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Chapter 02 - Sources and Quality of Irrigation Water

The document discusses considerations for using surface water and groundwater as sources of irrigation water. It also covers conjunctive use of both sources. Key factors in evaluating water quality include total salt concentration, sodium concentration relative to other ions, and carbonate and bicarbonate levels. Water is classified based on salinity levels and sodium hazard for determining suitable crops and irrigation practices.

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Tanjim Irtiza
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21 views

Chapter 02 - Sources and Quality of Irrigation Water

The document discusses considerations for using surface water and groundwater as sources of irrigation water. It also covers conjunctive use of both sources. Key factors in evaluating water quality include total salt concentration, sodium concentration relative to other ions, and carbonate and bicarbonate levels. Water is classified based on salinity levels and sodium hazard for determining suitable crops and irrigation practices.

Uploaded by

Tanjim Irtiza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sources and Quality of Irrigation Water

Considerations for using Surface Water as a source

 Lowest available surface water


 Crop water requirement :
Water needed = Crop water requirement – effective rainfall

 Water quality (salinity and toxicity)


 Water right – other users
- Domestic water supply
- Navigation
- Industrial use
- Fish culture
- River morphology
 Irrigation structures
- Initial cost
- Operation and maintenance cost

Considerations for using Ground Water as a source


 Crop water requirement
 Availability of surface water source
 Position of ground water table
 Water quality
 Ground water recharge
 Environmental impact
Sources and quality of irrigation water

Conjunctive Use
 Combined Use of both ground water and surface water
 Factors governing the percentage of sharing SW and GW
- Aquifer characteristics
- Availability of surface water
- Economic consideration
Advantages of Conjunctive Use
1. Provides much larger storage at much lower cost compared to dams for surface storage
only
2. Less risk of failure of storage structure as in case of high dams for surface storage only
3. A series of drought can be overcome by groundwater storage
4. Easier water table control by pumping water through wells. Effective anti water logging
measure in canal irrigated areas
5. Less time involving project as completion of big storage and distribution network take
much time in case of using surface water only
6. Storm drain size reduced due to less surface runoff
7. Cultivable land area saved due to less storage and distribution network
8. Salinity and pollution control easier
Disadvantages of Conjunctive Use
1. Less scope of hydroelectric power generation
2. Greater power consumption
3. More complex project operation and maintenance

Irrigation water problem


1. Salinity: Salts of calcium, magnesium, sodium etc present in irrigation water may prove
injurious for plants when present in excessive quantities. Salinity reduces the osmotic activity of
plants and may prevent adequate aeration resulting in lower crop yield. Some salt are toxic to
certain plants. At the beginning of irrigation with undesirable water no harm may be evident but
with time salt concentration in soil may increase to a harmful level as the soil solution gets
concentrated by evaporation. Symptoms of salt toxicity include dry and brown leaf margins,
brittle leaves, stunted plant growth, dead roots and plants. Leaching may be the possible solution
to control salinity.
2. Alkalinity/water infiltration rate: When the amount of sodium ions is near 10% of total
exchangeable cations, aggregation of soil grains breaks down. Soil particles become fine and
clog the soil pores that make soil less permeable and pH of soil increases towards that of alkaline
soil. Thus water infiltration rate is reduced with high sodium or low calcium concentration in
soil.
3. Concentration of toxic elements: A large number elements like boron, selenium can be toxic
to plants. When the concentration of boron is greater than 0.5 ppm, it becomes toxic to plant
growth.
4. Carbonate and Bicarbonate concentration: High concentration of bicarbonate ion material
may result in precipitation of Ca and Mg bicarbonate, increasing relative proportion of Na ion.

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Sources and quality of irrigation water

5. Sediment concentration of water: The effect of sediment concentration in irrigation water


depends on soil characteristics. If fine sediments from water deposit on sandy soil the fertility of
the soil is increased as water holding capacity improves. On the other hand if sediment deposit
on a land containing fine grained soil the permeability of the soil will be decreased. Again water
carrying sediment creates trouble in irrigation canals by increasing siltation.
6. Bacterial contamination: Bacterial contamination of irrigation water is not a serious problem
unless crops irrigated with highly contaminated water are directly eaten without being cooked.

Evaluation of Water Quality of Irrigation Water


A. Total Salt Concentration:
Total salt concentration may be expressed as
i. ppm (parts per million parts of water)
ii. mg/l (milligram per liter of water)
iii. Electrical conductivity, EC :
- EC is reciprocal of electrical resistivity (resistivity is the resistance in ohm of a
conductor whose length is 1 cm and X-sectional area is 1cm2 at 250C).
- Used for measuring leaching requirement
- Units  mhos/cm, mmhos/cm, µmhos/cm, ds/m

** Salt Concentration, ppm = mg/l= 640*EC (mmhos/cm)


Classification of irrigation water depending on salt concentration is given in the following table.

SL No. Type of water Use in irrigation


1 Low salinity water (C1). Can be used for irrigation for almost all crops and
Conductivity between 0 to 250 micro for almost all kinds of soils. Very little salinity may
mhos/cm at 25ºC develop, which may require slight leaching, but it is
permissible under normal irrigation practices except
in extremely low permeability.

2 Medium salinity water (C2). Can be used if a moderate amount of leaching


Conductivity between 250 to 750 micro occurs. Normal salt tolerant crops can be grown
mhos/cm at 25ºC without much salinity control.

3 High salinity water (C3). Cannot be used on soil with restricted drainage.
Conductivity between 750 to 2250 micro Special measures and precautions are undertaken for
mhos/cm at 25ºC salinity control and only high salt tolerant crops can
be grown.

4 Very high salinity water (C4). Generally not suitable for irrigation.
Conductivity more than 2250 micro
mhos/cm at 25ºC

B. Relative proportion of Sodium relative to other cations:

The proportion of sodium ions can be expressed as


i. SAR (Sodium Absorption Ratio)
ii. ESP (Exchangeable Sodium percentage)
iii. Sodium percentage

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Sources and quality of irrigation water

i. SAR
- Express the relative activity of sodium ions in exchange reaction with soil.
- Adsorbed Na+ with soil creates impermeable colloidal layer hampering the infiltration
rate. Ca++ transforms the layer to actual condition.

Na 
SAR 
(Ca    Mg   ) / 2

Ionic concentration  meq/l

miliequivalent per liter = mg/l (or ppm) ÷ equivalent wt

Equivalent wt = molecular wt / valency

ii. ESP (Exchangeable Sodium percentage)


Actual exchangeable sodium (in meq per 100 gm)
ESP   100
Cation exchange capacity (in meq per 100 gm of soil)

CEC is the total maximum quantity of ions which a soil can absorb by cation exchange.

iii. SP (Sodium percentage)


Na 
SP   100 , meq/l
( Na   Ca    Mg    K  )

- SP ↑ in irrigation water, absorption of Na+ ↑.

Classification of irrigation water depending on sodium hazard is given in the following table

SL No. Type of water Use in irrigation

1 Low sodium water (S1). Can be used for irrigation for almost all crops and for
SAR value lying between 0 to 10. almost all kinds of soils except those which are highly
ECw = 0~ 1000 μmhos/cm at 250C sensitive to sodium.

2 Moderate sodium water (S2). Appreciably hazardous in fine textured soils which may
SAR value lying between 10 to 18 require gypsum, etc, but may be used on coarse textured
ECw = 1000~ 1800 μmhos/cm at 250C or organic soils with good permeability.

3 High sodium water (S3). May prove harmful on almost all the soils, and do require
SAR value lying between 18 to 26 good drainage, high leaching, gypsum addition etc. for
ECw = 1800~ 2600 μmhos/cm at 250C proper irrigation.

4 Very high sodium water (S4). Generally not suitable for irrigation.
SAR value above 26.
ECw = > 2600 μmhos/cm at 250C

C. Carbonate and Bicarbonate concentration


- High concentration of bicarbonate ion material may result in precipitation of
Ca and Mg bicarbonate, increasing relative proportion of Na ion.
Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) = (CO3- + HCO3-) – (Ca++ + Mg++) , meq/l

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