Draws over real ground
Locate a property, work at true scale, and place infrastructure where it actually sits — not on a blank sheet.
For ranchers, farmers, and contractors
Irrigation design software that starts from your own ground
FieldFlowCAD is browser-based irrigation CAD. Type an address, trace your fields over aerial imagery at true scale, and lay out ditches, pipes, headgates, risers, and ponds. The drawing sizes itself, simulates the water, and prices the work — with no CAD license and nothing to install.
What it is, in one line: a drawing tool that understands irrigation objects. A line is not just a line — it is a 6-inch PVC mainline or a trapezoidal earth ditch with a grade, a capacity, and a cost.
How a plan comes together
- Type the address. Aerial imagery, true scale, contours, soils, and nearby canals and diversions load around the property.
- Draw it or generate it. Trace fields by hand, or start from a complete template — flood, border, basin, furrow, pivot, lateral move, solid set, hand move, district delivery, or residential drip and sprinkler. Each template loads already analyzed.
- Size, simulate, export. Check flow, headgate capacity, set times, and warnings. Turn the water on and watch it run. Hand off DXF, JSON, or PNG.
What the software does
Reads terrain and soils
USGS 3DEP elevation, generated contours, and USDA soil detection inform slope, intake rate, and field water requirement.
Sizes the hydraulics
Ditches, pipes, headgates, turnouts, and risers are sized from the drawing, with velocity, pressure, and grade warnings.
Simulates flow
Open gates and watch live flow totals, gallons, acre-feet, and field application build up. Flow only animates when a valid source actually feeds the segment.
Prices the work
Material lists, repair parts, estimated and actual cost, and work-order budgets come from the same drawing.
Lines up with the record
Pull canals, diversions, parcels, and water-right references from public agency data where it is available.
The engineering behind the numbers
FieldFlowCAD shows its methods instead of hiding them, so a contractor or district engineer can check the work:
- Open ditches use Manning's equation for steady uniform flow in a trapezoidal section, then compare required depth plus freeboard against bank depth. See how to size an irrigation ditch with Manning's equation.
- Pressurized pipe uses Hazen-Williams friction loss plus an editable minor-loss coefficient. See irrigation pipe sizing with Hazen-Williams.
- Headgates and slide gates are modeled as orifices with an editable discharge coefficient (default 0.61, the USBR reference condition). See headgate flow from the orifice equation.
- Pumps run at an editable design point: rated flow, total dynamic head, efficiency, and motor horsepower.
The solver handles directed, branched networks. Looped or multi-source networks, backwater, and transients are outside its scope, and the app fails visibly rather than inventing a flow split.
Planning estimate, not a stamped design. These are steady-state equations. Real accuracy depends on surveyed elevations, current channel and pipe condition, calibrated gate ratings, and pump curves. Verify in the field and get qualified engineering review before final construction or official operation.
Who uses it
- Ranchers and farmers planning a new field, a pipeline conversion, or a headgate replacement before calling a contractor.
- Irrigation and excavation contractors who need a scaled plan, a parts list, and a price the landowner can read.
- Water users inside a district whose district runs WaterOps — registered customers of a subscribed district get full access free.
Common questions
Do I need CAD experience?
No. It is built to be simple enough for someone who has never opened CAD and precise enough for the contractor, water official, and crew who have to build and run the system.
Where are my projects stored?
Projects are local-first: they live in your browser. Server storage is used only when you explicitly share a project or use cloud saves on a membership.
Can I hand the plan to an engineer or agency?
Yes. Export DXF for CAD and GIS, JSON for a full project backup, or PNG for a quick print.
What does it cost?
Your first project is free with no card. Unlimited projects and cost estimates are $19.99 a month or $199 a year. See pricing.
Your first project is free. Your ground is already on it.
Type an address and start drawing. No card, no install.