Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Nov 18: People are aware of the pump sets which pump out water when the switch of the pump is on. A pump in Guruvayanakere has been able to pump out water when the pump, once it is set in ON position and then switched off. The water continues to pour out without stopping. This has been happening for the last 12 years.

Retired principal, Govind Bhat Kadappu, residing in Vidyanagar, Guruvayanakere, is the man behind this rare feat. He has been able to transfer water from an open well to his bore well through the siphon method at very low cost continuously. Under the siphon system, water which is started to pump once, continues to pump even when the engine is off. That too, recharging of bore well through this method is very rare.

In September this year, Govind Bhat wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking direction all over the country to adopt recharging of bore wells through the siphon method that is easy and cost effective. He also had sent a graph to explain. The office of the Prime Minister has responded quickly. It has asked the state chief secretary to look into it and send a report. Bhat has also sent information about this system to the union minister of state for agriculture, Shobha Karandlaje.

Currently two methods are used for recharging bore wells. One is making water from rooftops to directly enter the bore well. The other is to dig pits around the bore well, spreading sand and crushed stones so that the water gets filtered before entering the bore well. These systems need an average of Rs 10,000. But in Bhat's system, this will be possible by spending just Rs 3.5 to 4 thousand. This represents the cost of fixing the gate valve and foot valve.

For this method to succeed, the water level in bore wells should be less than the level in the open well. A three-fourth inch pipe should be used between the open well and bore well. Another one inch pipe should be provided and its end should be fixed to the three-fourth inch pipe's foot valve. When the pump of the bore well is on, the one inch pipe's gate valve should be opened and it should ensure that water fills in the three fourth inch pipe. The water fills in one second.

When water is full, immediately, the pump should be switched off and the gate valve should be closed. The water from the open well flows through the three fourth inch pipe to the bore well. There is no need to switch on the pump again as water continues to flow nonstop.

It is possible to recharge the bore well even without the pump through a siphon system. For this, water has to be filled in the three fourth inch pipe from a water tank placed at a higher altitude and then the gate valve should be closed.

Govind Bhat has been recharging his bore well in this way right from the beginning of the rainy season till December. He stops when the water level in the well begins to recede. So far his two bore wells have not stopped giving water during summer.

Bhat is a researcher of several things. His father was the first to invent an arecanut husking machine. After retirement, he used to make refills by making ink. He also was cutting different size diamonds and stones. He is 75 now and has concentrated on agriculture.