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Ras Al Khaimah: Ras Al Khaimah's 4,482 wells, which are still used today for agricultural purposes, are a vital source of water for the farming industry.
A senior official at the Northern Region Department of the Ministry of Environment and Water said the wells are dedicated to agriculture and there are wells on farms throughout the emirate.
The official added that wells were, and still are, the main source of irrigation in the emirate.
Farmers in the early days dug the wells themselves. He added that most of the wells still used in the emirate were dug long ago.
Ras Al Khaimah's farmers say they used to have permission to dig to whatever depth they needed in order to water their farms.
They added that they normally struck water at a depth of 20 to 50 feet.
However, the farmers are now complaining that the situation has changed due to the lack of rainfall.
Khalfan Bin Shabib, a farmer in the southern area of Ras Al Khaimah, said digging a small well costs about Dh60,000; a cost that the average farmer cannot afford.
"Some farmers have already taken bank loans to dig wells, but the money they borrowed was not sufficient to dig really deep wells that can generate huge quantities of water," he said.
"The loans that the farmers took from the banks supported digging wells to depths of not more than 500 to 600 feet, which was not an adequate depth to find a good underground water source," he added.
Al Dahmani said the old wells locally known as Tawi had completely dried up and were destroyed.
In the early days water was often found at a depth of just 20 feet.
"The lack of rain has made an already bad situation even worse," he said.
He explained that a well should now be dug to a depth of 800 to 1,000 feet to strike water and unless that depth is reached, the quantities of water found will not be very useful.
"Digging to this depth is very expensive, especially when the cost of electricity to run the wells is added," he said.
The emirate's authorities earlier enforced strict regulations for digging wells.
The farmers were required to obtain permission from the municipal authorities before digging.
A team of employees from the RAK Municipality and the Ministry of Environment and Water nowadays visits farms, tests the soil and specifies exact locations where farmers are allowed to dig.
Once water is found, the experts examine it and measure its salinity to ensure that it is suitable for irrigation. Farmers in the emirate explained that their fathers and ancestors used to dig the wells with their own hands, but now there are companies that specialise in this type of work.
But despite the technological progress, farmers still play a key role in digging their own wells, using their hands until water is struck.
In the early days, digging a well was an occasion when farmers in the area got together to lend one another a helping hand. At that time, digging a well was a group effort and it was considered a social duty for everybody to pitch in.
The Ministry of Environment and Water has promised to dig more wells in various areas of Ras Al Khaimah to meet the increasing demand for water.
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