Agricultural Water Intelligence for a Smarter Growing Season

Water is a perennial concern and its scarcity has a huge impact on food production. The latest drought has exposed farming’s growing vulnerability to water shortages, particularly where groundwater reserves are inadequate and climate change is expected to make severe droughts more likely. Without water, farmers do not have a means of maintaining a prosperous production cycle and providing for the increasing demand. The trouble is that most farmers do not know how much water they have. Imagine if there was a product that painted a better picture of how much water was available to you...

Information leads to better planning and better decisions.

Eno Scientific's goal is to provide a simple method to obtaining vital water information that expands the areas of Agriculture to increase the amount of crops being produced. The Well Watch 670 water level indicators are simple to install and non contact so there is no risk to the well's quality and infrastructure. It is about turning well level measurements into useful data that can help farmers/growers respond to changing climates, markets and technological opportunities. You can use the data from smart water level meters to understand how much water you have available in order to increase the number, efficiency and quality of the crops grown.

Water Intelligence puts the power back in your hands.

• Understand water levels during peak usage, daily usage and seasonal changes.
• Make more informed decisions on how many acres to plant
• Plan for next growing season based upon historical water data
• Better water contingency planning
• Graph long term levels to understand the strength of your Aquifer
• Identify ahead of time if your wells need to be drilled deeper
• Share data with Water Professionals and Government agencies
• Use data to support unnecessary water restrictions

The value of ground water is increasing; Agricultural use is a necessity.

Especially in water-stressed areas, the primary strategy has been to impose watering restrictions and conservation measures. New groundwater legislation, local initiatives, and State mandates provide opportunities to strengthen resource management and develop equitable usage strategies. Groundwater level monitoring is key to providing accurate data to support appropriate agricultural water management motives. The goals are to supply water where it is needed most without endangering the lifeline of American farmers.

Why Sonic Over The Others?

Every well owner/operator has a responsibility to monitor the water levels in the well they are using, whether for personal or community use, to comply with State regulations or for scientific monitoring. There are several methods to acquiring this data, each with its own benefit and issues. Providing accurate data with economical and efficient equipment has driven people to search for a better method, hence the sonic technology movement.

Sonic meters monitor  levels by sending a low frequency sound pulse into a well which reflects off the water's surface. It then performs a time distance measurement on the reflection to provide a reading in feet and inches. These meters which are available in portable or permanent configurations, mount easily in the vent hole of the well, do not require anything to be lowered into the well and will provide accurate readings in seconds. Sonic meters, such as the Eno Scientific Well Sounder 2010 PRO and Well Watch 670, also include a built in data logger for simple and complete data collection with the ability for long term monitoring and telemetry integration.

People frequently confuse the term 'sonic' with the 'ultrasonic' meters that are also non contact level indicators. These methods are distant cousins in the sound spectrum family. Where the Sonic meters are low frequency, the Ultrasonic meters are very high frequency, similar to a laser beam. The long waves of the Sonic units have the ability to travel around corners, through coils of pipe and around obstructions in the well making them very versatile. The Ultrasonic meters are very directional and require line of sight to the object they will be measuring. Ultrasonic meters are beneficial for measuring short distances where they are not contained, such as tank or open surface water level measurements. The Sonic meters must be contained in a relatively small diameter space, 12” and below, or can be contained in a sounding tube for larger diameter wells.

Another method for taking measurements are water level tapes. These come in a variety of styles and are commonly used for taking measurements of various wells. They are basically a rolled up tape measure with built in conductor wires. When the tape measure hits water the wires are bridged and the tape beeps to alert the user to the presence of water. The issue is that there can be multiple places in a well where water enters the casing and any one of these entrance points can cause the wires to bridge and the tape to beep causing a false reading. Most wells are also outfitted with pumps, wiring, stabilizers, etc and the process of weaving an object down through this equipment can be very difficult. Some wells have only a fraction of an inch of available space to operate in and if the tape gets stuck it has to be cut off and replaced. Not a big deal if you don't mind random tape pieces in your well and the expense of buying a new tape every time this happens (note: water level tape prices vary on length, a 300' tape can cost as much as a Sonic meter that can measure down to 4000') In addition, if the tape is not properly sterilized between wells it can cause cross contamination. The tapes are also only useful for manual readings which can be time consuming depending on the depth to water and there is no data logger so I hope you bring a pen and paper.

Pressure transducers are a submersible method which requires a pressure sensor to be lowered down into the well and left for long term monitoring. The benefit of transducers are the level of accuracy they provide however they are costly and have similar limitations to the level tapes. They need unobstructed space to be lowered into and are not ideal for wells with turbulence. They also store the data internally but do not provide any type of real time display so the data must be downloaded. Transducers are  purchased depending upon the custom length you provide. If the water table drops below the set transducer level then you will need to replace it with a longer cable. Products that are submerged for a length of time will eventually corrode and will need to be replaced so be prepared to pull it all back up.

Each method has its benefits but why would you take the risk of lowering an object into your well if you could get the same readings in a fraction of the time without the risk of contamination and lost/broken equipment? This is why people have migrated towards a better, safer and more economically feasible method.  Check it out for yourself www.enoscientific.com

The Importance of Well Maintenance

As a home owner, there are a list of maintenance items that you complete every year to keep  your home running well.  You change the air filters for your air handler, change the batteries in your smoke detectors, get the freon refilled in your AC, and clean your gutters.  All of these might seem arbitrary until you are in a hot house without AC or have water leaking into your house because heavy rain is not draining off your roof.    Do you ever have your water well equipment checked to ensure that it is functioning properly?  Do you even know what is installed in your well?

I could sit here and give you a lesson about how a well is constructed and what is in your well, but the truth is, well construction is extremely regional.  For instance, in the South, we have very basic residential wells with submersible pumps, external wiring and plumbing.  In the North, where freezing temperatures are more common, well drillers install the same style well with pitiless adapters (these push the water out below the freeze line so there are no exposed lines) and turtle caps (sanitary seals).  In the Western US, the well owners may also have cisterns to supplement well water and take advantage of all of the available and much needed rainfall.  When your well was drilled, a report was created which includes the construction makeup, production levels, and equipment that was installed.  If you are not the original owner and were not provided a copy of this, you may find one at your county office.

The one thing that all of our wells have in common is that they are outfitted with equipment that can fail and leave us without water.  An annual inspection by a licensed water well professional should begin with a visual inspection of the well, checking for any obvious leaks,  loose connections or frayed wires.  It should also include testing the currents standing water level alone with a flow test.  This tells you not only where the water levels are at this time, but how much water your well is capable of pumping and, maybe more importantly, how quick does it recharge/refill after it has been pumped down.   You may also want to have your water quality tested for bacterias or other supplemental nitrates that are getting to an unhealthy level.

If you are performing yearly maintenance on your well you will receive a report from your well professional with all of this information included and easily displayed for your records.  Sporadic measurements don't mean much, but having the historical data to show where you're well levels were when it was drilled and where it is now, 10-20 years later.   This lets you know how healthy the well is and if you should expect another 10 years or should consider having a new well drilled.

Well Watch 660

For those of you who are interested in taking a more informed position in your water well maintenance, we suggest installing a sonic water level meter, like the Well Watch 660, on your well cap.  This is a non contact method of monitoring your well levels which can display real time readings at your well or in your home with the remote display.  You should know what is normal for your well, what is low and at what point you should be concerned enough to place a call to your well professional.  This will allow you to take action before it is too late and you run out of water causing major expensive repairs.

Learn to protect the investment you have in your well,  just like you do with your house.