International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage Commission Interationale des Irrigation et du Drainage



Sources of Irrigation

Irrigation: Water application confined in time and space, enabling the water requirements of a crop at a given time of its vegetative cycle or to bring the soil to the desired moisture level outside the vegetative cycle. The irrigation of a field includes one or more watering per season.


Source of Irrigation: Sources of irrigation water can be Groundwater extracted from springs or by using borings or wells, flood water spreading, surface water withdrawn from the flow of a stream, lakes or reservoirs or non-conventional sources like treated wastewater, desalinated water or drainage water.

 

Flood water is diverted to normally dry riverbed using a network of dams, gates and channels and spread over large areas. The moisture stored in the soil is used thereafter to grow crops. While floodwater harvesting belongs to the accepted irrigation methods, rainwater harvesting, although important, is usually not considered as a form of irrigation in conventional vocabulary.


Around 90% of wastewater produced globally remains untreated, causing widespread water pollution, especially in low-income countries. Increasingly, agriculture is using untreated wastewater as a source of irrigation water.


The water quality used for irrigation influences the yield and quantity of crops, maintenance of soil productivity, and protection of the environment. For example, the physical and mechanical properties of the soil, ex. soil structure (stability of aggregates) and permeability are very sensitive to the type of exchangeable ions present in irrigation waters.

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