The Effect of Flushing s on Emitter Clogging when Using Sanandaj City's Treated Wastewater

The use of unconventional water resources such as treated wastewater is an important strategy for solving the problem of water crisis. Drip irrigation is considered as the best method for irrigation when using wastewater. Emitter clogging is the most important problem in drip irrigation systems. The emitter clogging reduces the water distribution uniformity and increases the cost and operation time of the system. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of flushing frequencies (monthly flushing and flushing end of season) on the clogging reduction of Micro Flapper, Corona emitters and drip irrigation tape when using treated wastewater of Sanandaj city. For this purpose, a physical model of drip irrigation was designed and made in the laboratory. The results of this study indicated that, clogging rate of emitters increase with time, when using treated wastewater which, the highest and lowest emitter clogging related to Micro Flapper emitter (44.8 percent) and drip irrigation tape (35.1 percent), respectively. The flushing end of season caused clogging reduction of the above mentioned emitters to 2.6 and 25.8 percent, respectively. Also, the results showed that the monthly flushing is the best flushing frequency to reduce the clogging of the emitters and drip irrigation tape. The statistical results indicated that the effect of flushing frequency and the type of emitter on the emitters clogging was statistically significant at one percent level.