SELECTION OF OPTIMAL CAPACITY OF PUMPS FOR MINOR IRRIGATION PROJECT IN NORTH-EAST BANGLADESH

Abstract

North-East of Bangladesh is famous for Boro (rabi paddy) cultivation. Boro is the single largest consumer of irrigation water. About 90% of irrigation in N-E Bangladesh is done either by lowlift centrifugal pump or by turbine pump. Presently all government subsidy has been withdrawn from irrigation and farmers are selecting and purchasing their own pumps. In most of the cases it is seen that pumps are not selected properly. Improper selection of pump increases the irrigation cost and causes wastage of energy. Farmers have no idea of pump selection and they seek help from field engineers. But due to lack of systematic pump selection technology in the field most of the field engineers cannot help farmers in selecting pump properly. So a systematic package pump selection methodology is needed in minor irrigation schemes of Bangladesh in general and N-E Bangladesh in particular. This study aimed at having such a pump selection methodology. The methodology developed in this study has main five steps. Firstly it gives the methods of determining irrigation requirement and system capacity. Secondly it shows the way of selecting economical power source for a particular local system. Next it describes the methods of defining and designing pumping system economically. Forthly the methodology gives us the method of selection of suitable pump model for a minor irrigation scheme from pumps models available in the market. Finally, it shows us the technique of optimization to select optimal pump for a minor irrigation scheme...