A Buried Pipe System for Controlling Erosion and Sediment Loss on Irrigated Land

Abstract

Abstract A new system comprised of a buried pipe, with riser inlets from the surface at intervals, along the lower end of furrow‐irrigated fields was designed, installed, and evaluated on 21 fields to determine its effectiveness as an erosion and sediment loss control system for irrigated land. The system utilizes small sediment collection ponds with the riser inlets from the buried pipe serving as overflow outlets for the ponds. This system corrects convex‐shaped field ends caused by erosion and solves an energy related erosion problem common on furrow‐irrigated land. During the first season, these system removed from 80 to 95% of the sediment from runoff water and collected from 4.1 to 40.5 Mg ha −1 from 12 fields on irrigated land where detailed data were collected. All systems performed without problems and all convex end problems except one were corrected the first season. After the convex ends are corrected, the system continues to reduce sediment loss. This new system eliminates the tailwater ditch, puts more land into crop production, reduces weed problems, and prevents the usual problems associated with a wet tail‐water ditch. The buried pipe erosion and sediment loss control system is a major advance in the control of erosion and sediment loss on irrigated land.