Field evaluation of three systems for filtering polluted river water for use in subsurface irrigation

Three systems for filtering polluted river water for use in subsurface irrigation have been designed, operated and evaluated. One system consisted of filtering the water through filter basins covered with grass. The second system used geotextiles in filter basins. The third system consisted of flooding a section of a field. In this system, the water was filtered as it moved through the soil towards the subsurface drainage/irrigation drain pipes.It was found that grass filter basins are very efficient in removing sediment from river water. Grass filter basins having drain pipes placed in trenches 30 cm wide backfilled with sand gave the best results. More than 90% of sediments were removed from the river water. From the outflow measurements, it was found that less than 0.2% of the field to be irrigated needs to be devoted to the filtration system.Important filter design parameters, namely filtration rates per unit area of filter basin and per unit length of filter trench and drain pipe, were determined.Due to the fast clogging of the geotextile, filtration of river water through basins covered with geotextile was found to be impractical and expensive, as compared to filtration using water tolerant grasses as a basin cover.Flooding a section of the crop land combined with controlled drainage was found to be an efficient way of irrigating maize crop. The yields obtained with this system were comparable with those obtained with conventional subsurface irrigation. Flood irrigation combined with controlled drainage would be particularly commendable on relatively flat fields which have subsurface drains