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Drain Depth and Spacing Effects on Water Removal from a Gray-Brown Podzolic Soil¹

ABSTRACT

The effect of two depths and two spacings of drains on tile flow rates and drawdown in a glaciated Ohio soil were evaluated. Drain depths were 2 and 3 feet, and the spacings were 30 and 60 feet.

Flow rates were linearly related to the water table (WT) level at the midpoint between drain lines. Tile flow was more closely related to the position of the WT in the profile than to the height of the WT above the drain, indicating the strong influence of the conductivity profile in drainage. The highest flow rates were obtained from drains at the 2-foot depth; while spacing had no significant influence on maximum flow rates. Drains at the 2-foot depth lowered the WT faster in the upper 18 inches of soil than did those at the 3-foot depth; and drains spaced 30 feet apart were more effective in lowering the WT than those spaced 60 feet. The relative performance of the drains at 2- and 3-foot depths was a result of decreased soil hydraulic conductivity with depth.

Estimates of soil hydraulic conductivity based on drain flow and WT levels showed that the auger hole and the O'Neal methods underestimated the conductivity by factors no smaller than 4 and 2, respectively.

¹ Contribution from the Ohio Agr. Exp. Sta. as Journal Paper No. 97-58. Presented before Div. I, Soil Science Society of America, at Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 21, 1957.

² Assistant Professor in Agricultural Engineering and Associate Professor in Agronomy, respectively. The authors are grateful to Allen P. Leech and Thomas B. Jones for taking most of the field measurements.

Received for publication April 4, 1959. Accepted for publication June 8, 1959.