Putah South Canal remote acoustic water level monitoring and flow measurement
Date
1992-10
Authors
Reynolds, Roger L., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
The Putah South Canal (PSC) was constructed as a part of the Solano Project by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation for the conveyance of water to the agricultural and urban member units of the Solano County Water Agency in California. The Solano Irrigation District (SID) operates the PSC for the member units. Average annual deliveries are approximately 200,000 acre feet. The PSC has 12 manually operated radial gate check structures which are used to control the flow in the canal throughout its 33 mile length. Prior to the installation of the monitoring equipment, SID did not have the ability to instantaneously monitor the PSC flow status. When unanticipated delivery changes occurred, increases or decreases in the PSC flows often went unnoticed for several hours. The flow monitoring system installed during the winter of 1991-92 includes acoustic water level monitoring and radio telemetry equipment at each of the PSC check structures. The equipment measures the upstream and downstream water levels and then based on the measured head loss, gate opening, and radial gate parameters, calculates the flow through each of the radial gates. The flow and water depth data are continuously transmitted to the District office. This information provides the District with the ability to more efficiently monitor and manage the delivery of water in Solano County.
Description
Presented at Irrigation and water resources in the 1990's: proceedings from the 1992 national conference held on October 5-7, 1992 in Phoenix, Arizona.