Automation and control in surface irrigation systems: current status and expected future trends

Surface irrigation systems are the most popular methods for irrigating crops and pastures not only in Australia but the world over. However, these systems are often labour intensive and exhibit low water use efficiency. Rising labour costs especially in the developed world and competition for scarce water resources have generated renewed interest in the automation of surface irrigation systems. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the current level of automation and control of surface irrigation systems. The automation techniques discussed utilise various devices including mechanical, electronic, pneumatic and hydraulic means. The use of telemetry is also discussed. With the almost universal access to high performance computers and fast internet, the concept of real-time control in surface irrigation is not far-fetched. Towards this end, an on-going research project at USQ aimed at modernising furrow irrigation by use of automatic control systems in real time is discusse

Improving performance of bay irrigation through higher flow rates

Bay (border check) irrigation systems are utilised extensively throughout the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District (GMID). However, the performance of these systems have rarely been assessed, in part due to the difficulty in determining the soil intake function. The CRC for Irrigation Futures has recently completed a project to demonstrate the Irrimate™ performance evaluation process in bay irrigation through on-farm trials. The Irrimate™ approach originally developed for furrow irrigation has already provided real benefits to farmers and has been accepted across the cotton industry. Bay irrigation has a number of unique characteristics which presented a number of challenges for the tools used to evaluate furrow irrigation. Informed by field trials, new monitoring strategies were tested and new modelling approaches developed in order to provide the same robust evaluation procedure for bay systems. Evaluations provide objective information to irrigators both quantifying efficiencies of current practices and providing strategies to improve performance. Trials were conducted across 11 sites in order to benchmark current performance and to examine the potential advantages of higher flow rates. Performance varied widely between sites with application efficiencies ranging from 45.9% to 89.5%. Initial modelling indicated that higher flow rates offer potential to increase efficiency. Trials in the second season confirmed the modelling work demonstrating water savings in excess of 20% through flow rates approximately double the conventional rates. The results also show that higher flow rates do not automatically lead to higher efficiency. When adopting higher flow rates irrigators must have greater control over cut-off times. System evaluation is an essential step to reap the benefits of higher flows. The results of this study provide objective information for the modernisation of irrigation systems in the GMID

Droplet evaporation losses during sprinkler irrigation: an overview

A detailed understanding regarding the evaporation losses in sprinkler irrigation is important for developing as well as adopting appropriate water conservation strategies. To explain this phenomenon many theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted since the 1950‟s. Notwithstanding all these efforts, the contribution of droplet evaporation to the total evaporation losses during sprinkler irrigation is still a controversial issue in the irrigation community. There is a substantial difference among researchers regarding the magnitudes of the different components of the total evaporation in sprinkler irrigation especially droplet evaporation losses. Field studies reported that the droplet evaporation losses ranged from 2 – 45%, whereas theoretical studies indicated that it is less than 1%. This is due largely to the limitations of the traditional measurement methods. However, it is likely that these limitations can be overcome and accurate measurements obtained using the eddy covariance (ECV) technique

Seismic shothole drillers’ lithostratigraphic logs: Unearthing a wealth of regional geoscience information in northwestern Canada

AbstractSeismic shothole drillers’ logs, record the near-surface (avg. 18.6m deep) lithostratigraphy encountered when drilling holes to place explosive charges. These records offer a largely unrecognized wealth of geoscience information in areas for which little may be otherwise known. Stored in the Basic Files archives of petroleum exploration and seismic acquisition companies, this study first convinced companies of the potential utility of this data, then recovered the hard copy and digitally scanned records (paper, fiche, microfilm) and rendered these into a digital database and GIS. The final database of 343,989 records provides the largest source of geoscience information of its kind in northwestern Canada, and in many cases contains unique and original records on a host of subjects including surficial-, bedrock-, and hydro-geology, permafrost, and geohazards. The drillers’ log records have further been used to create geospatial models of drift, till, muskeg, massive ice and ground ice thicknesses, and continue to be applied to new avenues of research such as temporal variations of bottomfast ice extents in offshore shallow marine environments. Published in freely downloadable Geological Survey of Canada Open File reports and providing commonly used database and GIS file formats, this data rescue exercise preserves and greatly enhances what was becoming an increasingly discarded corporate data set of unrecognized potential

Water Transfers in the West: Projects, Trends, and Leading Practices in Voluntary Water Trading

Scarcity is the defining characteristic of water in the western United States. Freshwater is naturally limited to precipitation, runoff and aquifer storage. Climate variability and extreme weather events -- especially drought -- increase uncertainty across timescales, from days to decades. And yet demands for water continue to grow, along with the population and economy of the West. As cities, industry, energy developers and other users seek new secure water supplies, they increasingly turn to voluntary water transfers.Water transfers are occurring throughout the West, and they will become increasingly important as new demands stress limited supplies. The goal of this report is to suggest ways to make water transfers more efficient and equitable, while not promoting or opposing individual transfer proposals. This report examines water transfer practices across the western states, highlighting successful models, analyzing case studies, and identifying leading practices. The goal is to share lessons and tools and to identify specific steps that states can consider in order to improve water transfer outcomes

High performance automated furrow irrigation

Furrow irrigation is the most popular irrigation method in cotton. However, two issues: low efficiency and huge labour involvement concern irrigators due to scarcity in recent years. To address these issues, NCEA and Rubicon Water, Australia are developing a commercial prototype smart furrow irrigation system. The system has shown that both issues disappear with adoption of real-time optimisation and automated furrow irrigation