Design and Operation of On‐Farm Irrigation Ponds

Abstract

On‐farm storage facilities can be useful in satisfying the variable diurnal irrigation demand during a day and, at the same time, can prevent waste of water. In this study, an irrigation pond (IP) model is developed for the determination of required minimum storage capacity at a desired reliability level with a given intake operating rule to meet the fluctuating water demands. This IP model is applied to determine the storage capacities of several lateral canals of the Mae‐Taeng Irrigation Project in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. Simulations are carried out to analyze effects of different cropping patterns and hourly irrigation demand patterns at various reliability levels on the storage capacities of irrigation ponds. The determined storage capacities of irrigation ponds for various lateral canals having different cropping patterns varies from about