The national water emergency appears to have eased over the winter months with some reservoirs refilling, although many regions, particularly in the south, still face significant water shortages.
Often, especially in the summer, the need for immediate availability of water to irrigate fields means that farmers are willing to spare no expense. However, a new trend is emerging, that of scanning the subsoil for water resources before drilling into the ground. The aim of these operations is to identify, with the aid of technological and professional equipment, the place where the drill will be positioned, in order to provide the drillers with information on the average depth at which water deposits or layers suitable for their circulation can be found.
Vincenzo Orso, drone pilot for HydroHunter Italia, a company that has been involved in underground water exploration in Italy and Europe for several years, explains: "We closed the year 2024 with an increase in the number of search operations carried out compared to 2023. However, the percentage of cases in which we gave a negative opinion, advising the farmer not to drill, has also increased. This is because the water has changed direction or, in the worst cases, lowered. Our advice was to avoid drilling an artesian well where there was no water, thus saving money. In these first weeks of the new year, we have already contacted farmers in central and southern Italy to carry out further assessments on farms that have never experienced drought before," he says.
"Many farmers cut back at the last moment, but it's important to remember that artesian wells shouldn't be built in times of extreme need. It often takes several months to study, document, and carry out the technical work, and you run the risk of missing the critical period when crops need immediate irrigation. Thanks to free preliminary feasibility studies and synthetic aperture radar satellite imagery, we are able to provide the customer with answers by scanning sections of land rather than whole sections of hundreds of meters," he concludes.
For more information:
Hydro Hunter Italy
Grosseto - Italy
+39 3510012837
info@hydrohunter.com
hydrohunter.com