Artificial Irrigation: A WorldWideMap

Here is the situation of national comunities about irrigating their crops.


source: Siebert, S.,  Döll, P., Hoogeveen, J., Faures, J.-M., Frenken, K., Feick, S., (2005): Development and validation of the global map of irrigation areas. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 9, 535-547.

Irrigation is a Theme: Movie.

In the race of finding the right chemical compound to enhance field productivity, not every compromise is going to work:
Set in a dystopian world, Idiocracy is a 2006 American satirical science fiction comedy film directed by Mike Judge.
It is the story of two "average Americans", who find themselves in an unlikely future where the standard IQ has lowered so much that they suddenly become considered as the most intelligent persons on the earth. For this reason, they are requested to solve a drought situation in the USA country.
That is when they realise that, instead of water, crops are being irrigated with energetic beverages.

Here is the scene just described.

 

Irrigation is a Theme: Music.

A very important person from the 70s, the Canadian Neil Young, in 2016 released Peace Trail, his 37-th studio album.

At track number 7, John Oaks, he tells the story of a naive farmer, in a country ballad.

In the first verse, the author exploit a scene of farming irrigation as a model of the quiet life to depict the character of his song.

More about the song here.

Shapes and Functions of the Articial Irrigation

The main function of the irrigation process is to be related to the agriculture.

But there is more, other ways this technique can be employed for.

Agricultural Applications

Their main aims are to improve the yield of the fields, that are naturally watered by rainwater or occasional floods. More classifications can be made according to the specific aim of the irrigation or following the methods employed:

Surface instead of Subsurface irrigation:

The former being the most common way since primitive societies were born, is based on canals and banks; the latter depending strictly onto the soil configuration and often the technology available.

Drip irrigation or Sprinkler irrigation:

The first allow for more controlled watering, the last is simply the spraying of water over the fields by means of whatsoever technique involving gauges and sprinklers, with no guarantees about uniform watering.

Dust Control

There exist national regulations regarding the emission of dust in the atmosphere. For example, demolishing a building require to spray the building site with water, while dust is being generated. This way, dust is kept down.

" La valutazione dello stato della qualità dell’aria ambiente è regolata dalle direttive  europee  2008/50/CE e 2004/107/CE e  a livello italiano dal D.Lgs 155/2010 e s.m.i.." 

source: ISPRA.

Mining

During the first stages of mineral mining, there's a process called "leach cycle", which involves irrigation of mineral chunks with a leach solution, to dissolve the valuable mineral and take it apart from the rest. Drip irrigation is preferred not to ruin the material.

Animal Husbandry

This is another field where irrigation techniques are applied. Feeding large amounts of animals requires hydraulic efforts. There can be both open containers both enforced tubes, according to the policy of the breeders.