Irrigation Structures & Water Management

Hydrau-Tech specializes in the design and management of hydraulic structures such as irrigation dams, spillways, river basins and water conveyance structures. They also analyze river and reservoir sedimentation, river geomorphology and environmental management of sedimentation with physical and numerical models in addition to software developed by Hydrau-Tech.

Hydrau-Tech provides services including:

  • Modeling of various aspects of dam hydraulics and sedimentation
  • Water resources planning/management
  • Physical and numerical modeling of hydraulic structures
  • Irrigation water management
  • Environmental river mechanics/engineering
  • Hydrology and drainage design (storm/sewer)
  • Water distribution system design
  • Agricultural Hydraulics
  • Modeling of complex channel networks
  • Numerical modeling of rivers, reservoirs, and watersheds
  • Experimental and numerical modeling of scour and hydraulics at hydraulic structures
  • Erosion and sedimentation
  • River mechanics and river morphology
Relevant Projects:
Design of Hydropower Systems
  1. Alfalfal Hydroelectric Project, Chile (1986-87)

Responsible for planning, selection, designs and drawings, procurement specifications for international bidding, and cost estimates for hydromechanical equipment including spillway gates, flushing sluice gates, gravel excluder gates, automatic desander system, power tunnel intake gates, draft tube gates, trash racks and screens, and all operating equipment and control systems.  Most of the systems were designed for remote control operation as well as automatic mode operations.  The power plant is an underground type.  Also designed hydraulic oil operated control systems, stoplogs, bulk heads, monorail hoists, gantry cranes, and trashracks for the above equipment.

  1. Sardar Sarovar Irrigation and Hydroelectric Project, India

World Bank consultant for the mighty Sardar Sarovar Project including large spillway radial gates 60-feet-wide and 56.7 feet-high, large number of canal gates, and automation for the longest canal system in the world with 40,000 cubic feet per second capacity.   Coordinated design and canal automation for over 400 tainter gates on the largest canal system in the world.  Responsible for planning, selection, hydraulic, structural as well as mechanical designs of gates and operating equipment and all ancillaries required to ensure successful automation for the world’s largest canal automation project.

  1. Kadambarai Pump Storage Project, India (1988)

As UNDP Consultant, advised Chennai State Electricity Board on the hydromechanical equipment operation and problem solving for the 600 MW, 300 meter head underground pump-storage project.

  1. Alto Yaque Bao Hydroelectric Project, Ecuador

Performed detailed waterhammer analysis, sizing of penstocks and surge shafts, and sizing of powerplant units for three underground powerplants of 145 MW capacity, 1,540-foot head.  The power tunnel system included a 6.75-mile power tunnel and a 7.5-mile trans-basin pressure tunnel and Pelton turbines.

  1. Batutegi Dam and Hydropower Plant, Indonesia

For Nippon Koei performed designs, specifications, drawings, tender documents, tender analysis, review of shop drawings and contractor’s submittals for all hydromechanical equipment including turbines, governors, penstocks, gates, and valves, penstocks including bifurcations for 70 m head hydropower plant and irrigation outlet works.  Coordinated hydraulic model tests for the penstocks, bifurcations and Butterfly and Fixed cone valves at the University of Graz in Austria and design coordination with Noell in Germany. Responsible for  the designs and drawings for  3.0 meter diameter penstocks, steel liners, bifurcations under maximum head of 140 meters. Proved by model studies that Biplane or flow through butterfly valves can be used in high velocity outlets, which was accepted by Noell,Germany and used successfully first time in the world..

  1. Jiguey Hydroelectric Project, Dominican Republic

Principal mechanical engineer for investigating and preparation of initial reservoir filling and testing for gates, penstocks and power tunnels.

  1. Mattengang Pump Storage Project, Indonesia

Responsible for planning, selection and costing of hydromechanical equipment for 500 MW and 1,000 MW pump turbines, spherical valves, penstocks, bifurcations, crane and other auxiliary equipment for 1,600-foot head pumped storage project.

  1. Mayush Hydroelectric Project, Peru

Responsible for planning, selection, designs, drawings, and procurement specifications for international bidding, cost estimates, and contract documents for various types of hydromechanical equipment for the project, including automation of spillway gates, de-sanders, flushing sluice gates, gravel excluder gates, and gates for power waterways and tunnels and trash screens.

  1. Magat Hydroelectric Project, Philippines

Responsible for checking manufacturer’s designs and drawings for large 52-foot-wide by 65-foot-high spillway radial gates, hoists and pre-stressed anchorages for Magat Dam of National Irrigation Administration in the Philippines.

  1. Nan River Hydroelectric Project, Thailand.

Conducted detailed checking and approval/ coordination with contractors and site office, and all detailed designs and drawings for:

  • Spillway Radial Gates
  • Fixed Wheel Intake and surge tank Gates
  • High Pressure Outlet Gates
  • Intake Stoplogs, Trashracks, Gate Shaft Elevator
  1. Pantabangan Hydropower Plant, Philippines

Responsible for turbines, penstocks, intake trash racks turbine governors, inlet valves, E.O.T cranes, draft tube gates for the power plant and shop assembly and shop tests at Mitsubishi in Japan. Designed 6.0 meter diameter steel liners, penstocks and bifurcations under a maximum head of 450 feet including waterhammer.

  1. Upper Pampanga Irrigation and Hydroelectric Project, Philippines

Responsible for designs, drawings, and hydraulic model tests for all gates (including high head, bonnetted slide and fixed wheel), hoists and controls as well as penstocks, and intake trash racks Prepared detailed operation and maintenance manual and pro­cedures. Directed hydraulic model studies for the high-head penstock and outlet gates in Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) laboratories in Yokohama, Japan.  Designed 6-meter-diameter penstocks and bifurcations under a head 140 meters.

  1. Project Management for licensing and design of 4 MW run-of-river hydroelec­tric project in Kauai, Hawaii, USA

Project included economic studies and optimization of project size and location, optimization of penstock size and material, optimization of tur­bine/generators, and development of construction plans and specifications. We secured required federal, state and local permits.

  1. Sacramento Municipal Utility District in The Geysers, California, USA

Project Management for licensing, design, expediting and inspection, and construction management of 73 MW geothermal powerstation.

  1. Marble Valley Pump Storage Hydroelectric Project of Virginia Electric and Power, USA

Conducted hydraulic computations for the evaluation of operations and reservoir circulation.

  1. Cabin Creek Hydroelectric Pumped Storage Project for Public Service Company of Colorado, USA

Designed the upper reservoir intake for the project.

Design of Irrigation Systems
  1. Sardar Sarovar Irrigation and Hydroelectric Project, India

World Bank consultant for the mighty Sardar Sarovar Project including large spillway radial gates 60 feet wide and 56.7 feet high, large number of canal gates, and automation for the longest canal system in the world with 40,000 cubic feet per second discharge capacity.  Coordinated design and canal automation for over 400 tainter gates on the canal system.  Responsible for planning, selection, hydraulic, structural as well as mechanical designs of gates and operating equipment and all ancillaries required to ensure successful automation for the world’s largest canal automation project.

  1. Sidereja-Cihaur Irrigation and Drainage Project, Indonesia

Overall technical supervision of canal and drainage flap gate installations. Developed specifications and installation recommendations for a large array of main and secondary canal gates and tidal gates of different types.  Inspected Ni-Resist flap gates in Ham and Baker Workshops in Birmingham UK.

  1. Recreta Project, Peru

Design engineer for Recreta Dam and Irrigation Project.  Prepared hydraulic designs, drawings, technical specifications, and cost estimates for the irrigation outlets and intakes including gates and appurtenances.

  1. Egypt Water Use and Management Project (EWUP), USAID, Egypt (1977 – 1984)

In this project, a team of Colorado State University engineers cooperated with the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Agriculture staff.  Aging sections of the Egyptian irrigation canals that were built in the early 1900’s were redesigned and automated.

  1. Egypt Irrigation Improvement Project (EWUP), USAID, Egypt (1988 – 1996)

In this continuation project, the Colorado State University engineers residing in Egypt continued their work with the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Agriculture.  Canal automation using self-adjusting downstream-controlled gates was applied to irrigation canals.  Modeling of these systems, design and construction of civil works continued.

  1. Dumpil Irrigation Project, Indonesia

Responsible for planning, selection, tender designs, drawings, and procurement specifications for bidding for irrigation canal gates for diversions through canal headworks and sediment ejector operations and for large size spillway/barrage gates, hoists, hoist bridges, stoplogs, and gantry cranes.  Prepared design criteria and O&M manuals.  Project Manager for Dumpil spillway and canal system gate automation which was successfully completed using state-of-the-art technology and microprocessor and fiber optics. The project is unique as it had no upstream dams and hence the automation had to respond to the vagaries of river floods spontaneously.

Improving Irrigation Water Management
  1. National Water Resources Management (NWRM) project, 2014, SDC funded, Tajikistan

Pilot irrigation technology projects were designed to demonstrate improved irrigation management to water users, water user associations (WUAs), and district-level irrigation system officials. The technologies proposed for demonstration are: drip irrigation for production of fruit and vegetable crops; short-furrow irrigation; laser leveling for surface irrigation and proper sizing of irrigation systems; installation of flow measurement structures within pilot WUAs to introduce volumetric water delivery to farmers; construction of flow measurement structures at the head of secondary canals for volumetric water delivery to WUAs; SMS-based flow monitoring system within WUAs; SMS-based flow monitoring system for measuring flows to WUAs. In addition, a series of training modules for water users, WUAs and irrigation officials were designed for improving their capacity to manage water better.

  1. Water Users Associations Development Support Project, 2013-2014, World Bank funded, Azerbaijan

Excel-based WUA water use plans and water distribution plans were developed, and more than 40 WUAs were trained in implementing these improved procedures. The same WUAs were trained in improved on-farm water management practices also.

  1. SMS-based Flow Monitoring System, 2014, funded by USAID, Tajikistan

Designed an innovative SMS-based flow monitoring system for the Lower Kafarnihon River Basin consisting of more than 20 WUAs. This included design (and construction in the near future) of several flow measurement structures on irrigation and drainage channels in order to calculate the volume of water delivered to each WUA within the river basin. This proposal would be submitted for funding from World Bank or ADB in the near future.

  1. Integrated Water Resources Management – Fergana Valley Project, 2010-2013, SDC funded, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

WUAs were established based upon hydrographic principle, and flow measurement structures were installed at the head of all the secondary canals that supply water to WUAs and the main canal operations were partially automated/computerized, in order to monitor flows delivered to WUAs and improve equity in water distribution to WUAs, estimate water conveyance losses in the main canals, and minimize system operational losses. In addition, within the territories of some selected WUAs, flow measurement structures and gates were installed at key locations for improved water control.

  1. Water Productivity Improvement at Plot Level Project, 2010-2013, SDC funded, Fergana Valley (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan)

Designed a public-private partnership for irrigated agricultural extension in the Fergana Valley of Central Asia, for irrigated agriculture knowledge transfer from the state funded agricultural research centers to farmers. This facilitated a two-way communication between the researchers and farmers. We worked with 15 ((5 in each country) different government organizations and NGOs). Region specific information on improved irrigated agricultural practices was disseminated through TV talk shows, brochures, booklets, and pamphlets, and through Farmer Field Schools.

  1. Egypt Water Use and Management Project (EWUP), USAID, Egypt (1977 – 1984)

Through the Egypt Water Use and Management Project, an interdisciplinary team management at Colorado State University was initiated.  Similarly, by introducing interdisciplinary teams to Egypt, efforts of the Ministries of Irrigation and Agriculture were combined.  The interdisciplinary team assessed the irrigation capacities of various components of the system.  This changed management of the canal systems, changed management and water supply of farm channels, assisted in initiating land leveling, and farmer organizations.  Impacted cotton yields by 40%, rice yields by 25%, and started a farm-water management program.  Presently Egypt is carrying out a national irrigation improvement program of several hundred million dollars that grew out of the EWUP Project.

  1. Water Management Synthesis I & II Projects, 1978 – 1988, USAID funded, Global

Through WMS developed Diagnostic Analysis of Irrigation Systems approach (DA), workshops on  DA of Irrigation Systems were conducted in several different countries in Asia and Africa, to train water management professionals in this approach and methodology to improve performance of irrigated agriculture in developing countries. This is a multi-disciplinary, field-oriented approach for identifying the root causes of problems faced by irrigation schemes in developing countries, and search for solutions, and implement the solutions and monitor the performance again. This is a cyclical process. The same approach evolved into a much comprehensive approach called Management Improvement Process for Irrigated Agriculture, and has been successfully applied for improving performance of irrigation systems in Arizona.

  1. On-Farm Water Management Research Project, 1972 – 1976, USAID funded, Pakistan

Conducted initial studies and identified program of on-farm water management in Pakistan contradicting the published reports and policies of Pakistan, numerous donor agencies, and international consulting firms.  The programs initiated by the project have resulted in several billion dollars of investment by the Government of Pakistan and international donors. Presently, an organization of over 1,100 people carries out an on-going program in on-farm water management in all four provinces of Pakistan.  No program existed when the project started.

Rehabilitation of Irrigation Infrastructure
  1. National Water Resources Management (NWRM) Project, 2014, SDC funded, Tajikistan

Conducted irrigation infrastructure needs of approximately 45 WUAs (36 in Khoja-Bakirgan River Basin, and 10 in the Aksu River Basin) receiving water from 7 main canals (4 in the K-B basin, and 3 in the Aksu basin), and the canal networks that supply water to these WUAs, and prepared a prioritized list of infrastructure elements to be rehabilitated, along with the tentative cost of rehabilitation.

  1. Family Farming Program Project, 2013-2014, USAID funded, Tajikistan

Conducted a survey for identifying locations for flow installation of measurement structures, gathered channel geometry data, and designed more than 50 flow measurement structures, and provided the budget for construction of these structures. In addition, a SMS-based flow monitoring system was designed for monitoring flows delivered to 26 WUAs in the Lower Kafarnihon Basin.

  1. Water Users Associations Support Project (WUASP), 2006-2008, USAID funded, Kyrgyzstan

Assisted in the identification of priority irrigation infrastructure needs of 28 WUAs in the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan.

  1. Water Users Associations Support Project (WUASP), 2006, USAID funded, Uzbekistan

Assisted in the identification and rehabilitation of priority irrigation infrastructure in 24 WUAs in four Provinces of Uzbekistan: Bokhara, Samarqand, Jizzak and Namangan.

  1. Sprinkler Irrigation Infrastructure Assessment Study, 2004, funded by USAID, Moldova

Participated, as an irrigation engineer in a 6 member multi-disciplinary team, to assess the condition of the existing sprinkler irrigation infrastructure in the country and provide recommendations for rehabilitation of the infrastructure.

  1. Assessment of Sprinkler Irrigation Infrastructure in Romania, 2002-2004, USAID funded, Romania

Conducted a detailed irrigation infrastructure needs assessment of two sprinkler irrigation schemes in Romania: Tecuci-Nicoresti (11,000 ha), and Sadova-Corabia (40,000 ha). The assessed infrastructure for each irrigation scheme consisted of a pumping station on a river, pipeline (with surge tank) to transport water to a higher elevation and empty the water into a storage reservoir, canal system to convey water to different WUAs, and an underground pipe network to distribute water within each WUA, and hydrants and above ground lateral pipes with sprinklers for application of irrigation to crops.