Lesson Structure:Irrigation Management BAG303

There are 8 lessons:

1. Water management
2. Irrigation scheduling
3. Drainage
4. Irrigation controllers
5. Irrigation maintenance
6. Fertigation
7. Design evaluation
8. Irrigation design

   Please Note:   Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the academy, marked by the academie’s tutors and returned with relevant suggestions, comments, and extra reading where applicable.

• Devise ways to optimise water efficiency (ie. minimise wastage), during irrigation of plants.
• Schedule irrigation for a large scale situation such as a large nursery, crop, turf, garden or pasture.
• Analyse the design of different drainage systems
• Formulate procedures to operate irrigation controllers, for appropriate tasks.
• Manage the maintenance of irrigation systems, both small and large scale.
• Manage the fertigation of plants through an irrigation system.
• Evaluate the design of large scale irrigation systems.
• Design an irrigation system, including its drainage.

• Explain different factors which cause water to be wasted including:
  • Evaporation
  • Run off
  • Over spray
  • Scheduling
• Determine where water is wasted, in both the operation and management of a specified irrigation system
• Determine changes to achieve more efficient water usage, in a specified system.
• Develop guidelines for determining when to irrigate in a particular situation.
• Determine through an analysis, when to irrigate on a studied site, by evaluating soil moisture and other characteristics of a site, periodically over two months, and referencing annual rainfall statistics over a period of years.
• Record in a log book, plant growth and soil moisture for an existing irrigation system operated using two different watering patterns, each for one month, and over two consecutive months.
• Compare differences in varying the scheduling of a watering system over two months
• Prepare an irrigation schedule for a specific garden or crop.
• Develop criteria for designing a specified drainage system.
• Explain the design criteria for a specified drainage requirement.
• Devise strategies for dealing with drainage requirements in emergencies, including:
  • extreme weather (eg. hail, storm)
  • burst pipe
  • blocked drains

• Determine appropriate drainage requirements for a specified situation, and over a specified area, including:
  • Type of drainage required
  • Specifications of drainage required

• Evaluate the operation of a drainage system, installed under irrigation on a site studied by the learner.
• Compare four different irrigation controllers with reference to different criteria including:
  • Labour costs
  • Maintenance
  • Reliability

• Determine appropriate applications for four different types of irrigation controllers
• Explain the operation of a specific brand of time clock, studied by the learner.
• Explain the operation of a specified computerised irrigation controller.
• Develop three different procedures to operate a specific irrigation controller, in order to satisfy three different specified purposes.
• Determine routine site maintenance requirements for different types of irrigation systems including:
  • spray irrigation
  • micro irrigation
  • surface irrigation
  • flood irrigation

• Explain routine site maintenance requirements for different types of irrigation systems including:
  • spray irrigation
  • micro irrigation
  • surface irrigation
  • flood irrigation

• Develop a procedure for maintaining water quality, in a specified irrigation system, at a workplace visited by the learner.
• Explain water quality maintenance activities required for efficient irrigation practices in a specific situation.
• Compare the service supplied by different irrigation suppliers, in terms of scope and quality.
• Develop an irrigation monitoring program, for a specific irrigation system, studied by the learner.
• Write a maintenance schedule for a specified irrigation system.
• Explain the use of fertigation, in a specific horticultural workplace.
• Determine appropriate applications for fertigation in one specific industry sector.
• Determine inappropriate fertigation applications in different specific industry sector.
• Explain why certain applications for fertigation are inappropriate.
• Compare the suitability of six different specified fertilisers for fertigation.
• Determine resources required to undertake fertigation in a specified situation, including:
  • equipment
  • materials
  • manpower

• Collate available data on a specified irrigation system, including:
  • system performance data
  • water supply
  • water consumption
  • crop production or plant growth data
  • climatic trends
  • soil characteristics
  • monitor irrigation performance

• Analyse collated data against different criteria including:
  • benchmarks
  • specifications
  • predictions

• Compile a comprehensive report evaluating a system, which includes:
  • data evaluation
  • performance indicators
  • conclusions
  • recommendations

• Prepare design specifications for storage and distribution of water.
• Explain appropriate methods for recycling, re-use or disposal of water, for three different specified irrigation systems.
• Are there any legal or health considerations?
• Design a drainage system for a specified irrigation system, including:
  • sketch plans
  • materials lists
  • cost estimates

• Determine costing for a specified drainage system.
• Prepare a report recommending design modifications to an existing irrigation system in a specified situation.
• Prepare a design for a micro irrigation system for an area of forty square metres, to a standard which is adequate for a contractor to install the system; and including:
  • plans
  • calculations
  • materials specifications

Managing Irrigation Systems Both Small and Large.

MAINTENANCE OF WATERING SYSTEMS
Regular maintenance of your watering system will increase both the efficiency of water distribution and the life of the system.

Check:

• Plastic components. These will eventually deteriorate through exposure to ultra-violet rays – replace parts which show signs of splitting, old age etc.
• Metal components. Prevent rust formation. Oil parts which begin to rust.
• Filters. Filters in trickle systems should be flushed out regularly to prevent blockages occurring through build ups of soil particles and growth of algae.
• Pipes and nozzles in trickle systems. If blockages do occur flush the system with a chlorine based solution (e.g. liquid sodium hypochloride – 10% chlorine) to destroy bacteria.
• Controllers (i.e. time clocks). These need to be tested every few months to make sure they are working properly.

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE
System Maintenance is important to maintain system quality. Through regular maintenance of an irrigation system large scale costs will be avoided, which otherwise may have occurred in a breakdown of the system.

Maintenance can range from the farmer who travels around their farm on a motorbike, shovel at hand to dealwith any breaches in channel walls to an intensive program of oiling and testing every aspect of the irrigation process, usually during the off season.

Further to this, sprinklers may wear, pipes may corrode or, in the case of plastics, can develop punctures or breaks at the seals or joins. Water pressures can be easily checked, whereas pumps might require specialised attention.

MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES AND SCHEDULING
Maintenance of equipment is carried out to prevent costly breakdowns. Maintenance programs can be divided into three groups:

• Periodic equipment inspections to find out conditions that could lead to breakdowns or too much depreciation
• Upkeep to remedy such conditions
• Contingency work

These activities may include component testing, job planning, and scheduling of repairs. This can lead to fewer system breakdowns which in turn results in:

• A decrease in production down time
• Fewer large-scale or repetitive repairs
• Lower costs for simple repairs made before breakdowns (because less manpower, fewer skills, and fewer parts are needed)
• Less overtime pay on ordinary adjustments and repairs than for system breakdown repairs
• Less stand-by equipment

Periodic Inspections
Periodic inspections are the best way to achieve a preventative maintenance program. Thus unsatisfactory conditions are discovered and corrected in their early stages. Frequency of inspections depends upon the amount and degree of use and will vary from one area to another.

The best frequency cycle can be established by analysing the equipment based on:

• Age
• Condition
• Value
• Amount of use
• Safety requirements
• Number of hours or mileage operated
• Susceptibility to wear, damage, and loss of adjustment

These inspections should be carried out at a garage by personnel trained in this kind of work. During these inspections, every moving part of the equipment should be checked, and worn parts should be removed and replaced. Following proper inspection, the irrigation system and equipment should be thoroughly cleaned and lubricated.

Routine Upkeep
Routine upkeep of irrigation includes such chores as replacing damaged sprinklers or drip ends, sealing burst pipes, and so on. Water wastage and potential problems can be averted if they are attended to quickly. It is the responsibility of the operator to assess anything which should be corrected and they should report it to the irrigation owner in large scale irrigation operations.

Contingent Work
Contingent work includes the repair of major breakdowns and general overhauls of equipment. At the same time, a regular inspection should be completed and all worn and broken parts should be removed and replaced.

Scheduling Work
Maintenance work can be scheduled by using overall charts for all equipment and individual cards for each piece of equipment. The overall chart gives a quick picture of the workload.
This chart lists the days or months across the top of the chart and an itemised list of equipment down the left side.

A system of symbols can be devised to show different types of repairs, adjustments to be made to each piece of equipment. The relevant symbols are marked under the date the activity is to be carried out, and opposite the piece of equipment that is to be worked on.

The individual cards for each piece of equipment allow for greater details to be recorded. All repairs, both major and minor, and maintenance, should be recorded on the card, and include a list of materials and parts used and time required.

MAINTAINING YOUR TRICKLE IRRIGATION
If trickle irrigation systems are to continue to operate properly without serious blockage of the fine water outlets, some periodic maintenance is necessary. Generally, this maintenance…

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