Question
Hi!
I`m a horticulturist from southern india, i own a farm measuring 5 hectares which has been planted with 900 mango trees, 2500 teak trees and 700 palm (oil) trees.
The wheather is very sub tropical, and the land consist maily of laterlite soil which is heavily leached of nutrients in the monsoon season.
weeding too is a problem.
The land is situated at a slope, its uneven at places, no perfect plain is present, i`m planning to drip irrigate all my plants to have a better yield and control weeding.
though i planned to drip irrigate directly from the open well situated at the slope end of the field, the plans seems not feasible. as large amount of power is required and moreover the uneveness of the land will create uneven distribution of water.
So i have planned to construct a Large water tank at the upmost slope of the field and then irrigate with the drip irrigation. for its more feasible to pump the water from the down slope and store it in tank and later irrigate on gravity which would help in a better distribution of water.
I want to build a tank which can hold upto a.100000 litres b.250000 litres. i`m unable to find the right designs or correct architecture to get a plan to implement.
I`m sorry for the bad english too.
Kindly enlighten me in this regard.
Thanking you,
Roopesh Sankolli
India.


Answer
Hello. No need to apologize for your English. It is fine. I speak 3 languages, so I understand it is difficult to translate some words.

My first question is what type of construction material do you have available to build the water tank? Concrete, plastic or could you just dig a small pond and place a rubber liner in it to hold your water. In the USA, concrete is the most costs efficient. You would need to use a concrete sealer on the inside walls and floor. We have a product named 揟huro-seal? It requires 2 or 3 layers to seal the concrete and does a wonderful job of holding water.
The irrigation will need precise pressure regulation as it flows down the slope. You want to keep the pressure the same for all drip emitters, which will require a pressure regulator at no more than 4 meters of drop in elevation. I would suggest separating the different plant varieties into independent zones. Each type of plant has a different water requirement at each stage of growth. When the mango trees are ready to harvest you may want to give them more water to increase the weight of the fruit. The teak trees may not need the extra water at that time. In that case you are wasting the water on the teak trees. Drip irrigation provides the grower with total control over a plants life and production by manipulating the water supply.
If you could give me a few details of your available construction materials and the elevation of the property I can help you more. You can give information in meters. Also what sizes of pipe are you planning to use and type of emitter.

Thank for your great question,

Matt