Effect of different water quality parameters on acid requirement to lower the PH of water in drip irrigation

Abstract

Drip irrigation system has been widely used as an efficient application method. But performance of a drip irrigation system using poor quality water is mainly limited by emitter clogging and this discourages farmers to use drip irrigation system as emitter clogging reduce irrigation efficiency. This paper gives the result of laboratory study conducted to determine the amount of acid required to lower pH of water to desired level to prevent emitter clogging. Three ground samples of different pH and chemical composition were used. Three acid HCL (36.5%conc) H2SO4 (98.08% conc.) and H3PO4 (88% conc.) were used to bring the pH to 4.0. Amount of acid required depends on strength of acid used, buffering capacity of irrigation water, pH of irrigation water and on target pH of water. Functional relationships are developed to determine the amount of different acids required per 1000 litre of water.