University of Saskatchewan
College of Agriculture
Time 3 hours /Mechanized Agriculture 309.3
Final Exam / April 1999Marks / Question
1.0 / Do ONE of the following A OR B:
10 / A)
OR / · Describe three (3) groundwater well types (you can use a diagram)
· Explain the differences in geology that distinguish them from one another.
· Which well type(s) would be easiest to construct? Why?
· Which well type would have the highest risk of contamination? Why?
B) / · Describe five (5) methods to improve spring soil moisture levels using snow management.
· How can we ensure the maximum amount of this snow melt is retain as soil water?
· What effect does fall soil moisture conditions have on the benefit obtained from snow melt water?
10 / 2.0 / Do ONE of the following A OR B:
A)
OR / · Give five (5) methods of surface irrigation, provide a brief description of each system and give advantages and disadvantages of each.
· For each type of system listed above, give an example of what crop they would be most suited for.
B) / · Give three (3) methods of subsurface drainage and provide a description of each method.
· Explain some of the legal and environmental considerations you must consider when designing a drainage system.
10 / 3.0 / · Why is groundwater contamination often times worse than surface water contamination?
· What is the difference between non-point and point sources of contamination?
· Give examples of each.
10 / 4.0 / · Give five (5) possible sources of irrigation water.
· For each of the five listed above, list advantages and disadvantages of each.
· Electrical and Internal Combustion motors are the most common source of power for irrigation water pumping. Give advantages and disadvantages of each.
10 / 5.0 / Of the many factors to consider when deciding on whether or not to irrigate a piece of land:
· Name five,
· Why are they important?
· What impact could each have on the economic viability of the proposed irrigation project?
10 / 6.0 / A group gave a presentation and we talked about irrigation water quality.
· List the characteristics of a potential water that could be used to indicated its suitability for use as irrigation water.
· For each item listed indicate the potential effect on soils or crops it may have.
15 / 7.0 / A fruit producer in B.C. asks you if it would be possible to irrigate their orchard from a lake up in the mountains. The surface of the lake is 150 m above the orchard and 4 kilometers away. There is an old plastic 75mm diameter water supply line from the lake that goes by the orchard. The owner of the orchard wants to cut this line and connect it to their irrigation system. If the they regulate the flow in the pipe to deliver 5.5 mm of water per day to the 10-hectare orchard, what would be the expected pressure in the end gun of the irrigation system. Use the following information (refer to attached diagram if required):
· The irrigation system has a 10 m head loss at the flow rate specified.
· Friction loss in a 75 mm diameter plastic pipe is as follows:
Flow (USGPM) / Head Loss (m/100m)
50 / 0.66
75 / 1.10
100 / 2.42
125 / 3.80
150 / 5.15
10 / 8.0 / For any irrigation system:
· What would happen to the required pump power if a larger pipe were used? Why?
· What would happen to the required pump power if the field were further away from the water supply? Why?
· What would happen to the required pump power if the field were higher? Why?
· What would happen to the required pump power if we wanted to put on 6 mm/day of water instead of 8 mm/day? Why?
· What would happen to the required pump power if we used a concrete pipe rather than a plastic pipe? Why?
15 / 9.0 / Give a review of any ONE of the following topics.
· Water Infiltration in No-till and Conservation Tillage Systems (except Englot, Klapak, McNeil and Cutler)
· Livestock Water Quality (except Norheim, Beaujot, Oystryk and Forden)
· Benefits of Proper Residue Management and its Effects on Soil Moisture Conservation (except Clark, Walsh, Cursons, and McCann)
· Snow Management (except Fortin, Duncan, Keeley, and Filson)
· Surface Water Quality (except Cline, Hyshka, Cortus, and Kolibab)
· Groundwater Contamination: Causes Effects, Remediation, and Prevention (except Schmidt, Waldbauer, Hegland, and Laing)
· Waste Management and Utilization (except Toney, Kolla, Wiens and Lang)
· Methods of Trickle Irrigation in the Field and the water quality requirements (except Lindenbach, Beckstrand, Metke, and Guillet)
· Irrigation Systems for Field Irrigation (except Warkentin, Foss, Moebis, and Forrest)
· New Developments in Irrigation (except Fatteicher, Schroeder, Cousin, and Dewan)
· Irrigation Water Quality (except Bligh, Schaan, Ries, and Regush)
· Effluent Irrigation (except Mackenzie, Mercier, Scharf, and Cales)
· Surface and Subsurface Drainage (except Krikau, Kotzer, Kaeding, Bernier, and Henderson)
· Methods of Determining Evapotranspiration (except Minto, Wourms, Weir and Lapa)
Total Marks = 100
1
T.A. Fonstad
MecAg 309 Final Exam
April 1999