The Automation Kit for Farm Pond Irrigation is for smallholders with a farm pond and gravity feed drip irrigation from a header tank. Water is pumped automatically from the farm pond to the header tank and your small farm is irrigated automatically by an Unpowered Terracotta Valve. You can leave your farm unattended for weeks on end, and so you can become involved in other activities away from the farm; for example, travelling to the market to sell your produce.
It is assumed that the bottom of the farm pond is no more than 4 metres lower than the irrigation drippers. The water supply pressure from the header tank should be at least 1 metre head.
As well as the User Manual, the kit includes the following two components:
1. Double pump (two pumps connected in series) with an inlet filter, fittings to connect to 19 mm poly pipe, and 9 metres of waterproof electrical cable
2. Unpowered Terracotta Valve (half-inch)
You will need to purchase a 40 watt solar panel to connect directly to the pump (no battery required)
The Unpowered Terracotta Valve can supply water to approximately 400 non-pressure compensating (NPC) drippers on flat land (assuming that each dripper has a flow rate of 2 L/H at 100 kPa). If your farm requires more than 400 drippers, you can subdivide your farm into zones with up to 400 drippers per zone (each zone has a separate Unpowered Terracotta Valve). The Unpowered Terracotta Valve can be purchased separately from the Measured Irrigation website.