the major purposes of irrigating soils during the nongrowing or dormant season?
8. Under what conditions, if any, is it justifiable to divert water from partly filled storage
reservoirs during the nongrowing or dormant season for irrigation purposes?
9. Discuss the feasibility and need for fall and winter irrigation in your area.
10. Why does early spring irrigation often retard growth of plants?
11. Describe the probable difference in root systems of crops which have been irrigated by
frequent, light irrigations and widely-spaced, heavy irrigations.
12. A crop of alfalfa is being produced on a net water use of 600 millimeters. Each of the
irrigations applies 150 millimeters of water over the surface.
(a) Assuming the soil moisture extraction pattern shown in Fig. 8.6, calculate the
average depth of water stored in each 200 millimeters of the 1.2 meter of root
zone.
(b) If the total water-holding capacity of the soil is 160 millimeters per meter, what
percentage is stored in each meter during each irrigation?
13. What fertilizer element is most essential during (a) vegetative growth? (b) fruiting?
14. How should irrigation practice be modified during vegetative, wet fruit, and dry fruit stages
of plant growth?
15. Explain how irrigation practice may influence the availability plants of nitrogen and of
phosphate fertilizer in the soil.
16. A rather limited water supply had been applied to a field by sprinkler irrigation for several
years, allowing only 25 millimeters of water to enter the soil per irrigation. Explain why the
fertile, deep loam soil exhibited droughty characteristics and was considered to be shallow
and low in fertility under these conditions of management.
17. Calculate the consumptive use rate of a crop that is just entering the wet fruit stage of
growth when the evaporation is 8 millimeters per day. If 9 days have elapsed since the last
irrigation, how much water has been depleted from the soil? What depth of water should
be applied if the irrigation efficiency is to be 60 percent?
CU= water depleted = 8 mm/day × 9 day = 72 mm
Depth of water = 72 mm/60% = 120 mm
18. Enumerate the conditions in the order of their importance, which you consider most
essential to the attainment of community economical use of irrigation water.
19. (a) State three major conditions which tend to satisfy irrigation farmers with a low water-
application efficiency.
(b) State three major conditions which tend to stimulate irrigators to attain a high water-
application efficiency.

20. The soil of an irrigated farm is a clay loam of comparatively uniform texture to a depth of
1.8 meters, below which there is a coarse gravel to a great depth. Moisture
determinations before irrigation and again 48 hours after irrigation showed an average of
115 hectare-millimeters per hectare irrigation water stored in the soil from an irrigation in
which the irrigator used a stream of 85 liters per second continuously for 24 hours on a 4-
hectare tract of alfalfa. Neglecting consumptive use between completion of irrigation and
the taking of samples for moisture determinations, what was the water application
efficiency? What was the efficiency considering that 7.5 millimeters per day was used on
each of the two days between irrigation and sampling?

21. The average apparent specific gravity of the soil of the tract considered the Problem 20 is
1.3. Provided the mean increase in moisture content to a depth of 1.8 meters equals 5.35
percent, what is the water-application efficiency?

22. Three cubic meters per second are diverted from a river into a canal. Of this amount 2.25
cubic meters per second are delivered to the farms. The surface runoff from the irrigated
are averages 450 liters per second. The contribution to the ground water is 300 liters per
second.

(a) What is the water-conveyance efficiency?

(b) What is the water-application efficiency?

23. A farmer irrigates 2 hectares of wheat the first week in July when the average depth of
rooting was 1.10 meters. Two days after irrigation he takes a soil auger to the field and by
boring holes into the soil determines that the average depth of penetration in each ¼
hectare of the 2 hectares is as follows:

Average Depth of Penetration (m)

.82
.98
1.10
1.22
1.07
.90
.85
1.10

(a) What is the water-distributor efficiency?

(b) What is the water-storage efficiency?
24. Determine the water-application efficiency, the water-storage efficiency, and the water-
distribution efficiency for the following conditions:

Stream of 85 liters per second delivered to the field for 5 hours.

Runoff averaged 40 liters per second for 2.5 hours.

Depth of root zone was 1.8 meters

Depth of penetration varied linearly from 1.8 meters at one end to 0.6 meters at the other
end of the field.

25. A stream of 175 liters per second was diverted from the river and 105 liters per second
were delivered to the field. An area of 2 hectares was irrigated in 8 hours. The root-zone
depth was 1.8 meters. The runoff averaged 50 liters per second for 3 hours. The depth of
water penetration varied linearly from 1.8 meters at the head of the field to 1.2 meters at
the end of the field. Determine the water-conveyance efficiency, the water-application
efficiency, the water-storage efficiency, and the water-distribution efficiency.

CHAPTER 9

1. How do excessive intake rates interfere with good surface irrigation?

2. Explain how an irrigation stream too small to irrigate efficiently using surface methods can
often be applied very efficiently by sprinkler irrigation.
3. Explain why less skilled labor can be used for sprinkler irrigation than for surface irrigation.
4. Why is it easier to apply small depths of water more efficiently by sprinkler than by surface
irrigation methods?
5. For what reasons would frequent light irrigations be desirable?
6. What precautions should be taken when using sprinkler irrigation for frost protection?
7. List the possible advantages in applying fertilizers and soil amendments to the soil through
sprinkler systems.
8. Make sketches of the ways in which fertilizers can be injected into a sprinkler system.
9. Why is it advisable and often necessary to operate the sprinklers for a few minutes before
and after fertilizer is applied? Consider the system, the crop, and the soil.
10. Which of the three general types of sprinklers is used most extensively? Why?
11. Tabulate the average pressures and rates of application for the three sprinkler types.
12. What are the advantages of medium-pressure sprinklers?
13. What crops would most nearly justify use of semipermanent sprinkler systems?
14. What are the advantages of portable sprinkler systems?
15. What natural conditions would favor use of a gravity sprinkler system?
16. Why are silt and debris in irrigation water objectionable when using sprinkler systems?
17. Why is debris removal from irrigation water difficult?
18. Discuss the relative importance of initial and annual costs of irrigation systems?
19. Larger sprinkler nozzles and higher pressures require more power and less labor for
irrigation. How would this fact influence sprinkler design in an underdeveloped country?
20. What information regarding soils is needed for a good sprinkler irrigation design?
 21. (a) When is the soil most susceptible to puddling and crusting from droplet impact from
sprinklers?
(b)What can the irrigator do to minimize damage from a given sprinkler system?
22. Explain how the cropping pattern which will develop when the sprinkler system is in full use
should influence the design of the system.
23. What are the advantages of trickle irrigation? The disadvantages.

CHAPTER 10

1. Why does the method of irrigation used depend upon the value of the crop being produced,
the cost of water, and the general economy of the area?
2. Which of the methods of irrigating is the oldest and the least efficient?
3. What crops are generally irrigated by flooding?
4. What are the essential points of difference between border-strip flooding and check
flooding?
5. What are the essential points of difference between corrugations and furrows used for
irrigation?
6. Level borders have been used for irrigating relatively flat lands in areas not strictly arid or
humid. Explain why heavy rains would create a problem.
7. What natural conditions favor subirrigation?
8. List the reasons why the hydraulics of surface irrigation are much more complicated than the
hydraulics of open-channel flow.
9. What ten criteria must be considered when designing an irrigation system?

CHAPTER 11

1. (a) What are the major functions of diversion structures?

(b)What forces are permanent diversion structures requires to a resist?
(c) Are the dimensions of farm diversion structures, i.e., lengths, depths, and widths,
influenced by the soils in which they are built? Explain.
2. In the selection of a permanent farm conveyance structure, give the conditions which would
influence your choice between a flume, ditch, surface pipe, and underground pipe.
3. (a) Why is it necessary to have a larger bottom width and depth in order to convey a given
quantity of water through an earth ditch than through a concrete flume of the same slope?
(b) If you were going to build an 200 millimeter pipe on a slope of 0.4 meters per kilometer
and you wanted to get the largest possible quantity of water through it, neglecting
differences in cost, what kind of pipe would you select? Why?
4. (a) What major objectives should influence the irrigator’s selection of irrigation water-
distribution structures?
(b) Does the cost of water influence the selection of a distribution structure?
(c) Do the soil properties influence the selection of distribution structures? Explain briefly.
5. In measuring water to a farmer from a variable canal stream will a submerged orifice or a
weir be most helpful toward delivery of a flow as nearly uniform as practical? Why?
6. To what extent are shop facilities needed to maintain and repair irrigation implements and
structures?
7. Explain why a good plowing job is essential if the land is to be irrigated.
8. (a) What crops might be damaged by deep furrowing as a result of tearing up shallow roots?
(b) Would deep cultivation also damage the same crops?
9. Explain the statement that good water control and therefore adequate water-control
structures are essential before irrigation water can be used efficiently.
10. Discuss the relative practicality and economics of using wood, concrete, brick and mortar,
metal, and prefabricated components for water-control structures in your locality.
11. What are the advantages of using buried pipe for water conveyance?
12. How would you start water flowing in a 50-millimeter siphon used to convey water from a
ditch to a furrow?

CHAPTER 12
1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of earth canals.
2. Why should amortized annual cost of lining a canal be considered instead of the initial cost?
3. How might canal lining be related to drainage?
4. Consider a farm irrigation ditch in a loam soil having the following dimensions:
(a) Bottom width, 0.5 meters.
(b) Total depth, 0.60 meters.
(c) Side slopes of 1 horizontal to 1 vertical.
(d) Depth of water, 0.40 meters.

Find the following properties:

(a) Cross-sectional area of the stream.

(b) Wetted perimeter.
(c) Hydraulic radius of the stream.
5. If the bottom of the ditch described in Problem 4 has a uniform slope of 1 meter per
kilometer, and if the bottom and sides are kept smooth and free from weeds, what will be the
mean velocity of flow and the discharge? Use n = 0.02.
6. If the canal described in Problem 4 were permitted to a grow weeds on the sides and bottom,
what would be the velocity and discharge? Use n = 0.04.
7. For a canal of the same dimensions as in Problem 4 built in earth on a slope of 2 meters per
kilometer, determine the velocity and discharge.
8. How do you account for the fact that the velocity and discharge are not doubled when the
slope is doubled?
9. For a concrete-lined ditch in good condition having the same dimensions and slope as the
ditch in Problem 7, determine the velocity and discharge. Use n = 0.014.
10. Rework Problem 7 using the Chezy equation and Fig. 5.2. Use an e value of 0.3 millimeter and
consider the water temperature to be 14°C. (Alternative –Consider v to be 1.124 x 10−6 m2/s.)
11. Compute C and f for the conditions of Problem 6.
12. Compute C and f for the conditions of Problem 10.
13. Show that a square, covered box flowing 0.95 full carries more water than the same box
flowing full. Explain.
14. Given a canal with 1 to 1 side slopes and cross-section area of 10 square meters, find the
dimensions for the best hydraulic cross section.
 15. List the principal materials used as canal linings. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
each.
16. Describe the “inflow-outflow” method for determining seepage losses from a canal.

CHAPTER 13

1. List the three principal methods of drilling wells and explain each. Discuss the advantages
and disadvantages of each.
2. What are the purposes of well screens and of gravel packing a well? When would you use
each? Should they be used together? If so, when? If not, why?
3. Why is the development of a well so important?
4. List the three principal methods of well development and explain the operation of each.
5. What is the difference between a confined and unconfined well?
6. Is a confined or artesian well necessarily a flowing well? Explain.
7. What are some of the assumptions made in the development of well equations?
8. What discharge can be expected from an unconfined well 380 millimeters in diameter when
the draw-down is 6 meters in an aquifer saturated to a depth of 15 meters? Assume the
coefficient of permeability to be 21 meters per day and the radius of influence to be 180
meters.
9. What diameter well is required to deliver a discharge of 55 liters per second from a confined
aquifer 15 meters thick with a draw-down of 21 meters? Assume a radius of influence of 120
meters and a permeability of 15 meters per day.
10. Determine the height of the seepage face for an unconfined well 300 millimeters in
diameter, a permeability of 6 millimeters per second, a discharge of 50 liters per second, and
a depth of water in the well of 4.5 meters.

CHAPTER 14

1. Define horsepower, theoretical horsepower, brake horsepower, water horsepower, and

pumping plant efficiency.
2. Define static head and draw-down.
3. What are the characteristic curves of a pump? Of what value are they?
4. Under what conditions would you use a centrifugal pump? What are some of the problems
connected with its use?
5. Define total dynamic head.
6. An irrigator desires to lift a stream of 30 liters per second a vertical height of 12 meters. If
the loss of head in the casing and pump results in a 62 percent over-all pump efficiency and
the electric motor as an efficiency of 91 percent, how many horsepower will his motor
need? How many kilowatts will it use while pumping? Assume 1 hp = 0.746 kW.
7. With the same height of lift and the same efficiencies as given in Problem 6, how many
kilowatts would a motor require in order to deliver a stream that would supply enough
water in 30 hours to cover a 4-hectare tract to a depth of 150 millimeters? Assume 1 hp =
0.746 kW.
8. The gross water requirement for orchard irrigation is assumed to be 900 hectare-millimeters
per hectare. If a pumping plant (motor and pump) operates at an efficiency of 57 percent,
how many kilowatt-hours of energy will be required to lift water 9 meters for each hectare?
 9. Compute the horsepower required to pump:
(a) A stream of 60 liters per second against a head of 12 meters, assuming 100 percent
efficiency.
(b) Actual pumping plant efficiency is 59 percent. What is the horsepower requirement?
(c) Using the “Electric Service Schedules and Costs,” Chapter 14, what would the charge be
per month (30 days) if the motor is run continuously? Assume that voltage and term
discount are received. Assume 1 hp = 0.746 kW.
10. Would it be advisable to use the centrifugal pump whose characteristics are shown in Fig.
14.2 when it is desired that 100 liters per second be pumped against a head of 13 meters?
What is the efficiency? Why is a high efficiency desirable? What horsepower would be used?
11. A farmer pumps 30 liters per second for 24 hours each day of the irrigation season. The
static head is 6 meters and the draw-down while pumping 30 liters per second is 1.5 meters.
If his pumping plant is 60 percent efficient, what does it cost him per month if he pays the
rates as given in the article “Electric Service Schedules and Costs”?
12. Define kilowatt hour, horsepower hour, and brake horsepower hour.
13. If the water horsepower of a pump is 50 hp, the efficiency of the pump is 75 percent, and
the efficiency of the motor is 90 percent, how many kilowatthours are consumed in one
month’s operation? How many brake horsepower hours are consumed?
14. Compute the monthly cost for operating the pump in Problem 13 if:
(a) An electric motor is used and the power schedule is as given in the text.
(b) A diesel engine is used and diesel fuel costs 11¢/liter.
(c) A gasoline engine is used and gasoline costs 15¢/liter.
(d) A propane engine is used and propane costs 10¢/liter.

CHAPTER 15

1. Discuss the statement that irrigation and drainage are complementary practices in arid
regions.
2. What is the relative importance of surface and of subsurface drainage in arid and in humid
climates?
3. Explain why the need for surface drainage increases as the annual rainfall increases.
4. List the benefits of drainage.
5. How can knowledge of the source of irrigation water be useful in solving a drainage
problem?
6. Under what conditions would you use piezometers instead of auger holes to measure the
hydraulic characteristics of the ground water?
7. What practical means can frequently be taken to reduce the severity of drainage problems
by controlling the source of the drainage waters?
8. Discuss the statement that shallower water-table depths are economically feasible under
excellent management.
9. A field investigation of drainage deals with what four subjects? Why is each one important?
10. The soil excavated from an open drain is all placed upon one side. Make assumptions
regarding side slopes and widths and prepare a graph showing the value of land removed
from production by a 300 meter drain excavated to 1.5-, 3.0-. and 4.5-meter depths.
 11. List in sequence the operations performed by a large trenching machine, including the use of
related equipment such as a tractor or bulldozer.
12. What can be done to maintain a tile drainage system in good operating condition?
13. Why is reuse of drainage water important?
14. Prepare a list of advantages and disadvantages of tile drains versus open drains.
15. In Equation 15.2 list the quantities R, k, H, L, and h in the order of ease of measurement,
placing first those that are most easily measured.
16. Refer to Fig 15.6 and Equation 15.2 and explain why the flow of ground water to the drain is
proportional (approximately) to the square of the effective depth of drain.
17. A new open drain is not drawing enough water from the soil is to lower the water table
sufficiently. To increase the drain discharge would you increase the bed slope, make the
drain wider, deeper, longer, or use a combination of these remedies? Give reasons for your
answer.
18. Determine the flow from the soil into a 3-meter depth open drain 120 meters long when the
drains are spaced 45 meters apart. The depth of previous stratum is 4.5 meters, and the
depth of the water table midway between drains is 1 meter below the ground surface. The
average permeability of the previous stratum is 1.5 x 10 -4 m/s. The depth of water in the
drain is negligible.
19. For a soil of great depth and uniform permeability, with all other conditions as in Problem
18, determine the flow into 150-millimeter diameter tile drain flowing two-thirds full, by
means of Equation 15.7.
20. In problem 18, what will be the change in flow Q, toward the drain, if all other factors
remain unchanged, but: (a) the spacing of the drain lines S is doubled? (b) the permeability
of soil k is doubled? (c) the depth of the drain is increased from 3 to 3.74 meters?
21. Sandy loam soil to be drained is 15 meters deep and has a permeability of 3 x 10 -5 m/s. The
water table is 1.2 meters below the ground surface. Two and two-tenths meter-depth tile
drains 150 meters long have a slope of 1/2000. Determine the discharge of each drain and
spacing for 150-millimeter-diameter tile flowing half full. Assume the flow toward the drain
is through semicylindrical surfaces.
22. In a field drainage experiment by pumping from an artesian aquifer the following data were
obtained:
(a) Flow of water to well or pump discharge Q = 120l/s
(b) Radius at maximum pressure head R = 450 m
(c) Radius at minimum pressure head r = 5.5 m
(d) Pressure head at maximum radius H=8m
(e) Pressure head at minimum radius H = 2.1 m
(f) Depth of water-bearing aquifer D=5m

CHAPTER 16

1. What are the principal advantages and disadvantages of the following measuring devices?
(a) Orifice
(b) Weir
(c) Parshall flume
 (d) Trapezoidal flume
(e) Current meter
2. When using a current meter at 0.6 of the depth, do you measure 0.6 from the water surface
or from the bottom of the stream?
3. Explain why more flow will occur over a dull-crested weir than over a sharp-crested weir,
even thought the depth of water over the crest is the same.
4. (a) Find the theoretical velocity of a jet of water flowing out of a square orifice in a large tank
if the center of the orifice is 600 millimeters below the water surface.
(b)If the orifice opening considered in Problem 4(a) is 150 by 150 millimeters, what is the
theoretical discharge in liters per second?
5. (a) In measuring the water that flows through a submerged orifice, is it necessary to know
the vertical distance from the upstream water surface to the center of the orifice? Explain.
(b) Find the discharge in liters per second though a rectangular standard submerged orifice
450 millimeters long (horizontal dimension) by 200 millimeters deep (vertical dimension) if
the upstream surface is 175 millimeters vertically above the downstream water surface. First
use the appropriate equation and check your result by use of a table.
6. (a) In using weirs to measure water, is it essential to make direct measurement of the
velocity of the water as it flows through the weir notch? Explain.
(b) By means of the appropriate equation, compute the liters per second over a rectangular
weir having suppressed end contractions if the weir crest is 600 millimeters long and the
water surface at a point 2.5 meters upstream from the weir is 140 millimeters vertically
above the weir crest. Check your result with a weir table.
(c) If the weir described in Problem 6(b) has complete end contractions, would the discharge
be more or less than your computed result? How much?
7. For the same length of weir crest and depth of water over the crest as in Problem 6(b),
compute the discharge over a trapezoidal weir. Check your results with a table.
8. For a right-angle triangular notch weir, what is the discharge when the depth of water
vertically above the apex of the weir notch is 180 millimeters at a point 1.5 meters upstream
from the weir?
9. Show that doubling the effective head, causing discharge through a submerged orifice,
increase the discharge approximately 41 percent.
10. Show that doubling the head over a rectangular or trapezoidal weir makes the discharge 2.8
times greater.

CHAPTER 17
1. Why are most successful irrigation and drainage enterprises owned and operated by the
water users?
2. Why has the commercial irrigation corporation been less influential than the mutual
irrigation corporation?
3. Differentiate between private, quasipublic, and public irrigation and drainage enterprises.
4. What are the distinctive features of a mutual irrigation company?
5. How does a mutual irrigation company differ from an irrigation district?
6. Can a mutual irrigation corporation sell the land owned by its delinquent stockholders in
order to collect payments of irrigation assessments?
7. Can an irrigation district sell the land owned by its delinquent members in order to collect
payments of irrigation assessments?
8. What are the two conflicting water right doctrines? How do they differ?
9. What are the salient features of the (a) doctrine of riparian rights, (b) doctrine of
appropriation, (c) common law doctrine, (d) reasonable use concept?
10. What creates priority under (a) riparian right doctrine, (b) appropriation right doctrine?
11. Why is a drainage district normally necessary before land can be adequately drained?
12. What powers are vested in a drainage district?
13. What advantages would result from combining an irrigation district with the drainage district
organized for the same land?
14. Explain who settlers ultimately gain ownership of a Bureau of Reclamation project.