Reducing Evaporative Water Losses from Irrigation Ponds through the Reuse of Polyethylene Terephthalate Bottles
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 2
Abstract
Evaporation is one of the sources of water loss from artificial reservoirs used by the agricultural sector. Current methods of covering artificial reservoirs are too costly to be used by poor, small-scale farmers. This paper presents a method for using waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles to reduce the evaporative losses from open tanks. This water-conservation method was tested using eight evaporation pans with daily water level measurements to record evaporation rate. Four pans were used as controls, two were covered with empty waste PET bottles, and two were covered with bottles partially filled with soil. The experiment showed an average reduction in evaporation by 40% with the PET bottle treatment, with a 90% confidence of reducing evaporation by at least 18%. The addition of soil did not affect the degree of evaporation reduction. Given the local economics of the region surrounding Pune, India, it was found that this intervention can save water at a cost of .
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Vishal Jagtap, Dr. Yogesh Kulkarny, and the rest of the Energy & Environment section of the Vigyan Ashram, India, for conducting the evaporation pan experiment, evaluating water quality, helping our understanding of small-scale farming around Pune, and their excellent hospitality. We would also like to thank the Tata Center at MIT. Without their support for travel and research, this would not have been possible.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 2 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 20, 2015
Accepted: Aug 27, 2015
Published online: Oct 9, 2015
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Mar 9, 2016
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