What is an irrigation channel?
The irrigation channel is a waterway, often artificial or improved, built to carry water from a source such as a lake, a river or a stream, to the soil used for agriculture or landscaping. The basic element of agriculture found in archaeological copies dating from 4,000 BC, irrigation channels often meant the difference between nutrition and hunger. The irrigation channel is in its most basic moat filled with water. It can be dug into the ground and then filled with water, or the existing current may be extended in a process called "sewer" and diverted as needed to ensure maximum efficiency. Another way to create a channel is to first build walls using dry soil as a bed and attach it to the water source only if it is completely built.
One of the problems of irrigation channels is a reliable flow of water. When the channel is the water supply is associated with the water source such as the lakeRO or river is quite reliable, but it is necessary to pay attention to the use of so much water that other areas suffer. When the irrigation channel passes through a long distance or must navigate changes in height, other strategies must be used. For example, it is common to build a water storage tank for irrigation and fill in the irrigation channels of dams and lock systems. Another method is to dig channels next to water supply sources and build dams or locks separating them, open them when the necessary water is in the irrigation channel and then closes them.
irrigation channels do not always supply water directly into irrigated soil; In many cases, water must be supplied from the canal to crops in other ways. One of the common ways to achieve this is to avert the water from the channel to the irrigation ditches or "side" dug in close proximity to the crops. When the crops are planted on slopes, the former comprehensive systems are built to supply water uphilllu.
Effective and economic use of water in irrigation is the main problem. While 40 percent of all food produced worldwide come from irrigated soil, irrigation itself consumes 80 percent of freshwater supply, which is very inefficient water use. In some cases, excessive water is simply absorbed into the ground; In others it runs from the country irrigated. Modern irrigation channels are built and managed according to increasingly sophisticated models of water management and protection. It is also necessary to pay attention to the protection of irrigation water and drain from pesticides and fertilizers.