Mechanical Structures for Farm Irrigation

Humpherys, A.S. (1969) Mechanical Structures for Farm Irrigation. Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Journal of the Irrigation and Drainage Division. 95(IR4):463-479.

PDF 134.pdf Download (524kB)

Abstract

The water facilities and management practices used by the individual
farmer are extremely important factors and have a significant effect upon irrigation
water use. Considerable effort is being made to improve irrigation
practices by developing better surface irrigation methods and equipment.
Mechanized systems with automated control structures enable the farmer to
apply water more efficiently and with a minimum of labor. These structures
automatically terminate irrigation on one portion of a field or farm and direct
the water to another section. It is common practice in many areas to use
either 12-hr or 24-hr irrigation sets because it is convenient to change the
water only once or twice each day. Often an irrigation of less than 12 hr or
between 12 hr and 24 hr is sufficient to refill the root zone. The available
water supply can serve a larger area if water can be changed from one set to
another at the optimum time without attention. Many farms can use automatic
structures without extensive modifications to present systems.
Mechanical, automatic irrigation structures being developed at the USDA
Snake River Conservation Research Center do not require an external power
source for operation and include simple timer-controlled structures. These
are being tested in automatic cutback furrow, conventional furrow, graded
border, basin, contour ditch, and recirculating systems.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	0134
Additional Information:	Digest: Trans. Am. Soc. Civ. Engr. 136:102-103, 1971.
Subjects:	Mass Import - unclassified
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2010 21:58
Last Modified:	25 Oct 2016 18:08
Item ID:	1206
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1206