Borewell Yield Calculator & How Strong Is Your Well?
Measures discharge
From a simple bucket test, find your borewell's yield in L/min and m³/day, its drawdown and specific capacity, and the area it can irrigate.
Enter your bucket test & levels
Time how long the pump takes to fill a known volume (drum/tank) — that's the discharge.
Next: specific capacity is 6 L/min per m of drawdown — size the pump to the pumping level, not the static level.
1 mm over 1 ha = 10 m³. Drawdown = pumping level − static level; specific capacity gauges the aquifer's strength.
Borewell yield — key facts
- Bucket test
- discharge = volume ÷ time
- 1 L/s
- = 60 L/min = 3.6 m³/hr
- Low yield
- < 30 L/min
- Good yield
- 90–200 L/min
- Drawdown
- pumping − static level
- 1 mm over 1 ha
- = 10 m³
- 1 US gallon
- = 3.785 L
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Know your water before you plan your crop
A borewell's yield decides how much you can grow — yet most farmers only know it as a vague "good" or "weak". A two-minute bucket test fixes that: time how long the pump takes to fill a known volume and you have the discharge, which this tool converts into L/min, L/s, m³/hr and the all-important m³ per day for your pumping hours. Add the static and pumping water levels and you also get the drawdown and specific capacity — the truest measure of how strong the aquifer is.
From the daily volume and your crop's water need, the tool then estimates the area you can reliably irrigate, adjusted for your irrigation efficiency. Use it to match cropping to your water, to decide between flood, sprinkler and drip, and to spot a struggling well early (high drawdown, low specific capacity) so you can add storage or pump gently. Pair with the Crop Water Requirement and Irrigation Scheduling tools to plan the season.
Measure in minutes
A bucket test turns into discharge in every unit you need.
Judge the aquifer
Drawdown and specific capacity show how strong the well really is.
Match crop to water
See the area your daily yield can actually irrigate.
Protect the well
Spot over-drawing early and switch to gentler pumping or storage.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I measure my borewell yield?+
The simplest field method is the bucket (container) test: time how long the pump takes to fill a known volume — say a 200-litre drum. Discharge = volume ÷ time. Two hundred litres in 100 seconds is 2 L/s, or 120 L/min. Enter the volume and time and the tool gives the yield in every useful unit.
What is a good borewell yield?+
As a rough guide for irrigation: under ~30 L/min is low (domestic or drip only), 30–90 L/min is moderate, 90–200 L/min is good, and over 200 L/min is excellent. The tool rates your well against these bands and shows how much land it can irrigate.
What is drawdown?+
Drawdown is how far the water level in the well falls when pumping — the pumping water level minus the static (resting) water level. A small drawdown for a given discharge means a strong aquifer; a large drawdown means the well struggles to keep up and may need gentler pumping.
What is specific capacity?+
Specific capacity is the discharge per unit of drawdown (here, litres per minute per metre). It's the best single measure of a well's strength: a high specific capacity means the well yields a lot of water for little drop in level. The tool computes it when you enter static and pumping levels.
How much area can my borewell irrigate?+
It depends on the daily pumped volume and the crop's water need. One mm of water over one hectare is 10 m³. The tool divides your daily volume (discharge × pumping hours) by the gross daily water requirement (crop mm ÷ efficiency) to estimate irrigable hectares and acres.
Why does pumping hours matter?+
Yield per minute is only part of the picture — the total water available each day is the discharge multiplied by how long you can run the pump. A modest well run for many hours can water more land than a strong well run briefly, provided the aquifer can sustain the draw without the level falling too far.
What is the difference between static and pumping level?+
The static level is the depth to water when the pump is off and the well has rested. The pumping (dynamic) level is the depth while pumping steadily. The gap between them is the drawdown. Always size and set the pump for the pumping level, not the static level, so it never runs dry.
Why include irrigation efficiency?+
Not all pumped water reaches the crop roots — flood irrigation may be ~60% efficient, sprinklers ~75%, drip ~90%. The tool divides the crop's net water need by your efficiency to get the gross water to pump, so the irrigable-area estimate reflects your actual system.
My well yields little — what can I do?+
Pump gently to avoid over-drawing, add a storage tank or pond so the bore can recharge between sessions, and switch to drip or micro-sprinklers to stretch every litre. The tool's specific-capacity figure tells you whether the limit is the pump or the aquifer.
Does yield change through the year?+
Yes — groundwater levels fall through a dry season and recover after the monsoon, so a well's static level, drawdown and sustainable yield vary. Re-run the bucket test at different times of year, and plan cropping around the lean-season yield, not the post-monsoon peak.