Water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions necessitates the development of innovative solutions for water harvesting. Researchers and engineers have been exploring various advanced materials that can efficiently capture and collect water from the atmosphere or other sources. These materials often exhibit unique properties such as high absorbency, durability, and effectiveness in extreme conditions. Examples include hydrogels, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and specialized membranes. This question aims to identify and discuss the best innovative materials that have been developed or are being researched for their potential to address water scarcity challenges in these dry regions.
The methods of water harvesting suitable for the arid regions are on-farm reservoir, micro-catchment water harvesting, and semi-circular bunds. Drip irrigation allows for more efficient water usage and crop growth on undulating land compared to other surface and sprinkler irrigation methods. In conclusion, drip irrigation is suitable for arid regions with high water demands. One of the methods frequently used in rainwater harvesting is the storage of rainwater in situ. To use native and drought-tolerant plants that are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions. These plants can survive with minimal irrigation, require less maintenance, and provide habitat and food for wildlife. The rain falling on the rooftop travels down and is stored in the tanks. The first spell of rain is not collected as this water cleans the roof and the pipes.
1. Use native plants instead of exotic ones.
2. Install a drip irrigation system.
3. Use drought-tolerant landscaping techniques.
4. Use plants that have shallow roots.
5. Design your desert landscape so that plants can self-irrigate.
Nanomaterials: Nanotechnology is being used to develop highly efficient water-collection and purification materials. For example, nanomaterials can enhance the performance of filters or increase the surface area of water-collecting surfaces.
In our California-Nevada Sierra mountains we cloud seed all of the time, with excellent results. On average, extra snowfall brought about by cloud seeding is estimated to provide an additional 14,000 acre-feet (1.7 cubic meters), or 4.5 billion gallons (17 billion liters) of water, to the Lake Tahoe and Truckee River watersheds.
During the winter of 2015–16, the Sierra’s first decent winter after four straight years of drought, the contribution was far more significant. DRI fired up generators 38 times, and estimates cloud-seeding operations provided an additional 19,021 acre-feet, or 6.1 billion gallons, of water.
Drone cloud seeding with flares, and automatic cloud seeding equipment.
A country like Iran needs this all over the southern portion of the country, and convert that monsoon moisture to rain ASAP.
All of the North African, Arabian countries and Middle Eastern countries, as well as the NW arid corner of India should be cloud seeding today,to harvest water from the moisture flying overhead each day.
The Saudis and UAE have started cloud seeding.
See our discussions at https://www.researchgate.net/post/Climate_change_or_water_resource_management_Which_has_caused_the_intensification_of_dust_storms_in_the_Middle_East
Example of drone in California cloud seeding with silver iodide flares.
Story at https://tahoequarterly.com/environment/tapping-the-sky
Also, each country has trees which create rain clouds naturally, by being the hosts of the Pseudomonas bacteria which cloud-seed and produce rain clouds for the planet. See if you can id those trees which grow in "Cloud forests" and plant more. See article at https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/does-rain-come-from-life-in-the-clouds
And study cloud forests in arid lands, like the Western Ghats of India and the Cloud Forest above Salalah Oman. Image of massive amounts of rain clouds being produced by those Pseudomonas host trees in India. And cloud forests of Oman producing rain, vs. nearby where there are no forests.
Nosotros acá en Ica en la region sur medio del Peru , tenemos suelos de textura ligera los arenosos, o franco arenosos, y estamos en emergencia hídrica por ello es crucial ver alternativas innovadoras con recursos naturales de la region de balo costo pero duraderas y permanentes, es por ello que hace mas de 25 años estamos usando arcillas naturales de origen marino que son las BENTONITAS - Mg, que la tenemos en abundancia y a bajo costo, son eternas van en mezcla con la materia orgánica para formar el complejo arcillo-húmico, funcionan excelentemente en los suelos arenosos para formar estructura y tiene una alta capacidad retentiva de humedad de mas del 100 % tan es así que en algunos fundos usados después de 2 o 3 años seguidos en post cosecha de uva de mesa se han reducido los volúmenes de riego de 14,000 m3 a solo 10,000 m3 por año.
Grab the moisture out of the air, and convert it into rain clouds with cloud seeding. An example from Libya this week, where the moisture is moving far into the Sahara desert, and the addition of some silver iodide or SNOMAX for rain nuclei, could convert that arid and barren desert back to a grassland producing about one meter of annual rainfall.
- Badges
- Science topic