Water quality and distribution uniformity in drip/trickle irrigation systems

The clogging of emitters is a major problem encountered in drip/trickle irrigation systems, as partial or complete clogging reduces application uniformity. Clogging is closely related to the quality of the water used. Despite the quantity of research reported in literature concerning the quality treatment and distribution uniformity of irrigation water, the problem still remains of accurately foreseeing the clogging risk on the basis of the irrigation water quality and the corresponding e¤ects on emitter ßow rate in causing lack of uniformity in the Þeld. The paper reports an investigation performed in the Þeld on a number of irrigation systems in Southern Italy, with the aim of determining parameters expressing clogging and studying the relationships between the latter and water quality. The results obtained permitted identiÞcation of both some Þeld performance indices which can be used to evaluate clogging and water quality factors which can be used to classify the clogging hazard rating of emitters. Indications can be drawn about the number of emitters to be tested in the Þeld and also the relationships between clogging and emitter position in the lateral.