Management Of Drainage Systems Research Articles

Agricultural drainage management, quality and disposal issues in North America

The North American continent, comprising Canada and the United States of America, has a wide range of climatic, soils and cropping conditions. Surface and subsurface drainage is required to remove excess soil water in the wetter regions of the continent, as well as to maintain a favorable salt and water balance in the crop root zone in the drier irrigated regions. Drainage and water table management practices are essential for the production of food and fiber. However, these practices may sometimes cause third-party impacts, which are largely of a water quality nature. Drainage practices have therefore evolved from removal of water for increased crop productivity, to a method of environmental control. Consequently, much effort over recent years has been in designing and installing drainage systems, which have multiple objectives. A very recent notable institutional development is the formation of the Agricultural Drainage Management Systems (ADMS) Coalition, comprised of farmers, drainage contractors and the drainage industry, government advisors, and water management and agricultural specialists, to promote research, education and adoption of drainage water management as a practice that can reduce the delivery of pollutants to streams. This paper describes the need, extent and status of drainage in North America, including water quality issues, drainage water management and disposal problems. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Glasgow Sustainable Urban Drainage System Management Project: Case Studies (Belvidere Hospital and Celtic FC Stadium Areas)

The Glasgow Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) Management Project satisfies the first phase of the Glasgow Surface Water Management Project. This is Glasgow City Council’s contribution to the Transformation of Rural and Urban Spatial Structure (TRUST) project, one of the European Union’s (EU) interregional (INTERREG IIIB) funded research projects. The remit of this EU project comprises also other representative regions in Europe. The project shows also how SUDS can contribute to the overall catchment dynamics of cities such as Glasgow, ultimately relieving stress on the current predominantly combined sewer system. Fifty-seven sites within 46 areas of Glasgow were identified for investigation. A detailed soil chemistry analysis, a preliminary SUDS feasibility assessment and a desk study relating to historical planning issues that may be relevant for subsequent future development and regeneration options were undertaken. Detailed design and management guidelines were then drafted for selected representative demonstration areas (Belvidere Hospital and Celtic FC Stadium Areas) of high public and property developers interest, and education value. A combination of infiltration trenches or swales with ponds or underground storage were the most likely SUDS options for the majority of the demonstration areas. Soil contamination issues were considered when selecting SUDS because heavy metals such as lead and zinc can cause environmental health problems.

Best Management Practice: A Sustainable Urban Drainage System Management Case Study

The Glasgow Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) Management Project satisfies the first of three phases of the Glasgow Surface Water Management Project. This is Glasgow City Council's contribution to the Transformation of Rural and Urban Spatial Structure (TRUST) project, one of the European Union's (EU) inter-regional (INTERREG IIIB) funded research projects. The contribution of SUDS to the overall catchment dynamics of cities such as Glasgow was studied. Fifty-seven sites within 46 areas of Glasgow were identified for initial investigation, including a preliminary SUDS feasibility assessment and a desk study relating to historical planning issues that may be relevant for subsequent future development and regeneration options. The methodologies for a SUDS Option Decision Support Key and a corresponding SUDS Option Decision Support Matrix that are adaptable to different cities and countries have been outlined. The key should be used during a preliminary site investigation and can help to classify potential SUDS sites. Corresponding findings should be compared with the conditions listed in the matrix, which will inform the planner about potentially-suitable SUDS techniques for a particular site. Detailed design guidelines were then drafted for seven selected representative SUDS demonstration areas including the Pollok Centre area. This case study, for example, is representative for a class of 24 areas and sites. Combinations of infiltration trenches or swales with ponds or underground storage were the most likely SUDS options for the majority of the demonstration areas.

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.

Irrigating field crops in the presence of saline groundwater

AbstractIrrigating crops in the presence of saline groundwater presents unique opportunities and challenges. As the world demand for water increases, it is incumbent on agriculture to maximize the use of water of all qualities. Traditional irrigation and drainage water management in saline environments was designed to provide leaching of salt from the root zone and the discharge of saline drainage water in an uncontrolled fashion. This practice is no longer acceptable and management options were developed to maximize the use of water of all qualities and to reduce the subsurface drainage discharge volume to a minimum. This paper describes the integrated management of irrigation and drainage systems in saline soil environments to reduce total drainage flow without reducing crop yields. Methods used include using saline drainage water for supplemental irrigation, increasing in‐situ crop water use of groundwater, installing control structures on a subsurface drainage system to control the water table position and reduce drainage flow. In a field without subsurface drainage crop production was sustained using subsurface drip irrigation which maintained yields and reduced deep percolation to the groundwater. Salt in the root zone is effectively managed using pre‐plant irrigation in areas with and without subsurface drains. Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dutch policy and practices on erosion control: Then and now

Though erosion and its control is not a major issue in The Netherlands, in some regions of the country wind and water erosion have caused severe local damage and nuisance and continue to do so. The earliest farmers settled on the higher parts of The Netherlands but, over time, overexploitation has caused extensive tracts to become drifting sand. From 1500 – 1900 “Erosion Boards” were set up to control the sand drifts. Shifting sand areas were visited twice a year and conservation measures were applied. Despite this promising approach, the area of sand drifts increased because land users were poor and fines were high. Reforestation was important for the battle against drifting sand. Also contributing to the decline of drifting sands were the abolition of communal land use, the introduction of fertilizers and the collapse of the wool industry. In recent decades, “modern agriculture” has aggravated wind and water erosion problems. Nowadays wind erosion is causing problems in the Peat Reclamation District (PRD) in the north-east of the country. Here, land consolidation is regarded as a possible solution to decrease wind erosion. As a result of water erosion in the hilly part of South Limburg, where loess soils are dominant, towns and villages in the valleys are regularly flooded. It is being attempted to mitigate the problems of flooding by means of legislation and cooperation between stakeholders: Redistribution of land, implementation of measures “on hot spots” in the drainage system and farm management plans. There have been major successes already, but sustainable land use is still a long way off.

Desenvolvimento e aplicação de metodologia para dimensionamento de sistemas de drenagem agrícola

As condições climáticas dos trópicos vêm despertando a necessidade do desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias, que contribuam para o aprimoramento dos métodos até então empregados no dimensionamento e manejo de sistemas de drenagem agrícola. Tendo em vista que as regiões brasileiras de clima úmido e subúmido se incluem neste contexto, desenvolveu-se uma metodologia fundamentada no critério de drenagem SEW30, no balanço de água no solo e na equação de drenagem de Krayjenhoff van Leur-Maasland. O efeito do espaçamento e da profundidade dos drenos sobre a produtividade das culturas foi caracterizado com base nos valores do SEW30 calculado a partir do hidrograma freático, gerado durante o período de desenvolvimento da cultura. Numa segunda etapa, o valor de SEW30 calculado foi comparado com os valores experimentais, determinados para a cultura e tipo de solo de várzea em questão. Quando os valores calculados de SEW30 não coincidem com os experimentais, um novo valor de espaçamento foi testado, de forma iterativa, até se obter diferença aceitável. Os espaçamentos entre drenos obtidos pela aplicação da metodologia proposta foram maiores que aqueles resultantes da aplicação de critérios tradicionais de drenagem.

Technical Performance Assessment of Urban Sewer Systems

Performance assessment in urban water infrastructures is an increasingly important field of knowledge. Performance has traditionally been expressed in a variety of ways relating mostly to local design practice, with hardly any consensus on how it should be measured or compared. The efficient technical management of these systems deserves a specific approach, suited to the methodologies regularly employed while planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the systems. At the engineering level, decisions are based on operational, physical, and resources data and on analyses deploying simulation models, geographic information systems, or other information systems. However, such tools tend to produce vast amounts of insufficiently aggregated or performance-oriented information. This paper presents a performance assessment system that is based on the decisional concept of utility functions and designed as a technical analysis tool with the purpose of shifting the focus of technical management of urban drainage systems to a performance-oriented view.

Statistical evaluation of a radar rainfall system for sewer system management

Urban areas are faced with mounting demands for managing waste and stormwater for a cleaner environment. Rainfall information is a critical component in efficient management of urban drainage systems. A major water quality impact affecting receiving waterbodies is the discharge of untreated waste and stormwater during precipitation, termed wet weather flow. Elimination or reduction of wet weather flow in metropolitan sewer districts is a major goal of environmental protection agencies and often requires considerable capital improvements. Design of these improvements requires accurate rainfall data in conjunction with monitored wastewater flow data. Characterizing the hydrologic/hydraulic performance of the sewer using distant rain gauges can cause oversizing and wasted expenditures. Advanced technology has improved our ability to measure accurately rainfall over large areas. Weather radar, when combined with rain gauge measurements, provides detailed information concerning rainfall intensities over specific watersheds. Knowing how much rain fell over contributing areas during specific periods aids in characterizing inflow and infiltration to sanitary and combined sewers, calibration of sewer system models, and in operation of predictive real-time control measures. Described herein is the design of a system for managing rainfall information for sewer system management, along with statistical analysis of 60 events from a large metropolitan sewer district. Analysis of the lower quartile rainfall events indicates that the expected average difference is 25.61%. Upper quartile rainfall events have an expected average difference of 17.25%. Rain gauge and radar accumulations are compared and evaluated in relation to specific needs of an urban application. Overall, the events analyzed agree to within ± 8% based on the median average difference between gauge and radar.

Urban wastewater and stormwater technologies in ancient Greece

The status of urban sewerage and stormwater drainage systems in ancient Greece is reviewed, based on the results of archaeological studies of the 20th century. Emphasis is given to the construction, operation, and management of sewerage and stormwater drainage systems during the Minoan period (2nd millennium B.C.). The achievements of this period in dealing with the hygienic and the functional requirements of palaces and cities, were so advanced that they can only be compared to modern urban water systems, developed in Europe and North America in the second half of the 19th century A.D. The advanced Minoan technologies were exported to all parts of Greece in later periods of the Greek civilization, i.e. in Mycenaean, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods.

Hydraulic grade lines in urban stormwater systems – do they predict surcharge conditions?

The 1977 edition of Australian Rainfall and Runoff introduced the concept of Hydraulic Grade Lines (HGLs) as a measure of the surcharge potential for piped or underground urban stormwater drainage systems. This concept was included also in the 1987 edition of Australian Rainfall and Runoff. As a result of these publications, many authorities vested with management of urban stormwater drainage systems use the HGL to locate potential surcharges from their underground stormwater drainage systems. This acceptance of the importance of HGLs for the prediction of surcharge conditions in underground stormwater drainage systems, however, has been without serious consideration of the hydraulics of underground stormwater systems.Presented in this paper is a review of the hydraulics of underground stormwater systems. Of particular interest is the importance of the time variant nature of flows in stormwater systems and how this influences the determination of Hydraulic Grade Lines. Resulting from this review is a delineation of those situations where the use of a Hydraulic Grade Line is inappropriate and unlikely to lead to a more efficient drainage system.

Irrigation and drainage systems research and development in the 21st century

AbstractOne critical problem confronting mankind today is how to manage the intensifying competition for water between expanding urban centres, traditional agricultural activities and in‐stream water uses dictated by environmental concerns. In the agricultural sector, the dwindling number of economically attractive sites for large‐scale irrigation and drainage projects limits the prospects of increasing the gross cultivated area. Therefore, the required increase in agricultural production will necessarily rely largely on a more accurate estimation of crop water requirements on the one hand, and on major improvements in the construction, operation, management and performance of existing irrigation and drainage systems, on the other. The failings of present systems and the inability to sustainably exploit surface and groundwater resources can be attributed essentially to poor planning, design, system management and development. This is partly due to the inability of engineers, planners and managers to adequately quantify the effects of irrigation and drainage projects on water resources and to use these effects as guidelines for improving technology, design and management.To take full advantage of investments in agriculture, a major effort is required to modernize irrigation and drainage systems and to further develop appropriate management strategies compatible with the financial and socio‐economic trends, and the environment. This calls for a holistic approach to irrigation and drainage management and monitoring so as to increase food production, conserve water, prevent soil salinization and waterlogging, and to protect the environment. All this requires, among others, enhanced research and a variety of tools such as water control and regulation equipment, remote sensing, geographic information systems, decision support systems and models, as well as field survey and evaluation techniques. To tackle this challenge, we need to focus on the following issues: affordability with respect to the application of new technologies; procedures for integrated planning and management of irrigation and drainage systems; analysis to identify causes and effects constraining irrigation and drainage system performance; evapotranspiration and related calculation methods; estimation of crop water requirements; technologies for the design, construction and modernization of irrigation and drainage systems; strategies to improve irrigation and drainage system efficiency; environmental impacts of irrigation and drainage and measures for creating and maintaining sustainability; institutional strengthening, proper financial assessment, capacity building, training and education. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Managing selenium-contaminated agricultural drainage water by the integrated on-farm drainage management system: role of selenium volatilization

The Integrated on-Farm Drainage Management (IFDM) system was designed to dispose of selenium (Se)-contaminated agricultural irrigation drainage water through the sequential reuse of saline drainage water to grow crops having different salt tolerance. This study quantified the extent of biological volatilization in Se removal from the IFDM system located in the western San Joaquin Valley, California. Selenium volatilization from selected treatment areas, including pickleweed ( Salicornia bigelovii Torr.), saltgrass ( Distichlis spicata L.), bare soil, and the solar evaporator, was monitored biweekly using an open-flow sampling chamber system during the pickleweed growing season from February to September 1997, and monthly from September 1997 to January 1998. Biological volatilization from the pickleweed section removed 62.0±3.6 mg Se m −2 y −1 to the atmosphere, which was 5.5-fold greater than the Se accumulated in pickleweed tissues (i.e., phytoextraction). The total Se removed by volatilization from the bare soil, saltgrass, and the solar evaporator was 16.7±1.1, 4.8±0.3, and 4.3±0.9 mg Se m −2 y −1, respectively. Selenium removal by volatilization accounted for 6.5% of the annual total Se input (957.7 mg Se m −2 y −1) in the pickleweed field, and about 1% of the total Se input (432.7 mg Se m −2 y −1) in the solar evaporator. We concluded that Se volatilization under naturally occurring field conditions represented a relatively minor, but environmentally important pathway of Se removal from the IFDM system.

Quantifying Management of Irrigation and Drainage Systems

To evaluate the performance of irrigation systems, different indicators have been used by researchers. In this study some of the water management problems of three different irrigation systems in Iran are presented. In addition, the water delivery performance of the Doroodzan Irrigation and Drainage Network in southern Iran is evaluated in detail. The analyses included wet and dry seasons and were based on the indicators of overall project water delivery efficiency (\Ii\dp\N) and the monthly water requirement of crops. The distribution and conveyance of water in the Doroodzan Irrigation Network was unreliable in both seasons. With an overall project efficiency of around 46%, about 20% of the total delivered water was distributed unreliably. Water distribution equity along tertiaries was also found to be poor. A contributing factor could be the poor operation and maintenance of gates.

Design and Management of Subsurface Horizontal Drainage to Reduce Salt Loads

Many irrigated areas have shallow water tables creating waterlogging and salinization problems. This has often been controlled by installation of subsurface horizontal pipe drainage; however, these systems export large amounts of salt off farm in the drainage effluent. Improved design and management of subsurface drainage systems to reduce drainage salt loads were tested in a replicated field experiment. Deep, widely spaced drains allowed to flow without control were compared to drains with management to reduce drain flow. These were also compared with shallow, closely spaced drains that protected the root zone only and an undrained control. The deep drains flowed continuously during the two irrigation seasons with an electrical conductivity of around 11 dS/m resulting in a drainage salt load of 5,867 kg/ha. The management measures reduced drainage volume and salinity resulting in a 50% reduction in salt load. The shallow drains only flowed directly after an irrigation or rainfall event with low salinity, around 2 dS/m, resulting in a 95% reduction in salt load. This showed that by management there is great potential for reducing salt mobilization in existing drainage systems, and for new systems shallower drains will minimize salt loads.

Knowledge in Action

A collaborative research study on the effectiveness of the water management systems was conducted in two polder areas in the Red River Delta in Vietnam. The project adopted the participatory learning and action approach. The main objective of the study was to match the tacit knowledge of the various local stakeholders (groups) with the explicit scientific knowledge of the researchers in order to: (1) overcome the shortcomings of traditionally validated simulation models; (2) improve the mutual understanding of the complexity of the existing irrigation and drainage system; and (3) reach agreement on the outlines for an integrated action plan. The study started with a series of workshops in which (representatives of ) farmers, communes, local government, unions, NGOs and scientists assessed the problems they face and identified and prioritised their preferences. The workshops were followed up by a participatory pre-investigation to identify and quantify the constraints in the functioning of the water management systems. Next, the drainage system was modelled and computer simulations were used to develop conceptual designs to improve the functioning of these systems. In concluding workshops with the stakeholders recommendations to improve the institutional capacity of the drainage system management were formulated and prioritised. In addition to technical innovations, recommendations to reform the complex institutional setting were formulated. The collaborative modelling approach proved to be a useful tool for tackling the hydrological and social complexity, overcoming the lack of long-term data records and getting a consensus among the stakeholders on the outline of an integrated approach.

ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR SUBSURFACE DRAINAGE AND SUBIRRIGATION SYSTEMS IN ONTARIO, CANADA

ABSTRACT: Artificial neural network (ANN) models were developed to simulate fluctuations in midspan water table depths (WTD) given rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, and irrigation inputs on a Brookston clay loam in Woodslee, Ontario, having a dual-purpose subsurface drainage/subirrigation setup. Water table depths and meteorologic data collected at this site from 1992 to 1994 and from 1996 to 1997 were used to train the ANNs. The ANNs were then used for real-time control and time series simulations. The lowest root mean squared errors (RMSE) for the various ANNs were 60.6 mm for real-time control simulation, and 88.4 mm for time-series simulation of water table depths. It was possible to simulate WTD for the different modes of water table management in one network by incorporating an indicator for switching from one to the other. The ANN simulations were quite good even though the training data sets had irregular measurement intervals. With fewer input parameters and small network structures, ANNs still provided accurate results and required little time for training and execution. ANNs are therefore easier and faster to develop and run than conventional models and can contribute to the proper management of subsurface drainage and subirrigation systems.

An integrated drainage network analysis system for agricultural drainage management. Part 1: the system

This is the first of two papers that elaborate an integrated drainage network analysis system (IDNAS) for agricultural drainage management. In this paper, the system components, functions and implementation are presented. The IDNAS comprises an agricultural drainage network module, an evapotranspiration (ET) module and an event-based spatio-temporal module. The network module is designed to model a typical agricultural drainage system and to perform the specific tasks for network assessment, monitoring and simulation in a geographical information system (GIS). The ET module is used to estimate real-time evapotranspiration from remotely sensed imagery and to update the water balance model. The spatio-temporal module comprises a computer watertable simulation model and routines providing linkage between event data and GIS thematic layer for event-based analysis. Specialized data processing routines have been developed to link the network data model with temporal hydrological modeling to allow computation of important network parameters such as flow travel time, discharge and capacity, and to dynamically simulate drainage response to individual rainfall events. A common interface has been developed to link those components, and to interact with the users. The Arc/Info GIS was used for the system implementation. With those components and functions, the system is well suited for assessment and management of agricultural drainage systems. In the second paper, case studies are presented which show how the system can be used for efficient agricultural drainage management, such as drainage capacity assessment, discharge computation, and event-based acid drainage evaluation and management.

Asset Management Programmes for Financial Planning and Management in Irrigation and Drainage

This paper presents a framework for the use of asset management programs for short, medium and long-term financial planning and management of irrigation and drainage systems. Asset management plans provide decision-makers the information on costs of infrastructure and their management in different stages of the financial management cycle. Their use is clarified for defining service levels and their associated costs, allocation of cost to specific services, defining charges and service fees and preparing budgets and subsidy arrangements for operation, maintenance, rehabilitation or modernisation of infrastructure.

A Series of Studies on Analysis and Estimation for Irrigation and Drainage Management Systems in Paddy Field Regions

A Series of Studies on Analysis and Estimation for Irrigation and Drainage Management Systems in Paddy Field Regions