BULLETIN OF THE 
C 
No. 126 
Contribution from Office of Experiment Stations, A. C. True, Director 
October 31, 1914. 
(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 
CONCRETE LINING AS APPLIED TO IRRIGATION 
CANALS. 
By Samuel Fortier, Chief of Irrigation Investigations. 
INTRODUCTION. 
An estimate based on the census of 1910 shows that approximately 
74,400,000 acre-feet of water is diverted annually from streams, reser- 
voirs, wells, and other sources of supply in the United States for use 
in irrigation. If this volume were spread over an area the size of 
the State of New York it would cover it to a depth of over 28 inches. 
To convey this amount of water, often from distant sources, and 
distribute it over cultivated lands require a large number of canals 
with capacities varying from several thousand second-feet to a part 
of a second-foot, or a few miner's inches. In the United States, irri- 
gation canals are for the most part excavated in earth, and, except 
in a few cases, a large percentage of the water, estimated at 40 per 
cent of the amount taken in at the heads of the main canals, is lost 
by absorption and percolation along the routes. But allowing for 
water later recovered by lower conduits, the amount that is wholly 
lost may be reduced to 25 per cent. 
The benefits resulting from work in recent years in the lining of 
canals for preventing transmission losses have been marked. 
This publication presents in a summarized form some results of 
seepage measurements and discusses the subject of lining canals 
with concrete as one of the best known means of preventing seepage 
losses. Most of the irrigation canals in this country that have been 
lined with concrete have been examined and the good and bad fea- 
tures of each noted. Construction methods have likewise been 
studied. In brief the main object of the entire investigation has 
been to show, first, the need of an impervious lining and, second, the 
best practice to follow in construction work of this kind. 
Note. — This bulletin treats of the subject of concrete lining for irrigation canals from the standpoints 
of economy, design, and construction. It is intended for the use of irrigation engineers and the managers 
and superintendents of irrigation systems. 
48307— Bull. 126—14 1 
