Drip irrigation is a well-controlled method of irrigation, in which water and/or fertilizer are applied directly at the roots or root base of plants to ensure a more productive use of both elements in agriculture, landscaping and gardening.
Both the quality and quantity of water being used are important factors today in a world where green trends are slowly taking over, and drip irrigation is one of the most efficient forms of both conserving water and making sure that plants get exactly the amount of quality water they need, directly at the roots.
What makes drip irrigation so useful is that it applies very slow amounts of water either directly at the roots (sometimes as much as four inches below the surface) or directly at the plant basin; drop by drop, so that all the water is consumed by the soil, avoiding unwanted evaporation into the atmosphere.
Each technique that uses drip irrigation should be designed specifically for the location and soil type available, so that in the instance of a very clay prominent soil for example, drip irrigation systems could be much more labor intensive and require far more planning than in a softersoil for example.
Subsurface drip irrigation has shown more and more promise in the recovery and reforestation of extremely arid regions where evaporation is a serious challenge to agriculture or gardening and marks its presence as another sustainable technology trend for 2008.
Extremely arid and sandy soil locations for example depend on slower rates of drip than most systems, and the subsurface drip irrigation in such places can almost be compared to hydroponic techniques but without the traditional recycling of the water, adding water and nutrients directly at the roots in an almost non-nutrient holding media substrate.
It has been observed that such modern subsurface drip irrigation was used with clay piping as early as 1860 in Germany, blending drainage and irrigation systems.
The biggest challenge to this drip system however is the quality of the water being used in irrigation, as even water from the city waterworks, can come with impurities or more importantly, unwanted particles that can cause clogging of the emitters.
The emitters are responsible for making sure this system works properly, injecting drops of water at exactly the proper location and at exactly the proper rate/pressure/quantity.
Drip irrigation uses a pressurized system with extremely efficient water filtration devices to avoid emitter clogging (the weakest link in this system), with backwash controllers as well as often including a fertigation system that mixes liquid fertilizer directly with the irrigation water.
This system can save up to 95% on the amount of fertilizer used and up to 90% on the amount of water used.
Drip irrigation systems can be extremely high-tech or extremely low-tech and have been observed to exist historically, as a form of water management among human civilizations for thousands of years.
The most prominent advance in this area however, occurred only after WWII with the increased industrialized use of non-biodegradable plastics.
The invention of emitter technology by Simcha Blass in 1959 with longer, larger passageways that use friction to slow water inside the emitter was the first successful experimental use of what is now modern drip irrigation technology.
The invent of plastics made hosing, piping and emitter technologies far more versatile for certain, but controls on pumps and valves that register flow rates or quantities of used water also make management and water conservation far more efficient than they ever have been in aeons past.
Drip irrigation has been showing itself as a new trend in home gardening as well, not merely for the convenience offered, but also for the more ecological correctness that it suggests, opening awareness and making sure that plants receive both better water quality as well as precise quantities, at the precise location they most need them, directly at the roots; conserving water and upping yields for a more productive and environmentally friendly tomorrow.
Drip irrigation is just one more way for humans to blend the fascination of their technologies with the harmony of Natures miracle, building a more sustainable future today.
Media:
Tutorials and information on drip irrigation - Includes videos of drip irrigation basics.
