Water Must Be Tested Before Installation Of Tube Well,turbine

MULTAN, Dec 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th Dec, 2016 ) : Farmers must get ground water tested through Electric Resistivity Meter (ERM) before installation of tube well or turbine as installation at a site where ground water was brackish would be a waste of resources.

The Electric Resistivity Meter (ERM) is a device utilised to assess quantity and quality of ground water and its depth, says a release issued by media liaison unit of Punjab agriculture department on Friday.

The ERM is placed at the site and current is passed inside the ground through wires and then this device indicates the moisture resistance and the resistivity value helps farmers assess at what depth the water is available.

Shortage of canal water in south Punjab has forced farmers to meet the 50 per cent deficiency of water through tube wells. The persisting drought situation and dependence on tube wells has dropped the ground water level and now over 70 per cent tube wells were delivering brackish water that was limiting the soil capability to produce higher production.

This loss turns huge when assessed at the macro level and the problem must be addressed immediately, the agriculture spokesman said. Experts recommended that ground water analysis should be declared mandatory before installation of tube wells.

ERMs are available with the agriculture engineering department at district level and engineers perform the test, experts said adding that farmers must avail this service to know about the nature of ground water layers.

Agriculture engineering department charge only Rs 3,900 for a survey at a site and it would help farmers save their resources and time. The department has completed survey of over 4000 sites in Multan region so far and ratio of success was over 90 per cent, the release concluded.