Improving the carrying capacity of irrigation canals: Al-Tawfiky diversion

Abstract

The morphological changes in the irrigation channel cross-section affect its hydraulic efficiency and carrying capacity with time. Periodic maintenance activities are applied to reach maximum carrying capacity. In many cases, removing the total amount of deposit inside canal cross-section above the design bed level is not the optimum maintenance solution hydraulically and economically. Additional discharge must be applied to canal intake to achieve the design water level. Al-Tawfiky Diversion is one of the main irrigation canals in the Delta region. It extended with a length of 175 km to serve 716,540 feddan. The study encloses the first reach from intake to km 36.400 upstream Jamjara regulator. This research aims to detect the most inefficient reaches along the selected study canal reach based on the actual characteristics of the surveyed canal cross-sections, and identifying the most proper maintenance scenario hydraulically and economically. Three hundred and fifty-one cross-sections along the study reach were surveyed. The different hydraulic parameters of these cross-sections were calculated. The data was analyzed and criterion for detecting the most inefficient sub-reaches was introduced. An empirical equation connecting the applied maintenance activities with channel conveyance was deduced. A mathematical model for the study reach was built and calibrated using (SOBEK-1D) to evaluate the proposed four maintenance scenarios.