Improving Water Quality for Open Field Agriculture

Water is a critical resource for traditional agriculture. It’s a necessary component for growing the crops and produce we enjoy throughout the year and is necessary for irrigation, fertilizer applications, and livestock maintenance. 

According to the United States Geographical Survey, agriculture accounts for 65% of the world’s freshwater withdrawals. However, as water resources become stressed, precipitation patterns change, and droughts become more severe (due to climate change), farmers are looking for better ways to manage water supplies. By seeking out efficiencies, farming operations can better ensure water resources are efficient to protect business practices, the environment, and neighboring communities. Automation is making this responsibility easier and more affordable.

With automation, farmers in traditional agriculture can:

• Find inefficiencies in water usage and find ways to conserve water better
• Effectively balance chemical compositions to protect crops against over-fertilization
• Quickly find leaks and infrastructure issues for faster resolution and less water waste
• Protect the environment against contamination caused by run-off

Automation also removes the need for manual sampling, saving hundreds of man-hours yearly. This helps farmers decrease costs while benefitting from the added visibility real-time testing provides. 

The best part: as a modular system, KETOS can be placed strategically throughout a farm’s water infrastructure to test at various locations across a wide geographic area. With KETOS, farmers can test influent, effluent, wells, waterways, irrigation channels, and more from anywhere, all in one go.