In most traditional well irrigation areas in northern China, farm irrigation long operated on a model of “pump running based on experience and cost allocation by cultivated acreage”. Farmers had no clear idea of how much water one mu of farmland actually consumed, nor could they accurately calculate the actual electricity and water input for each irrigation cycle. As a result, flood irrigation became the default practice for many. With the nationwide rollout of the water-electricity conversion project covering tens of millions of mu of farmland, this vague irrigation model that has persisted for decades is being completely transformed by clear, tangible digital metering.
From Ambiguous Shared Charges to Transparent Water Consumption Accounting
The most immediate change brought by water-electricity conversion lies in the transparency and rationalization of farmers’ irrigation costs. In the past, many irrigation districts lacked unified water intake metering devices. Village collectives split irrigation electricity fees and water resource charges evenly by farmland area, which often led to unfair allocation between large-scale growers and smallholder farmers. For the same irrigated acreage, some farmers with lower actual water use bore the average cost, while those used to flood irrigation faced no water consumption restrictions.
After the water-electricity conversion project goes live, Alotcer RTU devices are deployed. There is no need to renovate the original field pipeline network. By collecting power consumption data on the power supply side of tube wells, combined with pre-calibrated regional conversion coefficients, the system can automatically calculate the actual irrigation water intake for each household. The pump runtime, corresponding electricity consumption and converted water volume of every pumping session are synchronously uploaded to the village-level irrigation service platform. Farmers can check their irrigation data anytime via mobile phones. Every irrigation expense corresponds to clear water consumption records, putting an end to the old ambiguous cost-sharing method.
Tangible Reduction of Irrigation Costs Through Precise Metering
This transparent metering method delivers real reductions in irrigation costs. Many farmers gradually realize the old belief that “longer irrigation guarantees soil moisture” is not always true. Continuing pumping after soil moisture reaches the required level will not boost crop yields; instead, it wastes electricity and creates unnecessary irrigation costs.
After project implementation at a rice-growing cooperative in Beizhen, Liaoning, farmers compared platform data and gradually mastered the precise water demand of rice at different growth stages. They adjusted their previous flood irrigation practice of two to three hours per watering to phased, targeted water control. The electricity and water cost per mu dropped by nearly 20%, the rate of unfilled rice grains decreased markedly, while grain quality and yield maintained steady growth.
In the peanut planting area of Zhengding, Hebei, many growers used quantified data from water-electricity conversion to cut blindly extended irrigation time by one-third. Power consumption per mu was greatly reduced, and the groundwater level has gradually rebounded over years of refined management.
Mindset Shift: From Passive Water Conservation to Active Water Budgeting
Beyond cost savings, a more profound change is the transformation of farmers’ water-saving awareness from passive restriction to voluntary action. Without precise metering, “water conservation” remained an abstract concept for many farmers and had little direct link to their daily irrigation practices.
Water-electricity conversion translates every drop of consumed water into visible electricity readings and expense breakdowns. Farmers can easily calculate that “an extra ten minutes of pumping consumes one more kilowatt-hour of electricity and extracts several cubic meters of water”.
The once common scenes of farmers scrambling for water and running pumps day and night during busy farming seasons have become less frequent in many villages. Farmers actively schedule irrigation off-peak by referring to soil moisture and weather forecasts pushed by the platform. Some growers even voluntarily adjust irrigation priorities to water plots with insufficient soil moisture first and avoid ineffective pumping.
In a growing number of irrigation districts, water-electricity conversion is far more than field monitoring hardware. It serves as a digital link connecting farmers’ daily irrigation activities. Every set of water and electricity data collected by Alotcer AltRTU600S devices translates into tangible cost savings and observable groundwater level recovery for farmers. Water conservation is no longer a top-down requirement, but a widely accepted farming habit across farmlands. This shift from “being required to save water” to “wanting to save water” represents the most valuable achievement of the water-electricity conversion project across vast rural lands.
