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Water Science Pictures
Irrigation: Measuring how much water is being used

To a farmer (and also to the hydrologist conducting an irrigation study), water for irrigation is very important. It takes work and money to get water from a stream or out of the ground onto the crop fields, so farmers are always looking for ways to irrigate more smartly. Crops must be irrigated at just the right times with the right amount of water for best results. That means knowing how much water one is supplying to the fields.

One common irrigation method is to use an electric pump to send or spray water onto crops. A simple way for a farmer (or for the hydrologist) to estimate how much water is being used is to multiply the length of time the pump is running by the number of gallons of water that the pump can supply per minute.

The picture shows a DVTT -- a Digital Vibration Time Totalizer. It is simply a clock that only runs when it is being shaken! In this picture, the little black pad is attached to the pipe to detect when the pipe is vibrating, which is when the irrigation pump runs and water goes through the pipes. The DVTT is attached to the pipe and records how long the pump is running -- giving the farmer or hydrologist a good estimate of how much water is used for irrigation.