Drainage of Irrigation Lands: Rajat Mishra Asst. Professor Civil Engineering Department

Drainage of
Irrigation Lands
Rajat Mishra
Asst. Professor
Civil Engineering Department
Definitions
• In many irrigation
projects, crop yields
are reduced due to
waterlogging and
salinization of the
land. In some case,
there is total loss of
productions and
therefore the land is
abandoned.
Definitions
• Ponding is the
accumulation of
excess water on
the soil surface.
• Waterlogging is
the accumulation
of excess water in
the root zone of
the soil.
Definitions
Definitions
• Drainage is the removal of excess

water and dissolved salts from the
surface and subsurface of the land in
order to enhance crop growth.
Drainage
natural artificial
Definitions
• A man-made drainage system is an

artificial system of surface drains
and/or subsurface drains, related
structures, and pumps (if any) to
remove excess water from an area.
Aims of Drainage
• Drainage to Control Ponding

• Drainage to Control Waterlogging
• Drainage to Control Salinization
Drainage to Control Ponding
• To remove ponding water from

the surface of the land, surface
drainage is used. Normally, this
consists of digging shallow open
drains (mostly) or pipe drain.
Drainage to Control Ponding
• Surface drainage is the removal of
excess water from the surface of the
land by diverting it into improved
natural or constructed drains,
supplemented, when necessary, by
the shaping and grading of the land
surface towards such drains.
By shaping By grading
By pipe
DRAINAGE TO CONTROL
WATERLOGGING
• To remove excess water from
the root zone, subsurface
drainage is used (Figure 6). This
is done by digging open drains or
installing pipes, at depths varying
from 1 to 3 m.
Subsurface Drain-open drain
Subsurface Drain-pipe drain
Drainage to Control Salinization
• To remove salts from the soil, more

irrigation water is applied to the field than
the crops require. This extra water
infiltrates into the soil and percolates
through the root zone. While the water is
percolating, it dissolves the salts in the soil
and removes them through the subsurface
drains.
Drainage to Control Salinization
Components of a Drainage
System
Field drain
Diversion
Collector Drain
Drain
Drainage system
component
Outlet Main Drain
Interceptor
Drain
System
• A field drainage system, which prevents
ponding water on the field and/or controls
the water table.
• A main drainage system, which conveys
the water away from the farm.
• An outlet, which is the point where the
drainage water is led out of the area.
System
• Collector drains can be either open
drains or pipe drains.
• interceptor drain: drains intercepting
surface flow or groundwater flow from
outside the area
• The outlet is the terminal point of the
entire drainage system, from where the
drainage water is discharged into a river, a
lake, or a sea.
Field Drainage
System
Surface Drainage Sub Surface Drainage

System System
Pipe Drain Open Drain Pipe Drain Open Drain

• The main drain is
often a canalized
stream (i.e. an
improved natural
stream), which
runs through the
lowest parts of the
agricultural area
(Figure 9).
outlet
• An outlet can be one of two kinds: a gravity
outlet or a pumping station. A gravity outlet is a
drainage structure in an area which has outside
water levels that rise and fall. There, the
drainage water can flow out when the outside
water levels are low (Figure 10). In delta areas,
drainage by gravity is only possible for a few
hours a day when tides are low. In the upstream
regions of a river, drainage by gravity might not
be possible for several weeks, during periods
when river levels are high.
Drainage System
Surface Sub Surface

Components of Surface Drainage
System
• Open field drains (or on uncommon cases

pipe drain) to collect the ponding water
and divert it to the collector drain.
• Land forming to enhance the flow of water
towards the field drains.
Components of
Surface Drainage
System
Field Drain Land Forming

Land Forming
Bedding Land grading Land planing

Bedding
• Bedding is a
surface
drainage
method
achieved by
ploughing
land to form
a series of
low beds,
separated by
parallel field
drains.
Bedding
• The bedding system is normally used
for grassland. In modern farming,
bedding is not considered an
acceptable drainage practice for row
crops, because rows near the field
drains will not drain satisfactorily. To
overcome the disadvantages of the
bedding system, the two other
methods of land forming have been
developed: land grading and land
planning.
Land grading
• Land grading for surface drainage consists

of forming the land surface by cutting,
filling and smoothing it to predetermined
grades, so that each row or surface slopes
to a field drain (Figure 14).
Advantages of Land grading
method
• Compared with bedding, land grading

reduces the number of field drains, thus
reducing the need for weed control and
maintenance. Land grading also means
that more land is available for use.
Land planing
• Land planing is smoothing the land

surface with a land plane to eliminate
minor depressions and irregularities
without changing the general topography.
Surface Drainage
System Layouts
Random Field Parallel Field

Drainage System Drainage System
Random field drainage system
• The random field drainage system
connects the depressions by means of a
field drain and evacuates the water into a
collector drain (Figure 16). The system is
often applied on land which does not
require intensive farming operations (e.g.
pasture land) or where mechanization is
done with small equipment.
Parallel field drainage system
• The parallel field drains collect the surface runoff
and discharge it into the collector drain. The
spacing between the field drains depends on the
size of fields that can be prepared and
harvested economically, on the tolerance of
crops to ponding, and on the amount and costs
of land forming. The system is suitable in flat
areas with an irregular micro-topography and
where farming operations require fields with
regular shapes.
Subsurface drainage systems
• A subsurface drainage system is a man-

made system that induces excess water
and dissolved salts to flow through the soil
to pipes or open drains, from where it can
be evacuated.
• If it is decided to install a subsurface drainage
system, a choice has to be made between open
drains or pipe drains. Open drains have the
advantage that they can receive overland flow
and can thus also serve as surface drainage.
The disadvantages are the loss of land, the
interference with the irrigation system, the
splitting up of the land into small farm blocks,
which hampers farming operations, and that they
are a maintenance burden.
• The choice between open drains or pipe
drains has to be made at two levels: for
field drains and for collector drains. If the
field drains are to be pipes, there are still
two options for the collectors:
• open drains, so that there is a singular
pipe drainage system;
• pipe drains, so that there is a composite
pipe drainage system.
A singular
drainage
system is a
drainage system
in which the field
drains are buried
pipes and all field
drains discharge
into open
collector drains.
A composite
drainage
system is a
drainage
system in
which all field
drains and all
collector
drains are
buried pipes.
Combined Drainage System
• Sometimes, combined surface and
subsurface drainage systems are used.
• Whether this is needed or not depends on
a combination of factors: the intensity and
duration of the rainfall, surface storage,
the infiltration rate, the hydraulic
conductivity and groundwater condition.
Example for combined system
in arid and semi-arid region
Example for combined system
in arid and semi-arid region
• Areas with occasional high-intensity
rainfall (say more than 50 mm/day), which
causes water to pond at the soil surface,
even when a subsurface drainage system
has been installed.

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Drainage of

• Drainage is the removal of excess

• A man-made drainage system is an

• Drainage to Control Ponding

• To remove ponding water from

• To remove salts from the soil, more

Outlet Main Drain

Surface Drainage Sub Surface Drainage

Pipe Drain Open Drain Pipe Drain Open Drain

Surface Sub Surface

• Open field drains (or on uncommon cases

Field Drain Land Forming

Bedding Land grading Land planing

• Land grading for surface drainage consists

• Compared with bedding, land grading

• Land planing is smoothing the land

Random Field Parallel Field

• A subsurface drainage system is a man-

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