Irrigation Water Conveyance and Delivery

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Open Access
Use of sophisticated state-of-art SCADA system for very efficient automated irrigation operations on 22,070 acres of agroforestry
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Mohamed, Nabil, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Along the mighty Columbia River in Eastern Oregon, U.S.A, in an area with less than 8 inches of total annual precipitation, exists the world's largest contiguous drip irrigated tree farm project. This Potlatch Corporation Western White Poplar Project (WWPP) uses high level automated technology to produce solid wood on a national and international certified sustainable rate. The project's 6,000,000 fast-growing desert hardwood trees (Western White Poplar) on 17,300 acres are irrigated by a massive and very complex automated water distribution system. Additionally the irrigation system also supplies water to other crops on 4,770 acres under pivot irrigation. Irrigation pumping energy costs are the major operational cost of tree production on this project; so a very determined effort is made to operate the irrigation system in an efficient and cost effective manner. The only economical and efficient way to irrigate this very large and complex project is by the use of an advanced customized Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. This State-of-Art SCADA system controls and monitors all pumps, individual fields, sensors and center pivots. This SCADA system makes the WWPP one of the most advanced automated large-scale drip irrigation farm projects in U.S.A., if not in the world. Additionally for the past decade, it has sustained its position as the world leader in large scale drip irrigation efficiency.
Open Access
SCADA interface of the SIC software for easy real time application of advanced regulation algorithms
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Malaterre, Pierre-Olivier, author; Chateau, Christophe, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
An increasing number of irrigation canals are following modernization projects to improve their hydraulic efficiency, their quality of service to users and to face new operational constraints. The Gignac Canal has been specifically modernized in order to be used during certain periods of the year as an experimental platform for several partners. A SCADA system has been installed with display screens at the manager's office and a SCADA interface has been developed into the SIC hydrodynamic software allowing testing of any type of control algorithm. This testing can be done first on the SIC hydraulic simulation model, and then switched onto the real canal without any code rewriting or parameters change. This SIC SCADA interface is communicating with the SCADA system developed by DSA Company exchanging data forth and back through simple ASCII files. The features of this approach are described in this paper. This SCADA module is now included into the standard library of the SIC software. This tool has been intensively tested on the Gignac canal that will be used for illustration.
Open Access
Modernization project and scientific platform on the Gignac Canal
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Vion, Pierre Yves, author; Kulesza, Vincent, author; Malaterre, Pierre-Olivier, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Theoretical progress in the domain of open channel automatic control has been achieved in the last decades. Controllers are generally designed with the help of mathematical software and tested on computer simulation models. Nevertheless, a phase of real-time testing appears to be necessary before the full validation allowing wide spread implementations of given automatic controllers. This helps taking into account and solving problems linked to the physical limits of sensors or actuators or to usually neglected phenomenon such as communication delays, faults and model errors. The Gignac canal project aims at addressing this issue and sharing a research platform with diverse industrial and academic partners. It involves mainly the equipment of the canal with sensors and actuators, and an opened SCADA system. It has been designed to make possible the test of a wide range of control architectures and algorithms. The equipment also helps the canal manager facing strengthening management constraints. They appear with the strict application of new legislations which lead to diminish intake withdrawals and to modernize parts of the secondary network. The project associates in a scientific committee: the canal manager, research teams, engineering companies, Universities and Colleges. It helps transferring academic knowledge and focusing the experiments on problem solving and end-users' requirements. Universities and Colleges take benefit from the facilities for practical work for teaching programmes in hydraulics and automatics.
Open Access
Description and measurement of uncertainty for state-space model of large cascade canal system
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Guanghua, Guan, author; Changde, Wang, author; Xiaobo, Feng, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Automatic control of canal network is a key solution for modern water-saving irrigation, and it is also a vital technique puzzle of the Middle Routine of the South-to-North water transfer project of China. The design of the controller is based on a liner mathematical model deduced from Saint-Venant Equation system, but the S-V Equations are a system of first order partial differential equations. A state-space model of a cascaded canal system is used in this paper to analyze the uncertainty including the uncertainty of the system itself and the uncertainty introduced in the procedure of mode-building. This uncertainty will be a precondition for the design of a robust controller. Using the liner model as the nominal case, the uncertainty is measured by the largest singular value of the distance matrix of the models. At last a simulation case of six canals is given together with quantificational describe of uncertainty.
Open Access
Requirements for open water and irrigation system SCADA software
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Clout, Peter, author; Laughlin, Cathy, author; Steinman, David, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
A successful modern SCADA system will generally require some form of software to drive communications, control processing, and store data. This must not only operate as required on the first day of operation, but it has to be easily modified by the users to reflect changes that occur every day. These changes include expansion of the system as well as calibration changes and other SCADA changes to reflect changes in the network and variable field conditions. There are a multitude of SCADA software packages that exist today, generally developed for manufacturing, utility, or scientific applications. However, irrigation canals have some unusual and unique requirements which must be met. Any successful implementation of a SCADA system must address those specific considerations. We list and discuss these requirements and detail the adaptation of a standard SCADA system, Vsystem.
Open Access
SCADA application in Central Asia
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Plusquellec, H., author; Begimov, I., author; Rousset, P., author; Laktionov, A., author; Favreau, G., author; Vasilenko, S., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
This paper presents an application of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in three countries of Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The project is financed by the Swiss Development Agency for Cooperation (SDC). The objectives of this project are to stabilize the flows diverted for irrigation downstream from large hydro-power plants and to monitor the equity and reliability of water diverted to secondary canals. This application provides an example of a promising success story in irrigation modernization in developing countries. Three factors may contribute to this success: i) the existence of a regional automation company, ii) the use of factory-made control equipment and iii) the rapid intervention of the local industry when repairs or corrections to control equipment are needed. The project also demonstrates that modernization of irrigation systems can be completed at a reasonable cost. The paper presents the results of the first series of tests of the SCADA system and highlights some of the differences in the design of SCADA projects between developed and developing countries.
Open Access
Implementation of moderately priced SCADA for the Riverside Irrigation District
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Chapman, Don, author; Smith, Stephen W., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
In northeastern Colorado, water resources are under tremendous pressures brought about by drought conditions experienced over the past seven years. Some mutual irrigation companies and irrigation districts have implemented SCADA as a means of collecting and recording accurate and timely information for water surface levels, canal flows, and recharge structure deliveries throughout the service area. Fortunately, the cost of SCADA implementation is less than it used to be in the past and software, hardware, and communication advances have allowed new installations to be accomplished with low to moderate investments. Hardware and software is increasing in function, decreasing in cost, and becoming much more affordable for these private enterprise situations. SCADA implementation by the Riverside Irrigation District is described in which low-cost RTUs and a satellite uplink is used for communications to keep costs reasonable to the District.
Open Access
Automated scheduling of open-channel deliveries: potential and limitations
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Gooch, Robert S., author; Bautista, Eduardo, author; Strand, Robert J., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Irrigation and municipal water delivery systems are under ever-increasing pressure to improve operations. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology is helping delivery organizations improve flexibility of operations, reduce costs, and overcome operational constraints, as it allows operators to remotely monitor and operate check gates to maintain desired water level and/or flow targets at control points. Computerized canal control schemes in combination with the SCADA technology, can further enhance operations by automatically handling scheduled demand changes (feedforward control) and responding to unexpected perturbations (feedback control). Significant progress has been made in recent years in the development of computerized control schemes, but adoption of such technologies is slow, partly because the potential benefits relative to existing manual operational procedures cannot be easily predicted, and partly because control schemes, ultimately, must be configured to the particular needs and constraints of the delivery system. This paper examines the potential application of computerized scheduling on the Salt River Project's (SRP) delivery system. The objective is to evaluate the potential for improved water control compared with current manual operations. We also examine particular constraints faced by SRP operators, how they impact the development of daily operational schedules, and how that would limit the applicability of automated scheduling concepts.
Open Access
Implementation of actuated and flow-measuring gates on the Greeley No. 2 canal in northeastern Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Magnuson, Donald O., author; Smith, Stephen W., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
New Cache La Poudre Irrigating Company (http://www.newcache.com/) began the first phases of modernizing the 114-year-old canal in recent years. The Company has built new equalizer reservoirs, a 30 CFS pump station, and a new 3,000 acre foot storage reservoir using concessionary loans available from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Further, the outlet works out of the Company's long-time equalizer reservoir on the Greeley #2 Canal has been replaced and modernized. As an integral part of the overall canal modernization, various approaches to actuating gates, measuring flows, and initiating SCADA were evaluated. The Company studied and toured SCADA installations in four states of the United States and in two states of Australia. Ultimately, the Rubicon actuated and flow measuring gates were selected and eight gates have been installed on the canal in the past two years. Portions of the Greeley #2 Canal, the river diversion on the Cache La Poudre River, and the discharges from two reservoirs can now be monitored and controlled from the Company's office in Lucerne, Colorado. The process of evaluating SCADA and actuated gates will be described as well as current operations. Further expansion of the system is anticipated in the future that will likely lead the Company toward full canal automation. The current short term strategy for future expansion of the system will be described.
Open Access
Automated outlet structure design for Windsor Lake to improve irrigation operations and attenuate flood flows
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Ullmann, Craig, author; Bauer, Kallie, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Windsor Lake (Kern Reservoir) serves as a storage facility, an equalizer reservoir for the Greeley No. 2 Canal, and a regional detention pond for the Windsor Basin. The effect of rapid urbanization surrounding the Town of Windsor created the need of a regional detention pond for a portion of the nearby Law Basin. Windsor Lake is capable of serving this purpose, though several feet of reservoir storage will need to be surrendered. The New Cache La Poudre Irrigating Company, (owners of the Greeley No. 2 Canal), and Kern Reservoir and Ditch Company (owners of Windsor Lake) have agreed to give up the reservoir storage with the stipulation that the outlet structure is replaced with an automated structure to improve reservoir and canal operations for shareholders. Requirements for the new outlet structure are to control and measure irrigation releases up to the decreed flow rate of 600 cfs, and serve as the primary spillway for two different 100-year flood scenarios. The first scenario models the existing conditions in the basins and the second models the future condition in which both basins are assumed to be fully urbanized. In addition, the Dam Safety Branch of the State Engineer's Office requires the structure to pass a flood event equating to 17% of the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF). Furthermore, the structure is required to be capable of functioning during the winter months to measure and control small releases for augmentation purposes. Two alternative designs were evaluated during a feasibility study. Rubicon Flume Gates™, a type of overshot gate, are utilized in the final design to meet the outlet structure requirements. The new structure gives The New Cache La Poudre Irrigating Company (NCLPIC) efficient control over the discharges in their system and reduces the flood potential for downtown Windsor.
Open Access
Modernizing canal check structures with bi-fold overshot gates
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Khalsa, Ram Dhan, author; Norman, Robert E., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Modernization of canal check structures is an important step in improving canal operation and reducing operational spills. This paper is a case study of retrofitting existing manually operated concrete canal structures with automated bi-fold overshot gates on the Government Highline Canal in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Open Access
Design and implementation of water accounting database for Riverside Irrigation District
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Walter, Ivan A., author; Marchando, Lori, author; Chapman, Don, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Riverside Irrigation District (RID) provides irrigation water to about 22,474 acres in northeast Colorado. Its primary water supplies, direct flow and reservoir water, are supplemented by District wells and farmer owned wells. The wells' water rights are relatively junior; therefore, without augmentation to replace out of priority depletions, senior water rights could be injured. RID has developed a plan of augmentation for replacement of out-priority depletions. The plan involves the use of accretions from groundwater recharge as the primary source of replacement water with reservoir water as a backup supply. A database has been developed for RID that allows it to manage RID's augmentation plan to ensure that all out-of-priority depletions to the South Platte River are replaced. The database includes tools for accounting of well pumping, recharge diversions, wellhead depletions, net recharge, streamflow depletions and accretions and farm unit crop water use. An extensive reporting section of the database allows RID to meet its reporting requirement to Colorado's State Engineer and to plan participants.
Open Access
Data considerations for SCADA planning and setup
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Strand, Robert J., author; Clemmens, Albert J., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The setup of a new SCADA system can be a daunting task. In addition to sifting through the myriad of sensors, programmable controllers, communication infrastructures, and SCADA software packages available in today's market, managers have to determine what they are going to monitor or control, what information they need to acquire from the field, what information will be sent out to field sites, the formats used to store and convey that information, and the need to archive select portions of that data for historical purposes. Even if a new implementation is done in phases, some forethought and advance preparation can simplify the process. The recommendations presented are based on experience gained from over 12 years of SCADA implementation associated with canal automation research at the U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center (ALARC) in Maricopa, AZ.
Open Access
10 years of supervisory control and data acquisition modernization in northern California (1996 - 2006)
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Perkins, Dennis, author; Styles, Stuart, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region, Water Conservation Field Services Program (WCFSP), and the Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, have been working with Reclamation irrigation water contractors and others on district delivery system modernization and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) development for the past 10 years. In 1994, the WCFSP encouraged the ITRC to develop concepts for district modernization to improve water delivery efficiencies. Dr. Charles Burt and the staff at ITRC observed that in many instances, water delivery systems were operated as more of an art than a science. Every canal or pipe system was different and required intricate knowledge and visual observations by the operators to maintain relatively crude levels of flow balance. The development of affordable, non-proprietary automation systems were considered feasible as SCADA applications were becoming common in other industries such as the automotive manufacturing industry. Coupled with mechanical canal level management equipment design improvements over the years, the industry has made large advances in affordable district level water technologies over the last decade.
Open Access
Modeling evapotranspiration for irrigated crops in Jordan using remotely sensed data
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Emar Suifan, Marwan S., author; Shatanawi, Muhammad R., author; Al-Bakri, Jawad T., author; Bali, Khaled M., author; Suleiman, Ayman A., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
A study was conducted in Mafraq, Jordan, between 32°15' and 32°50' north latitude and 36°15' and 36°50' east longitude, to investigate the potential use of remotely sensed data to estimate evapotranspiration (ET). Evapotranspiration values were estimating by integrating high resolution (ASTER) and coarse resolution (MODIS) data in the ALARM model. The first part of the study focused on identifying crop types and developing a relationship between plant canopy height (PH) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from ASTER. The second part of the study concentrated on modeling actual ET through the integration of data from the previous stage and from the MODIS satellite with the ALARM model. Field surveys and data collection, from March to October 2005, included 37 farms with a total of 247 plots representing irrigated vegetable crops in the area. The ET was calculated using the ALARM model with input parameters of land surface temperature, leaf area index, surface albedo, view angle, view time from 1-km MODIS data and plant canopy height derived from its empirical relationship with ASTER NDVI. Results showed that ASTER satellite imagery could provide an adequate identification of different irrigated vegetable crops in the study area. The use of estimated PH derived from its relationships with ASTER-NDVI instead of ground measurements was not a significant source of error for estimating ET. The average performance of the ALARM model showed a strong spatial variability from one site to another depending on the individual components of each site (total irrigated area and type of irrigated crops). The calculation approach of ET using the ALARM model with MODIS satellite data and crop parameters from ASTER data can be used to provide spatial distribution of actual ET. Therefore, the calibrated approach from this study could be used as a new tool for estimating ET for the irrigated area of Mafraq and similar irrigated regions in Jordan. The study also demonstrated the importance of radiometric correction for satellite images before using them in similar studies.
Open Access
Implementation and use of SCADA for the southern water supply project
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Brouwer, Carl, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD) provides approximately 210,000 acre-ft of raw water to much of Northeastern Colorado via the United States Bureau of Reclamation Colorado - Big Thompson Project (CBT). Deliveries through C-BT began in the 1950's and were predominately for irrigation. However, over time as the Colorado front range has developed, the portion of water delivered to the municipal and industrial (M&I) sector has increased substantially. As this shift from agricultural deliveries to M&I has occurred, pipelines have been added by NCWCD to the original canal system to provide for more flexible and reliable year-round deliveries. In the mid-1990's, NCWCD began the construction of the Southern Water Supply Project (SWSP). The SWSP consists of 110 miles of pipeline connecting numerous municipal water providers in the southern and eastern portions of NCWCD to the St. Vrain Canal at Carter Lake Reservoir. In addition to the pipelines, three booster pump stations have been added to the system to increase the system delivery capacity. In total, the SWSP has the delivery capability of 110 cubic feet per second. The implementation of the SWSP necessitated the installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system throughout the new system. The delivery system contains seven flow control structures, three pump stations, and several intermediate valve and metering structures along with the operation of the Carter Lake Reservoir outlet works. This highly reliable system utilizes a distributed control system. Local control functions such as delivery control are made via programmable logic controllers (PLCs) at each individual site. These sites communicate via radio system to NCWCD where overall system control and water orders are made. This system acts to primarily make desired water deliveries. However, fail-safe features area also integrated to provide integrity to the pipeline in the event of system outages or pipeline failure. This paper will provide information on the planning and implementation of the SCADA system as well as lessons that have been learned through both the implementation and continued operation of the system.
Open Access
SCADA application on a diversion dam
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Ruiz, Victor, author; Begovich, Ofelia, author; Villagrana, Eliseo, author; Bernabe, Valetín, author; Romero, Ernesto, author; Ramirez, Javier, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
This paper describes a flow control regulator application in a diversion dam at the Irrigation District 097, "Lázaro Cardenas", Michoacan, Mexico. A Hydropower Company has started to produce electricity during high demand peak hours releasing the daily volume for irrigation in few hours. Downstream of the storage dam, a Diversion dam stores the water released for power and delivers the water as the irrigation district requires under controlled conditions. Because of these changes in operations at the diversion dam a SCADA systems was installed. The measurement and operation equipment integrated for this application consisted in a SCADAPack, the Probe ultrasonic level sensor, gate position sensor and Horizontal Doppler Current Profiler Channel Master as flow meter. The SCADAPacks at the flow meter and diversion dam were connected by low cost radios called Maxstream. To improve the reliability of the systems redundant equipment was installed on gate position, upstream level sensor. For flow measurement reliability the gate equation, calibrated with the H-ADCP data, was used. As a first step a set of rules were introduced to adjust the gate opening to keep the flow at the head of the main canal constant as the level on the diversion dam change. Since the end of 2006 the system is being transferred from a manual system to an automated system.
Open Access
Analysis of discharge measurements on King Abdullah Canal
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Sanfilippo, Franck, author; Grawitz, Bruno, author; Dubreuil, Thomas, author; Sau, Jacques, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
In Jordan, water requirements are growing sharply, due to population growths, associated to the industrialization and the development of the country. Moreover, water resources are limited and subject to competitive use with neighboring countries. The King Abdullah Canal (KAC) takes mainly the water in the Yarmouk and Zarqa Rivers, supplies the irrigation of 30000 ha and transfers water to Amman for domestic and industrial needs. The KAC main structures are monitored and remotely controlled from a General Control Center through a SCADA system which includes a regulation module providing automatic and permanent control of canal flows as well as safety systems. In canal systems, discharge measurements are fundamental. However, measurement network on hydraulic systems include many sensors spread over a large area, and subject to failure or deviation. In addition discharge and volume measurements in open channel are characterized by large uncertainties. The KAC SCADA system is operational since 7 years, and a large database of measurements on the canal system is available. A review of flow measurements is made, with an analysis of the uncertainties coming from the use of gate laws. The analysis includes a comparison of the results given by different algorithms: Cemagref algorithm implemented in SIC software, USBR gate law, classical free flow and submerged flow orifice law. In the analysis, one of the KAC check gate appears to behave abnormally, with a systematic overestimation of the discharge. Analysis of flow measurements on field have been undertaken, as well as flow estimation based on open channel simulations using SIC software. This complete analysis provides relevant conclusions on the coherence of flow measurements.
Open Access
Irrigation flow monitoring equipment demonstration and comparison
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Crookston, Mark A., author; Halley, Alan A., author; Caves, June R., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Northern Water (Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District) conducted field demonstrations and comparisons of flow monitoring equipment at 18 canal and ditch sites in the lower South Platter River Basin during the 2006 irrigation season. Equipment included data loggers from 8 different manufacturers, 16 different models of water level sensors from 12 manufacturers, and 4 different types of telemetry from 7 manufacturers. The data loggers that were demonstrated included four models of single-sensor with integrated data logger, four models of programmable multi-sensor data logger, and one model of basic, low-cost data logger without telemetry. Relative equipment costs for each data logger system are summarized in Table 6. The water level sensors tested included submersible pressure transducers, optical shaft encoders, ultrasonic distance sensors, bubbler level sensor, float and pulley with potentiometer, buoyancy sensor, and a laser distance sensor. Bench checks of sensor calibrations were accomplished by Northern Water staff before field installation, and again at the end of the irrigation season. Observed sensor accuracy was compared to that expected from manufacturer specifications. The telemetry systems tested in the field included license-free spread-spectrum radios from four manufacturers, licensed radio modems in the 450 MHz range, satellite radio modems to a web server, and cdma modems with static IP addresses. Increased mast height and high gain directional antenna improved radio telemetry as expected. Additionally, operational files were utilized to document telemetry performance when available. The purpose and intent of the equipment demonstration and comparison was not to identify a single best data logger, sensor, and/or telemetry system. Each has different features and strengths, as well as varying costs. For each specific flow monitoring application, different equipment may be preferred or better suited than other equipment. However, the 2006 demonstration and comparison should provide a reference point for those seeking to become more knowledgeable in equipment selection while avoiding unpleasant surprises.
Open Access
Test of auto-tuned automatic downstream controllers on Gignac canal
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007-06) Litrico, Xavier, author; Malaterre, Pierre-Olivier, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The paper extends the automatic tuning method proposed by the authors for the case of a single pool to the case of multiple-pool canal. The relay experiment is used to automatically compute the decouplers, and the controller is automatically switched on after the relay test, leading to a set of decentralized distant downstream PI controllers with decouplers. The method is evaluated in simulation and in reality on a large scale irrigation canal pool located in the South of France.