Technical and Economical Evaluation of Seepage in Darab Irrigation Canals

The distance between water resources and farms is considerable in most of the agricultural lands in Fars Province. Canal lining decreases the water seepage in traditional irrigation canals. In the present study, the seepage values were measured in three traditional and cement-lined canals at Darab plain in three replicate. Ponding method was used for the seepage measurements. Results showed that the canal lining decreases theseepage rate about 85 to 97 percent in different conditions. For traditional canals, about 3 to 7 percent of the canal discharge decreases as seepage loss, while after lining, the canal discharge losses were less than 0.6 percent. Therefore, it can be concluded that the canal lining projects have had a significant influence on seepage loss decrease. Economical studies showed that the canal lining in all the three studied canals were economical.