Pitch
solutions to anticipate and respond to climate extremes(floods/droughts)by saving irrigation water and water underground water storage
Description
Summary
The solutions (the buried diffuser and the draining floater) are for efficient use, storage and harvesting of water resources in any region and countries under normal or severe water shortage for agriculture use.
The buried diffuser is used for:
- underground irrigation of trees and vegetables. it allows to use:
70% less water(no evaporation) less fertilizers, less energy(the buried diffuser does not need pump, it works with gravity flow under low water pressure 1/10 of bar) than drip irrigation. With the same amount of water the buried diffuser produces 1 till 2 times more then drip irrigation.
- water injection and storage in the deep soil layers(half meter below the soil surface). The diffusing part (400 square cm)of the diffuser is buried half meter below the soil surface. During 2 months 1 diffuser injects 11520 litters; during 3 months 1 diffuser injects 17280 litters. For the injection and storage , in 1 hectare it is possible to install 500 diffusers. During 3 months 500 diffusers inject and store 8640 cubic meters of water in 1 hectare. This represents 864 mm of rain.
- water injection in the underground water table. In this case many buried diffusers(10) are buried 2 till 3 meters below the soil surface in a trench. In 1 hectare we can install 5000 diffusers allowing to inject 86400 cubic meters of water. This injected water will reach the soil layers and rocks 30 till about 30 meters deep(shallow aquifers).
The draining floater
It is a system with a floating and filter device using the siphon principle to pump and distribute , down ward the reservoir , the water of all sizes of reservoirs (dams). The system may not pump more than 8 till 10 meters of water below the top point of the siphon. This system could be also used for the tanks (3 meters deep and 1 meter above the soil level) used in irrigated fields.
This system should be combined with buried diffusers when used for water injection and storage in the deep soil layers or the the shallow aquifers
What actions do you propose?
First Action :
Installations of equipments (buried diffusers, draining floaters, irrigation pipes network and water storage reservoirs) improvement of the existing water utilization system (aquifers water and rainfall water) of a group of 5 till 10 farmers in plain or in hilly regions .
The purpose of this improvement is the adaptation to precipitation patterns changes(droughts/floods). This allows to reduce the negative impact(on yield, income and food security) of the short seasonal drought during 1 year(this what happens in India for example with the Monsoon season). The equipments will be used for vegetable crops(in open field and in green or shade houses) and for all kinds of fruit trees (pomegranates, mangos, citrus, olive , date palms, etc.). In addition to irrigation water saving (70% less water than drip irrigation) , the use of buried diffuser will allows to inject in the deep soil layers, the excess of water during the rain seasons and anticipate the irrigation.
Research teams in the different countries will do a survey on the the productivity and the growth of the crops using the buried diffusers.
Second action :
Installation of buried diffusers , draining floaters and water distribution pipes network for water injection and storage in the deep soil layers of all kinds of fruits plantations.
This activity is done in regions having small,medium or big reservoirs(dams). the beneficiaries are 10 till 20 farmers in each country(Tunisia, Morocco, India, USA), near the reservoirs . The design of the system is adapted to each country(Tunisia, Morocco, India, USA) water allocation policy. If the slope allows gravity distribution of the rivers water, it is possible to extend this action to region without Reservoirs but having rivers with permanent flowing .
This action , is a real solution to avoid the negative impacts of long droughts : 1 till 4 years completely dry. This is happening in Tunisia and morocco where olive trees and citrus suffered from long droughts during the last ten years . In India this also is happening and in addition to the drop of yield , many farmers went to suicide. In USA, during the last 5 years California suffered also from a long drought(years) decreasing the production of all kinds of fruits, specially almonds . The water will be injected specially when there is an excess of water, during the flood events.
Research teams in the different countries will do survey on the productivity and the growth of the crops using the buried diffuser for water injection and storage in the deep soil layers to be used during long drought by fruit trees plantations.
Third action:
Research on possibility of use of the buried diffuser for :
- cereals and similar crops used for oil extraction or as animal fodder ..
- water injection and storage(banking) in shallow aquifers
This action is held with research teams in Tunisia , in USA, in India and in Morocco . It need the collaboration and partnership of the the manufacturer of the buried diffuser to make prototypes of the buried diffuser to be tested for cereals and similar crops and for water injection and storage in the shallow aquifers.
Forth action:
workshops and seminars:
During the project ( 5 years) the program of seminars and meetings are as follow:
- First year:Starting meeting in the first country,
- year 2 and year 4 : Activities advance meeting; 1 in each country,
- year 5 international seminar in the second country . In This seminar will be presented the results of the different actions to be published in special book .
Who will take these actions?
In each country we have connections with partners who will participate in the execution of the different action of this proposal. the partners are:
- NGO and farmers associations and organizations,
- research institutes and universities,
- government technical administrations(agriculture, environment, water resources)
We are open to any additional collaboration with other partners in the different countries of the project.
Where will these actions be taken?
The action will occur in India and in Morocco.
What are other key benefits?
The proposed actions are key solutions to mitigate droughts negative impacts on environment, social aspects and the economy of the countries:
In Morocco as well as in India, precipitation patterns changes induced by climate change. Droughts are more and more frequents inducing food security(severe losses in food production) and social problems(violence, suicide, migration, unemployment) . In addition to that Droughts have severe negative impacts on the environment(wildlife and wildfire) and increasing of desertification processes .
In parallel, during some years and seasons(Monsoon rains in India), rains are torrential inducing catastrophic floods with severe negative impacts on agriculture and urban infrastructures.
What are the proposal’s costs?
First action :
100 000 USD for each country
Second Action :
200 000 USD for each country,
Third Action :
100 000 USD for each country
Forth Action:
300 000 USD
Time line
year 1:
- starting meeting in Morocco for: establishing the project steering comity and the methodology to prepare the project study of each country .
- achievement of the study with : location, beneficiaries, costs , time table of starting the actions, partners duties etc..
year 2:
- starting meeting In Morocco: establishment of steering comity at the national level and
- installations of the equipments in farmer fields or in research stations(research action), in both countries,
- national partners evaluation meeting of project advance ,
year 3:
- scientific and technical survey,
- bi-national meeting in Morocco: evaluation of project advance and presentation of scientific and technical survey,
Year 4:
- scientific and technical survey ,
- national partners meeting project advance and presentation of scientific and technical survey
year 5:
- scientific and technical survey ,
- Seminar in India, to present the scientific and technical results of the project in both countries Morocco and India.
Related proposals
References
Both technologies received several international awards and prizes. below the most important : :
- ALECSO Water Prize. 2001, Tunis-Tunisia
- UNESCO international water Prize, Budapest-Hugaria
- "Top 50 SME" Innovation prize- Infodev Program-World Bank, Helsinki-Finland
- "Top20 SME" innovation Prize - Infodev Program-World Bank, Helsinki Finland,
- Hydrotop Water Prize - Marseille-France,
Videos on installation of buried diffusers are available on the following links:
www.youtube.com/user/Chahtech/videos
Slides on buried diffuser and draining floater are available on:
Reports with photos and illustrations could be downloaded from :
video documentary on the buried diffuser could be watched on:
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