Abstract
Inflow cutoff, or turning off water inflow to an irrigated field based on water advance location downfield, is commonly used by irrigators as a means of reducing tail discharge (runoff) during surface irrigation of forage and range crops. To apply a scientifically sound cutoff strategy using a calculated inflow cutoff time or cutoff advance location, multiple field parameters (e.g., water inflow rate, rate of water advancement) need to be measured using multiple (potentially expensive) sensors and instrumentation. In this study, a sensor-based irrigation inflow cutoff strategy for surface irrigation was developed that deploys simple wireless contact-type sensors to measure wetting-front arrival time and surface water depth along a border check during the advance phase. These data were coupled with a multi-irrigation volume balance model (i.e., separate model parts for initial and subsequent irrigations of growing season) to determine appropriate cutoff times and/or locations, based on user-defined runoff and approximations of inflow rates and infiltrated depths. The model was verified using the field data collected during irrigation of a border-irrigated alfalfa field near Davis, California. The inflow rate corresponding to the initial (i.e., first of a growing season) irrigation event was within a 95% confidence interval of the measured inflow rates for all subsequent irrigations, in which identical irrigation setups were maintained. Moreover, a correlation between model approximated and reference infiltration depths was found with a coefficient of determination value () of 0.91. These parameters are necessary to calculate an inflow cutoff time during irrigation. Field-collected data confirmed that a combination of sensors and the model-based approach can provide a practical and valid technique for better managing tail runoff in surface-irrigated fields without the need for individual measurements using external equipment (e.g., inflow measurement using flow meters).
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Acknowledgments
Grant support for this study, received from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) under a Proposition 50 Grant Award, is acknowledged and greatly appreciated. Specific technologies (sensors) and cutoff strategy methodology presented in this paper are protected by U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/972,236, filed March 29, 2014.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 7 • July 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 22, 2014
Accepted: Nov 17, 2014
Published online: Dec 22, 2014
Discussion open until: May 22, 2015
Published in print: Jul 1, 2015
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