The world is getting undeniably thirstier.
Recent studies project that water demand in many countries will exceed supply by 40 percent by the year 2030. However, about 90 percent of the world’s water consumption is being tapped to produce food and energy, meaning nations that can effectively manage their water supply would likely be in the best position to nourish economic prosperity.
China has already begun thinking a few steps ahead and recently announced plans to pour the equivalent of $600 billion over the next 10 years into conservation technologies and revamping their water management infrastructure. With such vast financial resources at their disposal, the drought-prone nation has been exploring potential solutions to wasteful irrigation practices that have threatened to impede industrial growth.
Driptech, a small Silicon Valley-based water technology firm, hopes to play a major role in that effort. The company has developed an irrigation system for farmers that may help to shore up the problem of excessive water use. Their system is a simple network of polyethylene plastic tubing with strategically placed holes that allow just enough water to drip into to the roots of crops. Compared to expensive large-scale pressurized irrigation systems that require the complete flooding of large plots of farmland, the technology costs $100 dollars and can reduce water usage by 30 percent.
“In India, it’s the farmer that’s responsible for paying for water and diesel pumps,” Driptech’s Director of Business Operations Jean Shia told Fast Company. “In China, the government benefits more, because they’re responsible for providing water. So we have different channels set up in each country to benefit multiple stakeholders.”
While the company may have seized on an opportunity, bringing an idea to the market still requires working through the layers of regulations and negotiating with various institutions such as non-governmental organizations (NGO), government agencies, and distributor. But what’s encouraging is that the Chinese government has given the go-ahead to a pilot program in the Shanxi province where the company is currently collecting data and plans to evaluate the results when it is completed.
(via Fast Company)
More from World Water Day on SmartPlanet:
- Startup Rentricity recovers energy from water systems
- Water’s energy potential highlighted on World Water Day
- American scientist wins 2011 Stockholm Water Prize
- 10 ways to cut water consumption
- Without sustainability, ’severe’ water scarcity by 2050
- Invention uses sunlight to produce clean water
- In 20 years, water demand will exceed supply by 40 percent
- Why we’re running out of water
- A bicycle that produces drinking water may help thirsty villages
