The objective of this research is to determine the different factors causing piping erosion in an orchard with a subsurface drip irrigation system, located in the kibbutz Alumim (Israel). The piping causes are divided into four different aspects of piping, namely: environmental factors, physical factors, chemical factors and management factors. The environmental factors form a great problem in Alumim, the selected plots are located at the outlet of old gullies which still are presumed to be the main drainage flows in the field. The climate can be characterised as semi-arid, with high temperatures and short intensive rainfall events. As for the physical factors, the soil is a clay loam with no evidence of strong deviating horizons for the first sixty centimetres. There is however a correlation between the begin points of the pipes and the height of soil water pressure caused by the subsurface emitters. The chemical factors include salinity and pH values. The ESP and SAR values of the soil are too low compared to the EC values, to cause significant dispersion or swelling. This is similar for the irrigation water. pH values are high but do not cause any problems as they are restricted by the low SAR values. The irrigation system contains a warning system that checks for leaks, this makes the maintenance of the system a lot easier. Thus the causes for piping in Alumim are not exactly known but are presumed to be environmental and physical.