Irrigation terms
14-day and 28-day schedules
From April to September, you can receive water approximately every 14 days.
From October to March, you can receive water approximately every 28 days.
Breather pipe or valve
A breather pipe or valve is a tall pipe or valve at the end of a pipeline that allows air to
escape when the pipeline is filling with water. Pipelines that have no method of relieving
this air pressure can be dangerous and could damage the system.
CFS - Cubic Feet per Second
This is the measure of how much water is flowing past a certain point in one second.
1 CFS=448 gallons per minute=40 miner's inches.
Delivery gate
An SRP delivery gate is an opening in the side of a ditch or pipe which controls the
discharge of water into a secondary system. There are delivery gates between laterals
and private systems.
Ditch sequence
SRP assigns a number to each irrigation account. This number, known as a ditch
sequence, determines your place on the schedule sheets.
Ditch-time
Ditch-time is the SRP determined length of time it takes for water to travel from one
point to another within the private irrigation system.
Gauge, staff gauge or weir
This instrument is used to measure the flow of water past a certain point.
Head or head-size
Head is referred to as the quantity of water ordered and delivered to shareholders.
Head-size is measured in miner's inches.
Miner's inch
Miner's inch is a flow rate:
1 miner's inch equals 11.22 gallons per minute.
On order
"On order" is the term SRP uses to indicate that the correct amount of water is
being delivered at the SRP gate.
Shareholder
A shareholder is a landowner within the Salt River Valley Water Users Association
member land service territory.
Short-head
A short-head is when the SRP gate is not delivering the correct amount of water.
Standbox or standpipe
These structures contain the gates which divert the water in your private irrigation system.
Strong-head
If your water delivery is faster or larger in volume than normal, it is referred to as
having a strong head. Strong-heads usually occur when more water is being
delivered than the order required.
Zanjero
A Spanish term meaning ditch-rider, zanjeros are the SRP field employees who regulate
and measure irrigation flow up to the SRP delivery gate.