Micro Drip Lab #4

BRAE 340 Irrigation Water Management Page 1 Drip & Micro BRAE 340 - Irrigation Water Management Drip / Micro Irrigation Name: Date: BRAE 340 Lab: Day: ____________ Time: ___________ Section #: ________ Names of Others in Your Discussion Group: ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ M a k e n z i e R i t z m a n

BRAE 340 Irrigation Water Management Page 2 Drip & Micro BRAE 340 - Irrigation Water Management Drip / Micro Irrigation Introduction The goal of this lab is to introduce you to drip/micro irrigation systems and the pipe network used to deliver water to tree and vine crops. Typical systems found in California include drip tape either buried or on the soil surface, molded drip emitters on flexible polyethylene tubing, and micro sprayers or micro sprinklers, also on polyethylene tubing. Micro irrigation is used on a wide variety of row crops, trees, and vines. Some types of systems can be nearly disposable, lasting only a year, to more permanent systems that may last up to fifteen or twenty years. Success with micro irrigation requires very high-quality water, an understanding of application rates, and the area wetted by these systems. Today’s exercise will demonstrate the concepts of system Distribution Uniformity, the problems affecting uniformity, and the solution to some of those problems. Data Analysis Using the data collected in lab, compute an estimate of system Distribution Uniformity (DU) based on flow rate measurements. Discussion Questions Discuss the questions among yourselves, taking notes as necessary to remember the key points of the discussion. Write your own answers to the questions in the space provided. Lab Report • Completed Data Collection • Answers to all questions based on your notes Grades • Participation, contribution, and discussion, 10% • Completed Data Collection, 30% • Analysis Form, 15% • Written answers to questions and comparison table, 45%

BRAE 340 Irrigation Water Management Page 4 Drip & Micro Data Collection: ( 20 pts ) Record the volume of water collected in each bucket after 3 minutes for your location. My Location (circle one): Clean Average Dirty Sample # Volume (ml) Sample # Volume (ml) 1 9 2 10 3 11 4 12 5 13 6 14 7 15 8 16 ( 5 pts ) Observations: How do the flows compare? What came out of the hose ends? Any other problems noted? Data Analysis Compute Lateral DU (for the lateral tested by your group). ( 10 pts ) Four Smallest Values = _________, _________, _________, _________ Sum of the Four Smallest Values = ___________ ml Average Four Smallest Values = Sum of the Four Smallest Values / 4 = _________ ml Total Volume in All Buckets = __________ ml Average All Volume = Total Volume / 16 =__________ ml DU = Average Low Quarter Volume / Average All Volume = ________/________ = _________ Estimate System DU based-on flow tests: ( 5 pts ) Use the lateral DU values computed by the other teams. Clean Average Dirty All Lateral DU computation must have the same number of samples. Sum DU values for 3 locations =__________ System DU = Sum / 3 locations = __________ 1 3 f t a p a r t ✗ 2 5 I t s p a c i n g 0 . 9 3 2 . 6 4 1 0 . 9 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 5 0 1 7 0 0 1 7 0 0 1 8 0 0 1 7 5 0 3 2 0 0 2 7 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 1 8 0 0 1 6 5 0 2 1 5 0 2 6 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 8 5 0 3 6 p s i a t t h e e n d o f t h e h o s e a l i t t l e b i t o f s l i m y d e b r i s c a m e o u t o f t h e h o s e e n d s . s o r t o f s i l t y . m a y b e f i n e c l a y o r b a c t e r i a . T h i s c o u l d e f f e c t D U o t h e r . T h e f l o w s b e t w e e n t h e 1 6 s p o t s w e r e r e l a t i v e l y s i m i l a r a s i d e f r o m s a m p l e s e v e n w h i c h h a d a l e a k i n t h e s p a g h e t t i n o s e b e l o w t h e e m i t t e r . s m a l l e s t v a l u e s 1 6 0 0 1 6 5 0 1 7 0 0 1 7 0 0 6 6 5 0 1 6 6 2 . 5 3 2 7 5 0 2 0 4 6 . 9 1 6 6 3 2 0 4 7 0 . 8 1 - 8 1 % 0 . 8 1 0 . 8 8

BRAE 340 Irrigation Water Management Page 5 Drip & Micro BRAE 340 - Water Measurement Data Collection and Analysis Discussion Questions : Write your own answers to the questions in the space provided. ( 5 pts each ) 1. Describe at least two factors that affect the DU Other of the Lemon Grove irrigation system. Expand on your field observations providing detail. 2. Based on the pressure observed at the filter station and the pressure regulator setting that you observed, do you believe that PC microsprinklers are necessary? Why or why not? 3. What is required by law to prevent contamination of the water source? Where should it be located? 4. How can you use the flow meter to determine if there are issues in the field? Explain. 5. Why do you need to know the tree spacing? In other words, what does it help you calculate? 6. Provide two recommendations that you would give the grower to improve the System DU. Explain why for each. Use your observations to help you answer this question. D U o t h e r o f t h e l e m o n g r o v e h a d s o m e i m p a c t d u e t o s l i g h t c l o g g i n g b y e i t h e r 5 0 1 1 o r b a c t e r i a b u i l d u p . A l s o l i k e w e s a w a t s a m p l e s e v e n , d a m a g e t o t h e l i n e c a u s i n g a l e a k c o u l d b e f r o m w e a r o r i n s e c t / a n i m a l d a m a g e . y e s . t h e c r o p w a s p l a n t e d o n a s l o p e a n d w i t h o u t t h e p r e s s u r e r e g u l a t o r s w e p r o b a b l y w o u l d h a v e s e e n a g r e a t e r v a r i a n c e i n d i s t r i b u t i o n . A c h e c k v a u l v e o n t h e f i l t e r . p r e f e r a b l y i t w o u l d b e l o c a t e d d o w n s t r e a m o f t h e f e r t i i z e r i n p u t a n d f i l t e r s y s t e m a n d u p s t r e a m o f t h e p r e f i l t e r t o s t o p a n y f e r t i l i z e r f r o m e n t e r i n g t h e g r o u n d w a t e r s o u r c e t o m i t i g a t e e n v i r o n m e n t a l i m p a c t . y o u c a n a n a l y z e c h a n g e s i n a n o r m a l r e a d i n g . I f , f o r e x a m p l e , t h e m e t e r r e a d s 1 0 0 9 p m e v e r y t i m e y o u i r r i g a t e , a n d t h e n r a n d o m l y t h a t n u m b e r d o u b l e s , y o u c a n d e t e r m i n e p o s s i b l e p r o b l e m s s u c h a s a l e a k i n t h e s y s t e m s o m e w h e r e . o r i f i t s m u c h l o w e r t h a n a v e r a g e , t h e r e m a y b e p l u g g e d e m m i t t e r s . s p a c i n g h e l p s d e t e r m i n e D U , e s p e c i a l l y i f t h e r e i s u n e q u a l s p a c i n g . T h i s i s a l s o a w a y t o d e t e r m i n e a r e a n e e d e d t o b e i r r i g a t e d a n d h o w m a n y e m i t t e r s a r e p r e s e n t . F i x i n g t h e l e a k i n t h e e m m i t e r f r o m s a m p l e s e v e n w o u l d i n c r e a s e D u . T h e p r e s s u r e r e g u l a t o r s a r e a l s o d i f f e r e n t . o n t h e m a n i f o l d l a t e r a l s t h e y a r e s o p s i b u t a t a n o t h e r p o i n t t h e y r e 3 0 p s ; s o m a k i n g t h o s e t h e s a m e w o u l d h e l p D U .