The intensive treatment of irrigation water required for the proper operation of drip irrigation systems is presently an accepted practice. To control emitter clogging, we need to know the basic causes of clogging. The major clogging factors have been identified and control measures developed to prevent emitter malfunction. All emitter clogging problems, however, have not been solved primarily because of cost. The main approach to control clogging is proper water treatment. The type of treatment is based on the quality of the irrigation water, which can be classified in terms of its physical, chemical and biological composition. The causes of emitter clogging and possible water treatment and preventive measures to maintain reliable operation are reviewed.
Water quality and emitter cloggingDrip irrigation in the mid-1960's through mid-1970's was considered an emerging technology with its application limited only to high-priced, specialty crops. Today it is used on a wide variety of crops, even those that were initially considered unprofitable for management under drip irrigation.Through careful nurturing, drip irrigation has grown into a stable and economically significant part of the farming community which has also had great impact on the irrigation and associated industries. In its infancy some difficult and seemingly unsolvable problems were encountered in operating drip/trickle systems particularly those related to the clogging of emitters. Also during this period, numerous inventors and entrepreneurs sold various types of "non-clogging" or "self-cleaning" emitters which were promised to solve the most serious problem of emitter plugging, but unfortunately did not adequately do so. The clogging problem, if not properly solved, would have resulted in the complete rejection or Offprint request to: E S. Nakayama severe restriction of a promising, efficient method of irrigation and water conservation.Work on improving drip system operations went along two different directions, independent, but closely in touch with one another. One group concentrated on improving the hydraulic operation of the emitters; the other focused on studying the clogging process and from such knowledge developing procedures for alleviating the clogging problem. The main conclusion drawn from the latter type of studies is that clogging is closely related to the quality of water used in the drip system, e.g.
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