Factors Affecting the Estimation of Seepage Rates from Channel Automation Data
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 6
Abstract
Seepage is the dominant process by which water is lost from well-managed earthen distribution channels. Pondage tests are acknowledged as the best direct method for seepage measurement, and the recorded water level data from automated systems during periods of gate closure can be treated as pondage test data. A new computer model that applies pondage test methodology to automated channel control data during periods of shutdown to estimate seepage rates in different channel reaches was developed recently by the authors. In this paper, the model is applied to the total channel control (TCC) data for the entire Coleambally irrigation area during three consecutive irrigation seasons between 2009 and 2012 to estimate the seepage rate for each depth gauge, pondage, and pool. Various features affecting the estimated seepage rates were evaluated for selected pools. The evaluation considered two groups of factors. The first group consists of factors that affect the estimation of the seepage rate, including rainfall and evaporation during the pondage period, number of water level measurements in the pondage, and duration of gate shutdown. The second group consists of factors that affect the rate of seepage, including surface water elevation at the start of the pondage condition and its relation to supply level of the channel at each gauge, seasonal variations in seepage rate, and suspected leakage through macropores in banks of the channels.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the CICL, especially Austin Evans, for permission to use the CIA as the case study of this research, and Rubicon Water, especially Tony Oakes, for provision of TCC data for the CIA. The first named author also wishes to thank the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) for providing the research scholarship.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 6 • June 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 29, 2014
Accepted: Oct 14, 2014
Published online: Nov 20, 2014
Discussion open until: Apr 20, 2015
Published in print: Jun 1, 2015
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