Improving design practices for drip irrigation systems installed in the Punjab province, Pakistan

Improving design practices for drip irrigation systems installed in the Punjab province, Pakistan

Most of the drip irrigation systems installed in Pakistan in mega projects have been abandoned due to lack of expertise in design procedure and evaluation of performance of the systems to be installed. Performance evaluation is the key factor to initiate the cycle of improvement in working and efficiency of the irrigation systems. After realising the need of performance evaluation of Pakistani drip irrigation systems a field experiment have been designed to replicate the typical Pakistani drip irrigation system in Australia. Results were obtained in field and using the Eaucadi and Hydrocalc software packages. Data analysis was performed using the Eaucadi and Hydrocalc software packages in comparison with measured field results. The emission uniformity in terms of performance evaluation and emitter discharge and pressure regime along the length of the pipe in measured and simulated results was compared and analysed. The validation and accuracy of the software packages is tested, and an improved design procedure is formulated using a mixture of two simple software packages that also facilitates with the performance evaluation of the already installed systems. This design procedure is tested and recommended to evaluate and improve the performance of already installed and future drip irrigation systems to be installed in Punjab in Pakistan. The procedure formulated will be an optimised tool to ensure the continuous cycle of performance evaluation and improvement of the drip irrigation systems in Punjab, Pakistan.