IIT ROPAR TO SET UP SOIL, WATER LAB ON CAMPUS

RUPNAGAR: To address issues related to soil and water faced by Punjab’s farmers, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar has allocated 2.5-acres in the new campus for setting up a state-of-art soil-water-plant lab.

IIT Ropar director professor Sarit Kumar Das said the civil engineering department of the institute planned to take up objective- oriented initiatives in the area of water resources.

“The aim is to address problems like falling water table, water-logging, deteriorating water quality, floods, droughts, changing rainfall patterns accentuated by impending climate change,” he said.

Under the project, the department has adopted theSutlej- Be as Do ab region including the H ar ike Wetlands (7900 sq. hectares) and wetlands around Rupnagar region to analyse the falling/ deteriorating grounds level patterns and come out with measures to salvage the same, he said.

Prof. D as said the Institute had acquired state-of-the-art equipment including automatic weather station (automated version of the traditional weather station) and Ly si meter( an apparatus for measuring changes due to moisture loss, percolation, etc. under gone by a body of soil under controlled conditions) which would help in determining soil moisture depletion and irrigation needs in real-time.

“The state being the hub of agriculture in our country, these issues need tobe addresses immediately to avoid scarcity of resources in future,” said IIT Ropar civil engineering department head professor Deepak Kashyap . HTC