Innovative New Irrigation System Could Help Solve Problems for Isolated Communities
Conservation, Energy Systems, Irrigation, Land — by Anthea Hudson March 2, 2012
Measured irrigation at Prospect Community Garden
In developed nations, at least in the cities and most towns, we take it for granted that when we turn on a tap, water will flow…. When we flip a switch, electricity springs to our command. However this is not the reality for many communities around the world, where water is from non-mains sources and electricity may be non-existent.
Conventional automatic irrigation systems are designed to operate with pressurised water from the mains, and are run by mains electricity, and because of this are not suited to implementation in areas where these are not available, whether due to being in an isolated location, or one without the financial ability to install such infrastructure as mains water and power.
Dr. Bernard Omodei faced this situation during his ongoing work with Trees For Life, when trying to work out how to provide irrigation to young trees planted in locations where no mains water or power was available. So, this innovative South Australian developed his own irrigation system, named Measured Irrigation, which basically operates on rainwater and sunlight. Measured irrigation uses tank water, which may hold rainwater, bore water or greywater and the pump is operated by solar panels.
Measured Irrigation pump is operated by solar panels
Measured irrigation operates on the principle of evaporation, and activates in direct response to weather conditions. The water level in the terracotta ‘birdbath’ controller bowl will fall due to evaporation and gravitational water loss, as it seeps through the porous terracotta into the surrounding coarse sand.
Birdbath controller
During very hot weather the evaporation rate will be much greater and so the time between irrigation intervals will be shorter. On cool overcast days, the evaporation rate will be quite small and so the time between irrigation intervals will be longer.
Introduction to Measured Irrigation Video
Test sites have been set up at Adelaide’s Fern Ave Community Garden and Prospect Community Garden. So far the response to the system by the gardeners has been very positive!
I had installed drip irrigation systems at other community gardens before Bernie contacted me about a new irrigation system that he said had advantages over the drippers. The system has only been installed at the new Prospect Community Garden since November but the gardeners are delighted with the results already. — Mr Alan Shepard of Prospect Community Garden
Volunteers at Prospect Community Garden laying measured irrigation hose
Prospect Community Garden flourishing with measured irrigation
We are able to isolate different beds so a vacant section of the site can have its water supply turned off. The soaker hoses are not subject to pressure gushes or damage from garden tools. The solar panels pumping rain water from the tanks only operate when the sun shines, so I would say there will be less water use compared with the drippers at the other gardens. It clearly was a good choice and has environmental benefits too. — Mr Alan Shepard of Prospect Community Garden
Measured Irrigation at Prospect Community Garden
Measured Irrigation at Fern Ave Community Garden
Having basically no money to spend on the project made it a challenge, but Dr. Omodei says it was also a blessing in disguise, because it forced him to be inventive and the result has been a marvelous system, which costs about half of a traditional irrigation system, and nothing to run. This factor would also be a benefit in affordability for poorer communities, farmers, and even individual gardeners.
Apart from cost savings, measured irrigation has other advantages over conventional drip irrigation. The chart below shows comparisons between the two for these aspects.
|
Drip Irrigation
|
Measured Irrigation
|
| inadequate control of the volume of water delivered to each plant |
directly controls the volume of water delivered to each sector, and the volume of water delivered to each plant within the sector |
| blocked drippers can be a problem | no drippers to get blocked |
| a high level of filtering is required to prevent small particles blocking the drippers |
filtering is required to prevent nozzle blockage at the flow splitter (Dot2dot hose does not get blocked) |
| identifying and clearing blocked drippers is tedious and time consuming |
identifying and clearing blocked nozzles is quick and easy |
| residual water in the drip line encourages root invasion |
Dot2dot hose has no root invasion |
| significant maintenance requirement | minimal maintenance requirement |
| pipe clamps are necessary | pipe clamps are not needed due to very low pressure |
| solenoid valves and valve boxes required | no solenoid valves and no valve boxes |
| complicated | simple (fewer things to go wrong) |
While speaking to Dr. Omodei, his enthusiasm for his system and what it could mean for many communities shines through:
I hope that measured irrigation will eventually be used extensively in poor communities in developing countries. Measured irrigation is more than a product. It is whole new approach to water efficient irrigation. This will hopefully mean that many companies and organisations worldwide will develop their own version of measured irrigation, best suited to local conditions. — Dr. Bernard Omodei
Dr. Omodei is extremely keen for his invention to make its way into struggling communities which could benefit from its design and would love to hear from anyone who shares his excitement for what this could offer! Ideally comment here, so everyone can benefit from the discussion, but those who wish to contact him directly can reach him on: bomodei (at) dot2dotpost.com.au
The videos below explain Dr. Omodei’s invention, Measured Irrigation, in further detail.
The Porous Hose
Step by Step Instructions
The Nozzle Formula
And how does this measure up to a wicking bed, or sub-irrigated planter in the irrigation stakes?
Comment by SOP — March 2, 2012 @ 5:31 pm
what a neat simple system but the big question is what is the start up costs of this system less the water tanks . The system I had thought off was to use a exercise bike to drive a pump to get the water into a header tank and then rely on gravity to feed the water to the required plants using polly pipe and leaky hose at the plant , this with the use of the dot2dot system would be more cost effective for me as a pensioner than the complete system demonstrated above
Comment by Roger Mitchell — March 6, 2012 @ 6:12 pm
I have not seen a pump being operated by an exercise bike. I am sure that it would work in principle. The cheapest way to set up a measured irrigation system is to use unpowered measured irrigation costing $250 plus polypipe and fittings and any extra Dot2dot hose.
Comment by Bernie Omodei — March 7, 2012 @ 9:19 pm
One thing we’ve been discussing, is that in certain applications you would probably have to cage the birdbath controller- in some cases in quite a strong metal cage- because of wildlife that would otherwise drink the water in no time and therefore mess up appropriate watering intervals.
In one place I was thinking that could benefit from this type of system, kangaroos (and even emus) are regular visitors and are extremely persistent at trying to access any water. Even a large number of birds drinking and bathing in it could make quite a difference I would suspect.
Dr. Omodei, have you used Measured Irrigation anywhere that this was a concern, and how was it dealt with? If not… what would be your suggestions for approaching this problem?
Comment by Anthea Hudson — March 12, 2012 @ 3:48 pm
I have not addressed the issue of animals and birds. I have assumed that a user or measured irrigation will install an appropriate mechanism to protect the equipment from interference from local animals and birds. The current version or measured irrigation usesa black plastic container (called an evaporator) in place of the birdbath controller.
Comment by Bernie Omodei — March 14, 2012 @ 9:34 pm
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment