How does irrigation work

Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the soil through various systems of tubes, pumps, and sprays. Irrigation is usually used in areas where rainfall is irregular or dry times or drought is expected. There are many types of irrigation systems, in which water is supplied to the entire field uniformly. Irrigation water can come from groundwater, through springs or wells, surface water, through rivers, lakes, or reservoirs, or even other sources, such as treated wastewater or desalinated water.

As a result, it is critical that farmers protect their agricultural water source to minimize the potential for contamination.

As with any groundwater removal, users of irrigation water need to be careful in not pumping groundwater out of an aquifer faster than it is being recharged. Top of Page. There are many different types of irrigation systems, depending on how the water is distributed throughout the field.

Some common types of irrigation systems include:. Surface irrigation Water is distributed over and across land by gravity, no mechanical pump involved.

Localized irrigation Water is distributed under low pressure, through a piped network and applied to each plant. Drip irrigation A type of localized irrigation in which drops of water are delivered at or near the root of plants. In this type of irrigation, evaporation and runoff are minimized. Sprinkler irrigation Water is distributed by overhead high-pressure sprinklers or guns from a central location in the field or from sprinklers on moving platforms.

This leads to the question — are our irrigation systems as efficient as they should be? Are we losing valuable irrigation dollars and wasting some of the resource itself? The goal of efficient irrigation is to ensure the greatest amount of water that is applied is used by the crop rather than being lost to groundwater or off the farm as drainage. Proper irrigation management takes careful consideration and vigilant observation and we will begin to explore efficiency issues in our next blog.

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Please now click here to complete your profile on the Farmer Exchange and join the community. Login Username Password Remember me Lost your password? And while this is fine for the home gardener, when you're a farmer trying to water an entire field these methods become impractical.

So, how about flooding the field? It sounds drastic, but the ancient Egyptians made extensive use of the practice. Two thousand years ago, Herodotus wrote that Egypt was "the gift of the Nile.

Although the basin method is still popular, there are more refined methods of irrigation in use today:. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots.

Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Lawn Care. A place to grow The right temperature Air and light Water. The plant absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, draws water up through its roots and uses light to photosynthesize sugars, which it uses as food.

It excretes oxygen as a by-product of the process.