Economic Assessment of Using Booster Pumps and Hydrant Sectoring in Pressurized Irrigation Networks (Case Study: Kostol Area, Egypt)

For pressurized irrigation networks, the pump station is usually designed to guarantee the required operation head at all hydrants. Such a design usually results in a considerable waste of energy. Significant energy saving may be achieved by using booster pumps at critical hydrants. However, this will increase total capital cost and reduces the net economic benefit. A lot of research work has been carried out to minimize energy consumption, but no comprehensive economic study is available, which includes booster pumps. In the current study, an economic analysis of using a booster pump is carried out. Additional energy savings may be realized by dividing the hydrants into sectors. Four different scenarios are investigated. The proposed methodology is applied to a drip irrigation network at Kostol area, Egypt. The total capital cost increased by about 15.90%. However, this increase can be recovered in about five years through energy saving. Annual energy consumption is reduced by up to 35.6%. It is well understood that these results are constrained by temporal and spatial variations of field data. However, accumulated experience gained by similar studies for different networks and varying costs will provide valuable guidelines for the designers. Research may be extended to include additional operation and maintenance costs, water costs, and crop return value.