Laser 'helps farmers gauge crop water consumption'

In a bid to save water in the arid Imperial Valley of southern California, a university professor has invented a laser designed to gauge the amount of water consumed by crops growing in the area.

Jan Kleissl from the University of California has invented a device called the large aperture scintillometer which measures how much water is evaporated from crops during certain times of the day, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

Though sprinklers are a valued utility in the area, the emphasis at the present time is how to conserve water.

Mr Kleissl said: "What's new about our approach is the monitoring side of it. We're trying to improve on that."

A study using the scintillometer to measure how much water is used by alfalfa crops is expected to take at least two years to complete.

In other water news, Leeds University became the first in the UK this month to vote against the sale of bottled water on its campus as students become more concerned about the waste generated by the use of plastic water bottles.