Water analysis of our borewells

Although this summer has not been the hottest, yet the summer effect was felt due to its dryness. June was a dry month with no rains at all. We have started keeping rain records from last monsoon and almost every month we have experienced light showers or drizzle from last August through May.

Fortunately, our underground reservoirs are in good health with static levels at 15 - 25 ft. After pumping for a couple of hours continuously, level dip down to 100 - 150 ft. However, the recuperation rate is excellent and the original level is attained in 2-3 hours.

While the quantity of underground water has been excellent, quality of a couple of our bores is not upto the mark, with high levels of Sodium and Chloride.

pH of all bores are between 7 and 7.7, which is considered normal. EC is between 1 and 1.6 dS/m , which is considered light saline. TDS range from 200 to 1200, below 500 is considered ideal. Chloride levels range from 3 to 14 meq/L, above 10 is considered injurious to plants.

High levels of chloride has detrimental effect on plants, affecting intake of other nutrients from soil. I will be posting the effect of chloride toxicity on plants in the coming weeks.

It would be great to hear from people in the forum on how to reduce high levels of chloride either at the source or at the tank level. Ideas and suggestions are welcome.
 

Rainfall Trends at Sivaganga

Last August, we started recording rainfall at the Savera Farms. Although the monsoon has been truant for the last 2 years, nonetheless our records should be a good indicator of rainfall trends in the years to come. For those who are unaware, much of Tamil Nadu and this part of the country receives the Winter monsoons starting in November

In August 2013, we had 6 occurrences, primarily light showers between 2 to 4 mm. September was a shade better with 6 rain days with a maximum of 8 mm on one occasion. In October, we had 9 instances of drizzle to showers. Unfortunately, the quantum of rain was not sufficient for that time of the year. While in Novemeber, 11 days of showers were recorded, of which 7 days were consecutive. 14 days of light showers were experienced in December as well with a maximum of 25 mm of heavy rains recorded overnight.

As we progressed into 2014, there were a couple of days of light showers in January as well. It is interesting to note that there were occurrences of drizzle from February through April, a few days each month, maybe to due to climatic changes or the much touted El Nino effect. We saw some decent showers in May with the onset of South west Monsoons, a total of 10 days and 98 mm which was healthy for our horticulture crops.

June was indeed the driest month in the entire year with no rain, soaring temperature and rising electric bill throughout the state. During July, we have recorded decent rains with 48 mm. Aug 2014 has been better than last year with 70 mm of rain spread over a a few spells of mutliple days each. While the meteorology department is predicting a below average monsoon this year, we just hope that the rain gods would be kinder to Sivaganga and our favorable trend for 2014 continues!