One can now assess the water level in a borewell by just tapping on the metal cap. Pune-based Waterlab Solutions has developed an app which helps measure the water level in the borewell within half-a-minute.

Works on sonar tech

The Bhujal water monitoring apps works on the sonar technology, says Vijay Gawade, founder of Waterlab Solutions. “Every borewell is covered with a metal cap by default. One needs to tap the metal cap with a hammer or iron rod at an interval of two seconds. The echo generated by tapping the metal cap captured on the Bhujal app, helps to figure out the water level in the borewell and the entire process takes less than 30 seconds,” he adds. “The process does not require opening of the cap of the borewell. Measuring water level helps individuals and agencies to manage the usage.” Gawade said, adding that the company was getting good traction

The Bhujal app, which works on android system, can be freely downloaded from Google Playstore. The company charges a subscription fee of ₹199 per year. There are over 1,600 downloads, so far, Gawade said adding that the company is targetting farmers, urban households and the government agencies among others with its app, which helps in better water management. “We are targetting users in the Southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where the borewell usage is relatively higher than other States,” Gawade said.

Waterlab Solutions was incubated at the National Institute of Agriculture Management, Jaipur and has received grants from the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Also, the company was recently incubated by IIT-Kharagpur.

Pilot project

Waterlab is running a pilot with some 200 farmers in Haryana to encourage them to use the app on regular basis. It has also taken up a pilot with Syngenta Foundation in Maharashtra and Swayam Shikshan Prayog, Osmanabad. It is also running a pilot with Agakhan Foundation in some districts of Bihar, which has witnessed groundwater depletion in the past two years, he said. The company is also working with Atal Bhujal Yojana, a groundwater management scheme being implemented in seven States and the Gujarat Water Resources Development Corporation among other agencies.

Waterlab has patented the Bhujal App and is coming out with an IoT version of the same, for which it has also applied for patent in the US. It intends to launch the IoT Bhujal device to remotely monitor borewells for commercial and industrial applications in India, besides exploring options to take it overseas in countries such as Ethiopia, Gawade said.

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