Determination of the Capacity of a Regulating Pond in a Pipeline Irrigation System

Abstract

A pond-regulated pipeline irrigation system is a newly introduced paddy irrigation system comprising a regulating pond and pipelines. This system, which depends on the sloping landform of an alluvial fan for gravitation energy, has been primarily motivated by the need to narrow the temporal gaps between supply and demand and thus to enhance the degree of freedom in irrigation. In planning this irrigation system, designing the capacity of a regulating pond (V) is the most important step. In this paper I will propose an algorithm for determining the design capacity of a regulating pond using the abstract notion of “n hours' worth of discharge average.” In addition, I will suggest a practical way of applying the algorithm, based on an analysis of the data on the water balances of several existing regulating ponds.