Blogs » How Can We Save Water from Irrigation?

How Can We Save Water from Irrigation?

Irrigation is the process of applying water to crops using artificial methods. Irrigation can also include providing nutrients to the product together with the water. Water is an essential component in the growth of crops. Without enough water, the crops will not do well. The irrigation water sources can be varied, with some of them being wells, ponds, lakes, and canals, among others. Also, the rate of watering different crops differs from crop to crop.

1. What is the Importance of Irrigation?

Irrigation is essential to crops because it is the method of applying water to crops in places where rainfall is not sufficient to cover the crops’ water needs. Without watering the crops through irrigation, most of the products will not thrive in areas where there is less rainfall.

2. What are Types of Irrigation?

There are different ways of applying water onto the crops, which forms the different types of irrigation. Here are common types of irrigation systems.

Surface Irrigation

Surface irrigation is a type of water irrigation system where the water is poured to the surface of the field. It is then distributed to the irrigation field without any mechanical pump.

Lateral Move Irrigation

You can water your plants through a series of pipes, each mounted on a wheel with a set of sprinklers. The sprinklers can be rotated with bare hands or using a specific mechanism created for moving the sprinklers. The sprinklers are only supposed to cover a certain distance across the field. They use hose pipe connections to reach the next stretch. Although this method is less expensive, it needs more labour as compared to the others.

Localized Irrigation

Localized irrigation is the type of crop watering where water is distributed under low pressure. The water is applied to each plant through a network of pipes running through the field.

Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation is the type of irrigation where drops of water are delivered where there is a type of plant root of the crop that is to be watered. Irrigating your crops using this method eliminated the runoff water and also evaporation.

Sprinkler Irrigation

Water in this type of irrigation is distributed by using high-pressure overhead sprinklers. You can also use guns to distribute the water from a central location in the field. You can also spread the water from a sprinkler on a moving platform like a water vehicle.

Centre Pivot Irrigation

Sometimes the plants are watered using water distributed using sprinklers on wheeled towers moving in a circular pattern. When you are watering plants in a flat area, this will be the best watering method to use.

Sub Irrigation

Water in this type of irrigation is distributed to the land by using raised water table. The water is pumped from water stations, gates, canals or ditches. Places where the water table a high are the ones that are likely to use this type of irrigation.

Manual Irrigation

Another option of watering crops is by using a manual irrigation method. Here, people watering the plants move across the field, watering the plants by hand, section by section.

Intelligent Irrigation

Intelligent irrigation is used in semi-arid areas to irrigate agricultural water saving, modern sprinkler irrigation in greenhouses for growing seedlings, and precision drip irrigation.

3. Recommended Irrigation Tools to Save Water

With the rising water prices, farmers have no choice other than to look for possible ways of saving this valuable commodity. Farmers in drought-stricken areas have more reasons to use watering crops that use water economically to reduce the cost of watering the plants. That calls for the use of irrigation tools to minimize the amount of water you have to use in a particular field.

Irrigation Management Mobile App

There is a continuous improvement in developing Apps that that can assist farmers in managing their irrigation. One of these Apps is the FieldNET Mobile, used to control and monitor irrigation equipment from their devices. The farmers can adjust their irrigation depending on the prevailing condition. Smart Irrigation Apps, which University of Georgia agricultural scientists develop, aims to help the framers in the southeast plan their irrigation based on the amount of water their crops need depending on which uses data from the local weather stations.

Drip Irrigation

Drip irrigation is a form of irrigation that is very economical with water. It waters the crop without wasting water and can reduce the irrigation water by 30 to 70 %. It reduces evaporation and water consumed by weeds by ensuring that it is delivered to the crop’s very root.

Soil Sensors

Soil sensors help farmers determine how much water is necessary for a specific field by measuring the soil’s amount of moisture.

Drones

Thermal Cameras on drones are helpful to farmers because they can help them detect any leaks and also determine whether they are giving their crops excess water or too little amount.

Water Flow Meters

Water flow meters are tools that can measure how much water is being used. It helps farmers to know the precise amount they can apply to the crops at any specific place and time.

All these tools are essential in water management as they help farmers not waste water or apply too much than what the plant needs. In the end, the amount of water used for irrigation reduces wastage, thus saving a substantial amount of irrigation water.

4. Which is the Most Water-efficient Irrigation System?

Among all the irrigation methods applied by farmers, drip irrigation has proved to be the most water-efficient system. The best thing with this kind of irrigation is that water is delivered directly to the crop’s root without watering other areas that do not need water.

Summary

The increase in demand for food crops and the need to water the crop also goes up. For that reason, there is an increased demand for using water saving irrigation systems to increase food production.

Also, water is becoming a scarce and valuable commodity each day, making it even more needed. For that reason, though irrigation is critical, there is also a good reason for choosing the most water-efficient method to increase food production while reducing water usage.

The intelligent irrigation system is the most economical irrigation method, and there is an increase in demand for good irrigation pipes. Water needs to be delivered to the crop root using irrigation pipes. When you are looking for such lines it is essential to consider using the LESSO Piping systems that make life easier.

LESSO is a company that manufactures pipes for industrial, commercial and domestic use. You can trust LESSO provide reliable manufacturer pipes for your drip irrigation system.