I am new to farming, planning to take farming as full time profession. We have 10 acres of land irrigation of this land is depended on water from two wells. we have two small wells, one is 30*25 ft and other is of 30 *35 ft size. Currently water available from wells is not sufficient for land. We generally cultivate sugarcane. We want to enlarge these wells and also want to build concrete rings around wells. Conventional method to complete this activity is to contact local well diggers, tell them size of wells we require and build concrete rings.
Please anybody can help me by commenting:
whether my approach is correct?
What size of wells is optimum, we should enlarge circumference or increase depth?
is there any method so that water availability will increase?
is there any supporting infrastructure to wells I should consider ?
is there any better alternative than enlarging the well size?
Any other information you think importnant for us.
Please let me know if any additional information is required.
Approach 1: Instead of going for Sugarcane, think whether it is possible to diversify a portion of the land to other crops which require less water as Sugarcane is known to guzzle large amounts of water.
Approach 2: Instead of creating more wells or deepening them, think whether it is possible to go for Rain Water Harvesting using ponds as Water Storage method. Before going for this method, calculate your water requirements and appropriately plan your ponds Length, Width & Depth. You can even go for multiple ponds if required.
Approach 3: Coming to your wells, wells are created as they get filled up with underwater reservoirs after sufficient water is taken out. Understand the speed with which this happens and plan your pumping of water accordingly.
Water in the Borewell or Open Well etc. is not available from any River / Lake / reservoir, water coming into the borewell aquifer are all flowing sources which is based on the natural Hydrogeological Cycle (Refer Fig. Below) of the region, and as such, we get the per hour yield from the borewell. Water aquifers are usually recharged from local sources of precipitation. Confined aquifers, however, frequently receive recharge many miles from the well.
You have two surface wells of limited depth, I would suggest you to drill horizontal bores in your Open Well. Drilling horizontal bores in your open will give you following benefits -
Increase the Catchment area of your wells.
By drilling horizontally you are increasing the diameter of the incoming water source in your borewell, as such, the incoming
speed of the water will be increased & so will the quantity of water.
Yours is a surface well as such during the monsoon time your well will receive recharge from the rain water falling on your land & because of the increased catchment area of your well by drilling horizontal bores you would ultimately harvest reasonable water volume for your round the year water requirement.
1" rain in 1 sq.ft. = 3 ltrs of rain water.
Average Rainfall of Kolhapur = 40 inches (approx.)
As such, Rainwater available per sq.ft. = 40 inches x 3 ltrs = 120 litres per sq.ft.
your land 10 acres: 1 acre = 43,000 sq.ft. (approx.)
Therefore, 10 acres x 43,000 sq.ft. = 4,30,000 sq.ft.
Total Rain Water available on your plot = 4,30,000 sq. ft. x 120 litres
= 5,16,00,000 litres each year
Water availability each day if total volume of Rain Water harvested = 5,16,00,000 litres / 365 days
= 1,41,369 litres per day.
You may also harvest Rain Water from other plots flowing from your land & also such rain water will percolate into the land & flow towards the depressions & lower elevations i.e. your Open Surface wells.
By synchronizing this natural cycle of water with your existing Open Surface wells you make “Nature to Work” for you, which will reap you benefits for the lifetime.
One time reasonable cost of drilling - cheaper than any concrete works or excavating well deep; cost for installing the basic infrastructre for RWH - One Time COST.
Sugarcane crop requires certain amount of moisture for the growth at various stages, with horizontal bores you are extending the moist within your farm land as water with its own weight percolates & moves through the earth.
Natures job Human beings cannot do & We need to" Make Nature to Work"
May you have any queries Please feel free to contact me at any time.
You have two surface wells of limited depth, I would suggest you to drill horizontal bores in your Open Well. Drilling horizontal bores in your open will give you following benefits -
Increase the Catchment area of your wells.
By drilling horizontally you are increasing the diameter of the incoming water source in your borewell, as such, the incoming
speed of the water will be increased & so will the quantity of water.
Yours is a surface well as such during the monsoon time your well will receive recharge from the rain water falling on your land & because of the increased catchment area of your well by drilling horizontal bores you would ultimately harvest reasonable water volume for your round the year water requirement.[/quote]
Dear Sir,
Could you please expand on the concept of horizontal drilling.
Horizontal drilling mostly referred as slant drilling, is used in places like oil lines or gas lines where each point needs to be connected horizontally.
In this concept, the rig is attached to a hydraulic linear motor/actuator which rotates and moves the drill bit linearly (horizontally) or at an angle.
There are quite a few companies in India who do this and Delhi based M/s Trenchless Engineering Services is one of the experts in this field.
@ Prabhakar
Rainwater harvesting as discussed ofcourse will be of immense help and a must do thing. You can also have recharge pits constructed near the wells.
Also, as per your mentioned well sizes you have a full scale storage capacity of 10lakh odd liters. So first estimate if at all you need water hold more than this capacity. If yes build new wells/dig bore.
Ideally you should first be doing this. If this storage itself is sufficient , identify ways to have these well’s filled.
And ofcourse judicious use of water plus using water conservative irrigation technologies will definitely help you in the long run.
Borewells may also be oriented Horizontally or sub-horizontally in areas of high relief where fractures and joints are vertical or where groundwater occurs as perched water above an impermeable outcropping bed or is trapped behind dykes or other vertical barriers.
The Horizontal borewells are preferably aligned normal to the fractures for intercepting mximum no.s of such fractures for a given length of borehole. These wells are free flowing, MS or pvc (screen)casing may be inserted upto the borewell length if the rock formation is highly fractured etc. to protect the well from caving in.
