Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering (IDE)

DEPARTMENT OF IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE ENGINEERING

Department at a glance:

The department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering imparts technical knowledge to the students in the relevant fields of irrigation and drainage. The department has well qualified, highly specialized and experienced faculty to impart education at the UG, PG and PhD levels.  In order to cater to the technical and laboratory requirements, skilled and competent manpower is also available.

Mandates

• Teaching, research and extension activities in the relevant aspects of irrigation and drainage engineering.

• To equip the students in the design, installation and commissioning of irrigation and drainage projects.
• To conduct research to alleviate water scarcity and to improve water use efficiency for sustainable water management in climate change scenarios.
• To provide practical knowledge to students for planning and management of water resources in command areas.

Vision-mission

• On-farm water management.
• Improvement in canal command areas through optimization and modelling.
• Conjunctive use of surface and ground water.
• Decision support system for water management.
• Rainwater harvesting and management.
• Precision farming and protected cultivation.
• Studies on pressurized irrigation systems.
• Use of remote sensing and GIS in water resources management.
• Hydrologic modelling for water resources planning.
• Waste water utilization for agricultural crops.
• Surface and ground water modelling and its interaction studies.

Faculty

Dr. Rema K. P. (Soil and Water Engg.), Professor & Head

Dr. Asha Joseph (Soil and Water Engg.), Professor

Dr. Sajeena S (Soil and Water Engg.), Associate Professor

Dr. Anu Varughese (Soil and Water Engg.), Assistant Professor

Adhoc Faculty:

Dr. Sheeja P.S. , Assistant Professor (Contract )

Dr. Kanthavel P , Assistant Professor (Contract )

Er. Aiswarya L. , Assistant Professor (Contract )

Technical and Supporting staff

Mr. Praveen P., Trade Assistant (Forger and Heat Treater)

Mr. Prajith., Trade Assistant (Pump Operator)

Mr. Surjith C. P., Technician, (Electrician)

Academic Programmes

BTech in Agricultural Engineering

MTech in Agricultural Engineering (Soil and Water Engineering)

PhD in Agricultural Engineering (Soil and Water Engineering)

Courses offered for BTech Programme

Core courses

• Engineering Mechanics
• Fluid Mechanics and Open Channel Hydraulics
• Strength of Materials
• Building Construction and Cost Estimation
• Design of Structures
• Irrigation Engineering
• Sprinkler and Micro Irrigation Systems
• Drainage Engineering
• Ground Water, Wells and Pumps

Elective Courses

• Management of Canal Irrigation System
• Minor Irrigation and Command Area Development
• Water Quality and Management Measures
• Design and Maintenance of Greenhouse
• Landscape Irrigation Design and Management
• Application of Geospatial Techniques in Water Resources
• Environmental Engineering
• Numerical methods in Water Resources
• Irrigation Structures
• Climate Change and Use of Geoinformatics

Student READY programmes

• Skill development training on planning, design and installation of sprinkler and micro-irrigation systems
• In-plant training in the state government departments and ICAR institutes
• Projects in the relevant fields of irrigation and drainage engineering.

Courses offered for MTech Programme
 Major Courses

• Applied watershed hydrology
• Stochastic hydrology
• Flow through porous media
• Remote sensing and GIS for land and water resource management
• Climate change and water resource
• Numerical methods in hydrology

 Minor Courses

• Design of drip and sprinkler irrigation system
• Ground water engineering
• Minor irrigation
• Water resource system engineering
• Dimensional analysis and similitude
• Water quality and pollution control

Courses offered for Ph.D. Programme
 Major Courses

• Advances in hydrology
• Soil and water system simulation and modelling
• Modelling soil erosion process and sedimentation
• Waste water treatment and utilization

 Minor Courses

• Hydromechanics and groundwater modelling

Ongoing Research Projects
 M.Tech. Research

• Modelling soil erosion using RUSLE and GIS for Kadalundi river basin
• Design flood estimation of Pazhassi barrage for effective management of floods
• Climate change impact on irrigation water requirement and crop water productivity of rice
• An IOT-based real time micro-climate monitoring and controlling system for greenhouse

 Ph.D. Research

• Landslide hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment for Chaliyar river basin
• Groundwater assessment and water resource development for Chittur block of Palakkad district in Gayathri sub basin of Bharathapuzha
• Potential site selection for water harvesting in a micro watershed with future water balance perspectives
• Impact of flood on groundwater dynamics in Chalakudy river basin using GIS integrated visual MODFLOW
• Stream flow and sediment yield prediction using machine learning

External aided projects completed

• Evaluation and standardization of a microsprinkler developed by a farmer, funded by KSCSTE
• Studies on augmenting vegetable production by polyhouse cultivation using water and energy-efficient, ecofriendly technologies, funded by Kerala state planning board
• Network project on soil loss estimation and monitoring in the highland ecosystem of Kerala for effective conservation planning, funded by Kerala state planning board
• Annual state plan project 2021-22–station wise funding–strengthening the hydraulics lab, KCAET, Tavanur

Research accomplished

• Subsurface drip irrigation for Lady’s finger for sandy loam soil was evaluated and designed
• Hydraulics and field performance of a farmer-developed novel micro-irrigation system was tested and standardised
• Assessed various evapotranspiration models for the humid-tropical region of Tavanur and identified the best model suitable for the region and their relationship with Lysimeter data were generated
• Water availability and climatic water balance of a selected crop area in Pattambi was established
• Potential sites for water conservation measures were suggested for Manali watershed, Thrissur using GIS and SWAT
• Flood frequency analysis and modelling of flood using HEC-HMS were carried out for sub-basin of Meenachil river
• Mapping inventory and change detection of wetlands of Tavanur Grama Panchayat was developed
• Developed an IOT-based real-time micro climatic monitoring and controlling system for Lady’s finger in greenhouse
• Spatio-temporal groundwater drought assessment was done Kalpathipuzha watershed using ANN & GIS
• Evaluation of low cost lining materials for field channels
• Grey water treatment using constructed wetlands
• Irrigation scheduling studies on soilless culture techniques for vegetable crops
• Suitability of Drip automation systems for optional irrigation scheduling
• Design and development of horizontal recharge filters for groundwater recharge for abandon tube wells
• Comparative evaluation of evapotranspiration parameters in a naturally ventilated polyhouse and open field
• Modelling the impact of landure - landcones changes on the run off processes in Chalakkudy basin using HEC–HMS model
• Conjunctive water management model for a multi crop irrigation command
• Spatial mapping of flood prone areas and risk assessment of Chalakkudy river basin using HEC – HMS and HEC – RAS models
• Landslide prone area rapping and risk reduction for Chaliyar basin
• Site-specific nutrient calculation for precision nutrient management
• Development of automated drip irrigation system
• Modification and evaluation and automated drip irrigation system
• Irrigation planning and management of a canal irrigated command using geospatial tool
• SWAT model development using generated data and assessed the impact land use changes in Kunthipuzha watershed
• Developed methodology for the estimation of soil moisture India’s using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy
• The impact of conservation structures and climate change on water yield in Kunthipuzha water shed
• Developed and evaluated a vertical farming structure for rain shelter cultivation
• The saline water intrusion from Ponnani to Tavanur along the course of river Bharatapuzha was assessed using MODFLOW
• Soil erosion and sediment yield of Kunthipuzha sub-watershed was estimated using SWAT & RUSLE

Extension activities

• Resource personnel for KVK, PFDC and the line departments
• Radio talks

Consultancy/Advisory services

• Planning Board
• Agriculture Department
• LSGD
• Irrigation Department
• Jalanidhi   

Research accomplishments

1. Research papers published in peer reviewed journals: 26 No.s
2. Technologies developed:

• Established a solar powered poly house with irrigation facilities.
• Assessed the future impacts of climate change and watershed developments on river basin hydrology.
• Assessed the expected rainfall amount, climatic water balance and water availability of a selected cropped area.
• Identified potential groundwater zones and developed a transient ground water flow model.
• Developed an automatic pulse irrigation system.
• Developed crop coefficient values and evapo-transpiration parameters of Okra in polyhouse.
• Assessed the impact of land use change on the hydrology of a watershed.
• Hargreaves, open pan and Christiansen models were identified for use in the humid tropical region and their relationship with lysimetric data were generated.
• Assessed the effect of micro climate on the performance of salad cucumber under naturally ventilated polyhouse.
• Assessed the suitability of sensor based automatic drip irrigation system.
• Assessed the irrigation schedules and water & fertilizer use efficiency of salad cucumber under soilless culture.
• Developed a horizontal filter unit for ground water recharge through abandoned tube wells.
• Developed DRS models for the estimation of soil moisture contents at field capacity and wilting point.

Dr. Rema K. P.

Professor & Head

Department of  IDE, KCAET, Tavanur

Mob.: 9446463549