Department Soil & Water Engineering

The Department Soil & Water Engineering was established in the year 1974 when the erstwhile department of Agriculture Engineering was trifurcated. Dr. S.D. Khepar was the founder head of the department. The department has rendered yeoman’s services to the farming community by way of developing technologies relating to irrigation and water management, ground water and tubewells. The studies on the use of drip irrigation for some selected vegetables and crops, polyhouses for raising nurseries and high value vegetable crops, on farm irrigation water management, sprinkler and drip irrigation, technologies for Kandi areas, groundwater simulation for sustainable agriculture, management of water resources through artificial groundwater recharge, evaluation and improvement of operational efficiency of pumping sets and development of efficient tubewell components, evolving suitable management strategies for drainage of water logged soils and polluted water because of excessive use of agro-chemicals for improving agriculture production, are the core research areas of the department. A high discharge propeller pump to lift water under low head conditions has been developed for use in the undulating areas of South-West Punjab where canal water need to be lifted by about 1.0 meter for irrigation of the higher elevation fields. Pump testing lab has been developed. Evaluation of performance of submersible pumps on limited scale at field level has also been conducted. To address the problem of declining groundwater table in the region studies on artificial groundwater recharge through tubewells, roof top rainwater harvesting and recharge through drainage network has also been undertaken.

Department Soil & Water Engineering
Punjab Agricultural University
Ludhiana, Punjab
India