Optimal Drainage Design Under Iraqi Conditions Using DRAINMOD

Dr.M Hamdi,E Ghazal,Dr.A Aldabagh

doi:10.33899/rengj.2006.46589

Abstract

DRAINMOD is a field and watershed scale water management simulation model that has been used to design subsurface drainage systems and characterize drainage and water table control practices in poorly drained soils. DRAINMOD is also used as a research tool to investigate the performance of drainage and sub irrigation systems and their effects on water use, crop response, land treatment of wastewater, and pollutants transport from agricultural fields. The model is based on a water balance in the profile to quantify hydrologic components such as infiltration, subsurface drainage, surface runoff, deep and lateral seepage and evapotranspiration. The objective of this research is to examine the capability of DRAINMOD to obtain an optimal drainage systems design for Iraqi conditions using the information of Dujailah project. This is done by obtaining the minimum drain depth and maximum spacing that meet the criteria for water table control. The results obtained from DRAINMOD for the drainage systems design show a good agreement with those previously obtained for Dujailah project. Therefore DRAINMOD is a suitable simulation model which can be used to simulate the performance of drainage and water table control systems in Iraq. Keywords :DRAINMOD, optimal drainage design, drainage in Iraq

Highlights

Improvement of the land quality towards its production potential is a challenging factor facing the world today in winning the war against hunger
The purpose of the research reported in this paper is to examine the ability of DRAINMOD for optimal drainage design under Iraqi conditions
DRAINMOD is based on water balance in the soil profile and uses climatological records to simulate the performance of drainage and water table control systems

Summary

Introduction

Improvement of the land quality towards its production potential is a challenging factor facing the world today in winning the war against hunger. Artificial drainage systems are designed for the timely removal of excess water from land to reduce the risk of water damage to crops, soils or field structures. Field applications include: design and evaluation of drainage systems for agricultural crops, determining wetland hydrology, evaluating wetland restoration techniques that affect wetland hydrology, design and evaluation of drainage systems for on-site and wastewater irrigation, and more recently to evaluate the effects of drainage and water management practices on fate and transport of nitrogen and soil salinity [8]. Modifications were made to DRAINMOD to provide the estimates for soil- water flux in the unsaturated zone [9] These modifications enabled DRAINMOD to be linked to a model to estimate the interactions between irrigation, drainage and salinity in arid regions [10,11]. The design system is evaluated using the information of Dujailah project

Experimental Site

Processes and Solution Techniques

Results and Discussion

Dujailah Alkheero DRAINMOD