Rainfall probability forecasts used to manage a subdrainage-subirrigation system for watertable control

Water management of a subsurface-drainage and subirrigation system was simulated using a daily rainfall probability index (rpi), to control the watertable depth (wt) in the soil profile. Daily management of ‘free drainage’, controlled drainage, or subirrigation, was based upon the rpi value. The rpi was computed from the daily rainfall probability in forecasts issued by the U.S. National Weather Service. Climatic data and weather forecast records (1979–1985) for the lower Mississippi Valley were used in the DRAINMOD program to simulate daily fluctuations in the watertable. Various statistical and summation equations were used for computing the rpi. Management success was evaluated by conditions of excess and deficit soil water in the root zone, and by predicted crop yield. Using only the ‘today’ and ‘tonight’ segments of the morning (5:25 h) forecast, 75% of the significant rainfall events occurring during the growing season were successfully predicted when the rpi ≥ 0.60. Free drainage in advance of predicted storms significantly reduced the duration of excess soil water in the root zone and increased simulated maize yield 0 to 11%, when compared to controlled drainage where the water level at the drain outlet was maintained constant at a level above the drain.     

Predicting effects of drainage water management in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes

Long-term hydrologic simulations are presented predicting the effects of drainage water management on subsurface drainage, surface runoff and crop production in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes. The deterministic hydrologic model, DRAINMOD was used to simulate Webster (fine-loamy, mixed, superactive, mesic) soil in a Continuous Corn rotation (WEBS_CC) with different drain depths from 0.75 to 1.20 m and drain spacing from 10 to 50 m in a combination of free and controlled drainage over a weather record of 60 (1945-2004) years. Shallow drainage is defined as drains installed at a drain depth of 0.75 m, and controlled drainage with a drain depth of 1.20 m restricts flow at the drain outlet to maintain a water table at 0.60 m below surface level during the winter (November-March) and summer (June-August) months. These drainage design and management modifications were evaluated against conventional drainage system installed at a drain depth of 1.20 m with free drainage at the drain outlet. The simulation results indicate the potential of a tradeoff between subsurface drainage and surface runoff as a pathway to remove excess water from the system. While a reduction of subsurface drainage may occur through the use of shallow and controlled drainage, these practices may increase surface runoff in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes. The simulations also indicate that shallow and controlled drainage might increase the excess water stress on crop production, and thereby result in slightly lower relative yields. Field experiments are needed to examine the pathways of water movement, total water balance, and crop production under shallow and controlled drainage in Iowa's subsurface drained landscapes.     

Strategies for reducing subsurface drainage in irrigated agriculture through improved irrigation

The traditional approach ofinstalling subsurface drainage systems tosolve shallow ground water problems is notfeasible along the west side of the SanJoaquin Valley of California because of thelack of drain water disposal methods thatare economical, technically feasible, andenvironmentally friendly. Thus, optionssuch as drainage reduction through improvedirrigation and drain water reuse are beingexamined as methods for coping with thesubsurface drainage problem. This paperdiscusses options for reducing subsurfacedrainage through improved irrigationpractices. Options are discussed forimproving irrigation system design such asupgrading existing irrigation methods andconverting to systems with higher potentialirrigation efficiencies. Methods forimproving water management are alsopresented. Case studies on upgradingexisting systems or converting to otherirrigation methods are presented along with study results of the effect of variouspolicies on reducing subsurface drainage.     

Numerical simulations of steady-state subsurface drainage with vertically decreasing hydraulic conductivity

Most subsurface drainage equations assume either homogeneous, two-layer or three-layer soil conditions. Finite difference simulations were performed to quantify the effect of gradually decreasing hydraulic conductivity on watertable depths for steady-state subsurface drainage. For vertically decreasing hydraulic conductivity, and for cases where drain spacing was based on effective hydraulic conductivity of the 0.5 to 2.0 m layer, mid-spacing watertable depth ranged from 0.282 to 0.900 m. The average value was 0.718 m, which is considerably shallower than the 0.9 m design value used for determining drain spacing. These higher watertables may have detrimental effects on crop yield, especially in arid areas where soil salinity is a problem. The importance of the difference between actual and design watertable depths was mostly related to the type of hydraulic conductivity decrease function, drain depth, and drainage rate. These differences are explained by the position of the drain within the soil profile and the effect of the spacing on the equivalent depth of flow. Using effective hydraulic conductivity of the 0.5 to 3.0 m layer for determining drain spacing reduced the error. For an effective hydraulic conductivity value of 0.3 m/d, the average watertable depth increased from 0.748 m for the 2.0 m auger hole to 0.829 m for the 3.0 m hole. The results presented can be used to estimate the error on watertable depth resulting from ignoring the vertical variations of hydraulic conductivity.     

Drainage Design in the Gharb Plain in Morocco

The Gharb plain in Morocco faces both problems of excesswinter rainfall and salinity hazards due to a shallow,permanent and saline groundwater. A large area of 80.000 hahas been equipped with subsurface drains out of a totalplanned area of 200.000 ha. This system has been designedwithout any local references and has encountered severalmaintenance problems mainly caused by high drain depths.A pilot experiment has been installed to provide drainagedesign criteria appropriate to the local conditions. Mainexperimental results based on water and salinity balance andon groundwater flow are presented in the paper. They show thatin the Gharb plain, drainage systems should be designed fromwinter drainage design criterion. The paper also stresses onthe particular attention to paid to the surface drainage whichremove about 40% of the excess water.     

Verification of drainage design criteria in the Nile Delta,Egypt

A monitoring programme to verify the design criteria of subsurface drainage systems was conducted in a pilot area in the Nile Delta in Egypt. The programme, which covered a 9-year period, included the monitoring of the cropping pattern, crop yield, soil salinity, watertable, discharge and salinity of the drainage water and overpressure in the subsurface drainage system. The results showed that the yield of all crops (wheat, berseem, maize, rice and cotton) increased significantly after the installation of the subsurface drainage system. Optimum growing conditions for the combination of crops that are cultivated in rotation in the area required that the watertable midway between the drains had a average depth of 0.80 m. A corresponding drain discharge of 0.4 mm/d was sufficient to cope with the prevailing percolation losses of irrigation water and to maintain favourable soil-salinity levels. The additional natural drainage rate in the area was estimated at 0.5 mm/d. The most effective way to attain these favourable drainage conditions is to install drains at a depth between 1.20 to 1.40 m. For drain-pipe capacity the Manning equation can be used with a design rate of 1.2 mm/d, for collector drains this rate should be increased to 1.8 mm/d to compensate for the higher discharge rates from rice fields. These rates should be used in combination with a roughness coefficient (n) of 0.028 to take sedimentation and irregularities in the alignment into account. When this value of the roughness coefficient is used, no additional safety has to be incorporated in the other design factors (e.g. the design rate).     

Testing and statistical analysis of the performance of a pipe drainage system: A case study in north-eastern Italy

A survey program was carried out from June 1988 to august 1989 in North-eastern Italy in a pipe drainage area of 61 ha in order to verify if the year of installation (one part of the system has been installed in 1984 and another one year later) and the cover material of drains (pipes were covered with cocofibre for 2/5 of their length and without envelope for 3/5) could influence the functioning of the system. Collected data of drain discharge and water table depth were subjected to an elaborate statistical analysis.A methodological approach to determine the sample size (how many measurements of discharge and watertable depth are required, in space and time, from a statistical stand-point) in drainage experiment is proposed. For drainage systems similar to the considered one, a sample size of 10–12 drains and 6–8 observation wells can be recommended in order to obtain a standard error lower than 10–15% of the mean.     

Using the DRAINMOD-N model to study effects of drainage system design and management on crop productivity,profitability and NO3–N losses in drainage water

The environmental impacts of agricultural drainage have become a critical issue. There is a need to design and manage drainage and related water table control systems to satisfy both crop production and water quality objectives. The model DRAINMOD-N was used to study long-term effects of drainage system design and management on crop production, profitability, and nitrogen losses in two poorly drained soils typical of eastern North Carolina (NC), USA. Simulations were conducted for a 20-yr period (1971–1990) of continuous corn production at Plymouth, NC. The design scenarios evaluated consisted of three drain depths (0.75, 1.0, and 1.25 m), ten drain spacings (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, and 100 m), and two surface conditions (0.5 and 2.5 cm depressional storage). The management treatments included conventional drainage, controlled drainage during the summer season and controlled drainage during both the summer and winter seasons. Maximum profits for both soils were predicted for a 1.25 m drain depth and poor surface drainage (2.5 cm depressional storage). The optimum spacings were 40 and 20 m for the Portsmouth and Tomotley soils, respectively. These systems however would not be optimum from the water quality perspective. If the water quality objective is of equal importance to the productivity objective, the drainage systems need to be designed and managed to reduce NO₃–N losses while still providing an acceptable profit from the crop. Simulated results showed NO₃–N losses can be substantially reduced by decreasing drain depth, improving surface drainage, and using controlled drainage. Within this context, NO₃–N losses can be reduced by providing only the minimum subsurface drainage intensity required for production, by designing drainage systems to fit soil properties, and by using controlled drainage during periods when maximum drainage is not needed for production. The simulation results have demonstrated the applicability of DRAINMOD-N for quantifying effects of drainage design and management combinations on profits from agricultural crops and on losses of NO₃–N to the environment for specific crop, soil and climatic conditions. Thus, the model can be used to guide design and management decisions for satisfying both productivity and environmental objectives and assessing the costs and benefits of alternative choices to each set of objectives.     

Subsurface drainage results for over-wetted soils of the Latvian S.S.R.

In the Latvian S.S.R. experiments on hydrological drainage action have been carried out for some 16–17 years on 200 drainage fields. It is found that the average annual removal of excess water is 150–250 mm and, in particularly moist years, 400–500 mm and more. Drainage results in a considerable reduction of the duration of over-wetting and over-flooding of the active soil layer. The importance of drainage in the control of the soil water regime is the greatest in the winter and spring periods. The most effective draining and the best economic indices have been achieved by applying deep systematic drainage. For sandy and loamy soils, a 1.3–1.5 m deep drainage installation and use of larger diameter drain pipes are recommended. It is expedient to determine the drain spacing by combining the hydromechanical and the empirical methods, making the most of the data of many years of observations of the action of drainage systems.     

Simulation of drainage water quality with DRAINMOD

The design and management of drainage systems should consider impacts on drainage water quality and receiving streams, as well as on agricultural productivity. Two simulation models that are being developed to predict these impacts are briefly described. DRAINMOD-N uses hydrologic predictions by DRAINMOD, including daily soil water fluxes, in numerical solutions to the advective-dispersive-reactive (ADR) equation to describe movement and fate of NO₃-N in shallow water table soils. DRAINMOD- CREAMS links DRAINMOD hydrology with submodels in CREAMS to predict effects of drainage treatment and controlled drainage losses of sediment and agricultural chemicals via surface runoff. The models were applied to analyze effects of drainage intensity on a Portsmouth sandy loam in eastern North Carolina. Depending on surface depressional storage, agricultural production objectives could be satisfied with drain spacings of 40 m or less. Predicted effects of drainage design and management on NO₃-N losses were substantial. Increasing drain spacing from 20 m to 40 m reduced predicted NO₃-N losses by over 45% for both good and poor surface drainage. Controlled drainage further decreases NO₃-N losses. For example, predicted average annual NO₃-N losses for a 30 m spacing were reduced 50% by controlled drainage. Splitting the application of nitrogen fertilizer, so that 100 kg/ha is applied at planting and 50 kg/ha is applied 37 days later, reduced average predicted NO₃-N losses but by only 5 to 6%. This practice was more effective in years when heavy rainfall occurred directly after planting. In contrast to effects on NO₃-N losses, reducing drainage intensity by increasing drain spacing or use of controlled drainage increased predicted losses of sediment and phosphorus (P). These losses were small for relatively flat conditions (0.2% slope), but may be large for even moderate slopes. For example, predicted sediment losses for a 2% slope exceeded 8000 kg/ha for a poorly drained condition (drain spacing of 100 m), but were reduced to 2100 kg/ha for a 20 m spacing. Agricultural production and water quality goals are sometimes in conflict. Our results indicate that simulation modeling can be used to examine the benefits of alternative designs and management strategies, from both production and environmental points-of-view. The utility of this methodology places additional emphasis on the need for field experiments to test the validity of the models over a range of soil, site and climatological conditions.     

A model for the design of drainage in flat agricultural lands

A model is presented that can be used to determine drainage measures and their costs. It has been elaborated for a wet tropical climate, for situations with open field drains, shallow groundwater table and a homogenous soil underlain by an impervious layer. The land is flat and the proposed agricultural use requires control of the groundwater table.A basic element of the model is a scheme to compute the water balance per day for a drainage parcel. Discharge, evapotranspiration, groundwater level and soil moisture storage are estimated as functions of rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, vegetation and soil characteristics and of an assumed drainage intensity. The water balance computation is performed for periods of 5–40 years of daily rainfall data, for a series of drainage intensities. The results can be subjected to a drainage criterion, from which a design drainage intensity and a corresponding drain spacing can be derived.Finally the layout of canals for a block of 4 × 1 km² is determined and excavation and a series of canal characteristics are computed.A summary of some applications is included.     

Modeling subsurface drainage for salt load management in southeastern Australia

Subsurface drainage has been implemented in irrigation areas of South-eastern Australia to control water logging and land salinisation. Subsurface drainage has been identified as a major salt exporter from irrigated areas. The water table management simulation model DRAINMOD-S was evaluated to simulate daily water table depth, drain outflow, and salt loads by using experimental field data from a two year field trial was carried out in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area South-eastern Australia to study different options for subsurface drainage system design and management to reduce salt load export. Three subsurface drainage systems were modeled, deep widely spaced pipe drains, shallow closely spaced drains and deep pipe drains that were managed with weirs to prevent flow when the water table fell below 1.2 m. The reliability of the model has been evaluated by comparing observed and simulated values. Good agreement was found between the observed and simulated values. The model confirmed the field observations that shallow drains had the lowest salt load and that by managing deep drains with weirs salt loads could be significantly reduced. This work shows the value of the DRAINMOD-S model in being able to describe various drainage design and management strategies under the semi-arid conditions of South-eastern Australia. The model can now be used to investigate design and management options in detail for different site conditions. This will assist decision makers in providing appropriate subsurface drainage management policies to meet drainage disposal constraints within integrated water resources management planning.     

Subsurface drainage of a three layered soil with slowly permeable top layer

Heavy textured soils are known for the difficulties imposed to subsurface drainage. Field studies on heavy textured soils in the irrigation commands of India have shown that such soils have relatively more pervious soil at depths greater than 1 m from the ground surface. Considering this fact, a performance study of subsurface drainage in heavy textured layered soils of Mahi Right Bank Canal Command of Gujarat (India) was taken up by modifying the drainage equation of de Zeeuw and Hellinga [de Zeeuw, J.W., Hellinga, F., 1958. Neerslag en Afvoer, Land bocwkundig Tidschrift 70, 405–421] for layered soils, which predicted the water table fluctuations and drain discharge corresponding to irrigation or rainfall inputs taking into account the stratification of the soil profile. The equation was tested on the field data obtained from a pilot project of the study area. The study showed that the watertable head gets influenced by the location of interface between the soil layers. The predicted results conformed with the field data.     

Analysis of groundwater behaviour in a farmer controlled subsurface tile drainage system in Mardan, Pakistan

Extensive subsurface drainage system was installed in districtMardan in the North West Frontier Provinceof Pakistan in 1987 to control increasingwater logging and salinity problems due tocanal irrigation. Several recentlycompleted fields studies have indicatedthat subsurface drainage system hasenormously lowered watertable in certainareas due to extensive drainage network. Therefore, a study of controlled subsurfacedrainage technique was initiated in MardanScarp area to observe the temporal andspatial variations in water table depths ofthis specific case under various modes ofcanal irrigation and monsoon rains. Twoartificially drained areas, consisting of40 ha and 160 ha respectively, werecontrolled and selected for extensivemonitoring. A total of 98 observationswells (7.6 cm dia. and 4.1 m depth) wereinstalled in between lateral drains toobserve water table fluctuation. Theresults of this study are very interesting.Each of the two areas monitored in thestudy behaved differently. It was observedthat in one of the areas design water tabledepth at 1.1 m was maintained with properfunctioning of the controlled techniqueapplied to the subsurface drainage system. The results from this area showed that 25to 55% of the time throughout the yearachieved this objective whereas in thesecond area desired water table could notbe maintained and water table depth in thisarea remained between 2.0 to 2.7 m causingunnecessary water stress to plants. Alsoit was observed that watertable in theformer area is mostly controlled by thefunctional behavior of the irrigationcanal. In addition, the proper functioningof controlled techniques in subsurfacedrainage system supplemented veryefficiently to retain the groundwater levelto the optimal limits in dry season and tothe design ones in the others for timelyneeds of the crops. Also rainfalls havesignificant impact on the spatial andtemporal behaviors of water table depths inboth the areas during the monsoon season.     

Evaluation of two water table management models for Atlantic Canada

Two water-table management models, DRAINMOD and SWACROP, were compared and contrasted using the field measurements made at a 5.4 ha experimental site in Atlantic Canada. Three drainage treatments, consisting of 3, 6 and 12 m drain spacing, were used to measure the subsurface drain outflows and the corresponding midspan water-table depths during the summer months of 1990 and 1991. Several statistical parameters, i.e. the average mean of differences, the average absolute deviations, the standard errors of estimate and the standard deviation of the differences, were used to compare the measured values with the values simulated by the two models. Both models did a comparable job by yielding values close to the measured ones. They were quite sensitive to the rainfall events; the simulated drain outflow rates were usually higher than the measured values during and right after the rainfall events. The differences between the two models were quite obvious after the rainfall events, especially the ones after dry spells. On the whole, the two models were simulating water-table depths and drain outflow rates quite close to each other. Therefore, it can be stated that both DRAINMOD and SWACROP can be used to design subsurface drainage system in Atlantic Canada. However, improvements are needed in both models to simulate better under rainfall events, especially those following a prolonged dry spell. Keywords:     

Design and operation of drainage-subirrigation systems in Poland

The different techniques used in the design and operation of drainage-subirrigation systems in low-lying riverine areas in Poland are presented. The required groundwater levels used as designing criteria and the applications of the steady state and unsteady state approach to ditch (drain) spacing design in different soil conditions are discussed. The practical application of groundwater level maintenance using the techniques of controlled drainage, subirrigation with a constant water level, and subirrigation with a regulated water level, are shown for three different field sites.     

Using a furrow system for surface drainage under unsteady rain

Water excess during winter limits crop development on heavy clay soil conditions of the Gharb valley (Morocco). The furrow system to eliminate these negative effects is the adopted solution. This article focuses on the development of a water transfer model through a furrow system during unsteady rainfall event to evaluate the runoff volume resulting from a reference rainy event. This model contains a production function associated to a transfer function. The production function is based on the Green-Ampt infiltration equation. The latter has been adapted to account for unsteady rain conditions and rainfall intermittence. The transfer function is based on the kinematic wave model, the explicit solution of which is coupled with the water excess generated by the production function. Simulated runoff in the furrows is collected by a drainage ditch evacuating the flow outside a plot of 1.3 ha. The similarity between parameters of a furrow irrigation model and those of the production function is advantageously used for model calibration.The proposed modelling approach shows capabilities to predict water amount and peak discharges evacuated from a plot of around 1 ha by a furrow system under unsteady rainfall events. As an application, it is used to evaluate the ability of the surface drainage system to evacuate the excessive volumes of water under typical rainfalls.     

Drainable surplus assessment in irrigated agriculture: field application of the groundwater approach

To assess the drainable surplus of an irrigated area, a methodologybased on a groundwater-balance approach was developed and appliedin Schedule I-B of the Fourth Drainage Project near Faisalabad inPakistan. To determine the seasonal net recharge in this area, anumerical groundwater model was run in inverse mode. The data inputfor the model consisted of the geometry of the aquifer system, theaquifer parameters, and historical watertable elevations. The seasonalnet recharge values, calculated from the individual recharge anddischarge components, were tuned with the results of the inversemodelling. The advantage of such an integrated approach is that allthese components are linked. The design net recharge was estimatedfrom the historical net recharge of the wettest monsoon in the studyperiod. Its rainfall recharge values were then substituted for those of adesign monsoon. In this substitution procedure, the rainfall rechargemethodology and parameters were adopted from the tuning procedure.From this design net recharge, estimates could be made of the requireddrainable surplus, with and without drainage simulation.     

城市降雨径流污染因素与防治

城市降水径流污染中的污染物主要来自降水、城市地表和排水系统。根据武汉不透水区、透水区和森林覆盖区的不同区域的采样试验分析得出,降水径流污染除了受大气质量影响外,还受到降水强度、降水量、降水历时、降水间隔时间和汇水面等因素的影响;屋面径流污染物的来源具有多样性、复杂性和不确定性,除了大气湿沉降带来各种不同类型的污染物外,还受到屋面材料、屋面年限、材料腐蚀、管道腐蚀和污染残留物等因素的影响。一般规律是降水径流初始污染物浓度高,随着降水历时的延长,降水径流污染物浓度逐渐降低。在合流制排水系统的城市,有20%～60%的径流污染(SS、COD和BOD5)来自排水系统。因此,改造排水系统、控制径流污染,可以维持生态平衡和保护城市水环境。     

塑料大棚控制排水系统设计及水管理研究

采用水管理软件DRAINMOD,以SEW30为指标,确定塑料大棚暗管控制排水系统的间距和埋深。然后根据淋洗土壤盐分的需要,选取不同降雨水平年,采用不同的暗管控制排水出口深度及不同的灌水量,共组合成9种方案,以SEW30、土壤0~60 cm土层盐分脱减率、排水量作为评价指标,分析出研究区不同降雨水平年的水管理方案：丰水年...