MGS Group, a Myanmar geological land surveying and mapping company, is working to compile a geological map on Myanmar underground water, said MGS’s chairman Ko Aung Min Thein.
The compilation, which aims to help next generations to know about the country’s underground water which can be used in agriculture and access to drinking water for urban and rural development, is expected to complete 55 percent by this year.
MGS’s experts have conducted the mapping using GIS mapping combining geophysical information and geological informationby compiling records of underground water reservoirs, waterflows, depths and water body and soil and rock layers of a location, every time they finished geophysical researches on groundwater in townships and villages of different regions and states.
“It has yet to finish. We can take records of some. We expect it to be completed about 55 percent by this year. We aim to share our compilation with universities in our country such as technological university and agricultural university. We won’t allow it to use for commercial purpose,” said U Aung Min Thein.
In past, traditional methods are difficult to know about soil layer and water body when digging artesian wells in areas where groundwater is rare, but this new system has many advantages and that is why they are implementing for the sake of the public’s interest, he said.
“Systems we are using can know the groundwater body, either flow or reservoir. It examines the level of the underground water of an area, whether it is enough for commercial purpose or agricultural use, before digging a well. For example, if there arefive layers, we suggest digging only upper three layers and leave the below two layers, depending on the amount of water use and if it doesn’t necessary. Because there is recharging of underground water,” he said.
Htet Oo Maung/ZS
