A solution to reverse Africa's growing deserts
Groasis, an ingenious passive 'water incubator' collects dew drops, making reforestation in barren lands possible.
Fri, Apr 16 2010 at 3:33 AM EST
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Photo: Pieter Hoff/Groasis I've often said that the most sophisticated "green" technology on the planet is the humble tree. Trees sequester carbon, fix nitrogen into the soil, create organic compost, prevent erosion and encourage rain, while providing sustainable crops, shape, lumber and even fuel. The single most important activity on the planet (I believe) is planting trees, a fact backed up by the latest McKinsey study on abating the effects of global warming. But there is a problem.
Reforestation efforts in denuded lands such as Africa, Mexico, India and China have never been taken seriously as a means to abate climate change because young saplings are very difficult to establish. They take a lot of water and require regular maintenance — two things that are in scarce supply in precisely the regions where they are needed most.
But what if there were a device that eliminated those risks? A device that requires no power source, has no moving parts and literally conjures water out of the air? It sounds like a miracle, but that miracle may be upon us with the advent of the Groasis Waterboxx.
This simple passive water-harvesting device takes advantage of one attribute that most deserts have — a major temperature differential between night and day.Dew is created at night when the tiny amount of moisture in the air condenses on semi-permeable surfaces like leaves. As soon as the sun rises, the dew quickly burns off and returns back to the air. But the ingenious little Waterboxx channels the dew to a collection tank where it helps the young roots of a sapling get established.
Eventually the roots become strong enough to seek their own water deep underground.
Pieter Hoff, the Dutch inventor of the Waterboxx, recently completed a study in a desert in Morocco. The results were astonishing. With next to no care whatsoever, 100 percent of the trees in a Groasis Waterboxx survived, and nearly 90 percent were thriving. Contrast that with a standard tree-planting effort in which only 10 percent of the trees survived.
Likened to a "water battery," the Waterboxx is a passive drip irrigation system, slowly wicking a trickle of the water it collects into the tree's fledgling root system.
While there is no doubt that our #1 environmental priority is to prevent further deforestation — the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions — the Groasis provides a glimmer of hope on the horizon for preventing climate change (while restoring water supplies and building soil fertility) in regions that seem beyond hope.
Note: The current Waterboxx is made out of polypropylene, but the company is working on a biodegradable version that decomposes as soon as roots have been established.
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Comments
Amy
08/02/2011 11:52 AM
The one Hardy Boys adventure I remember was one where they were trapped in the desert with no water or food. They took a plastic trashbag, a hubcap off their car and a styrofoam cooler. They weighted the bag down with the hubcap, poked a hole in the trashbag underneath and collected the dew in the container underneath in the morning. I've always stashed that in my head as a way to collect water in the desert. Karl, you must be a Hardy Boy!
mike
08/03/2011 18:15 PM
i remember seeing a show about a beetle in the desert that was able to do something similar with its wings or back. maybe karl is a beetle! ;-)
Nick
07/26/2011 18:24 PM
Farmers have been growing grape vines in Lanzarote for years using this method by creating a funnel using lava ash to divert dew to the roots, providing an amazing landscape when you see this in real life.
Jozl
06/25/2011 14:06 PM
I am thankful for the invention. I see the advantage of having it made out of something cheap. like a plastic bag, so there is no reason to steal it.
I would sure like a schematic of this. I think some inventions should be given away.
But where there is the idea there is the way.
go everybody!
Vedette
06/14/2011 12:08 PM
is it possible to collect water dew in the dessert?
Tarrant
05/31/2011 07:49 AM
we had an assignment to build something to get water in a desert without an oasis. My classmates all had elaborate constructions. I had a bent piece of sheet metal. Why? Because my father said the REAL way to gather water in a desert without an oasis was to use an upturned hubcap. I couldn't just take a hubcap, so there I was with my funneling sheet metal. My mortification when I saw the other projects felt like it would kill me--but not so much as my classmates impractical emergency water.... More
Anonymous
05/28/2011 17:08 PM
Look, this seems like a great idea with one major flaw. As you said it yourself in the article, "there is a tiny amount of moisture in the air", which yes if collected at night would be enough to allow for germination, but a single mature tree can evaporate more than 75 gallons through its leaves in one hot summer day, let alone a desert, an amount that could certainly not come from dew. So I fail to see how this would solve reforestation in areas where there is simply not enough.... More
David
06/10/2011 14:42 PM
The trees that one would attempt to grow in the desert have very low water requirements; the major problem in my opinion would be to get these trees to point where their roots are deep enough to find their own water. The article says 100 percent success rate so im assuming that this is accomplished.
Jake
06/03/2011 02:05 AM
These are only meant to provide young plants with enough water to grow to a point in which they have roots deep enough to tap into the groundwater supply. You're right that these would not sustain mature trees, but they are not meant to. There is one major problem with this idea though; the groundwater supply in the Sahara is steadily being used up and is not being replenished, meaning that there will be less and less water for the trees to access. The challenge is to reverse the.... More
Matt
05/31/2011 05:32 AM
what if they just put the waterboxxs on the edges of the deserts. in places that will be desert soon and try to stop it. so stop the spreading deserts. but that is a good point it might not work good in the middle of the desert tho. props didnt even consider that till u said it thho.
Anonymous
05/30/2011 20:56 PM
A mature tree would encourage rainfall. Like the article said, trees help encourage rainfall, so by making and planting many of these trees, they would eventually encourage more rain to fall in that area. Followed by natural reproduction, this would lead to new trees, thus changing the land from a dessert to a new forest. Big picture is where they're going, and about time. This is genus.
Free Jackson
07/13/2010 04:01 AM
Like i said in my Headline
estaples
07/09/2010 21:40 PM
This is an awesome idea, way to utilize the resources you have! So great! Good luck
Jason B
07/09/2010 10:20 AM
Frank Herbert did this exact same thing in "Dune." Well, he had the Fremen do it, but still.
CharlesMeyer
06/01/2011 10:57 AM
The difference in Dune was the use of small capsule like objects that were heated during the day, and at night cooled off causing condensation. I really like this idea though, as it can help push the boundaries of the deserts back. We should be careful though, because deserts do provide a much needed ecosystem on our planet.
Crystal
07/09/2010 07:55 AM
This sounds absolutely wonderful ... but I have serious doubts that it will work. I live in a very arid region of Mexico where the rain falls only approximately 8 weeks out of the year. The only trees that grow naturally are mezquite and huizache, though given a bit of water, everything from orange trees to palm trees will grow. Why don't I think the groasis will work?? Because in Mexico they steal every single thing that is not tied down!! I can just see an acre of land with dozens of.... More
Berto
02/06/2011 08:33 AM
Crystal:
I know enough about the problem and where you are coming from. In some areas it may not work for these kind of reasons, but in others I believe it can be made to work through a community supported effort and a decentralized approach.
We have seen what kind of success rate can be achieved, if people band together. Yucatan is a perfect example.
Please don't give up hope and try to be a little bit more positive. This technology could help us get to the point where.... More
Greenearth
07/09/2010 02:59 AM
That is so great. Am beginning a new Meme `We Can Wednesday' at my blog A Green Earth this coming Wednesday. Would love you to take part.
Jasmine
04/17/2010 13:51 PM
Great!! Reforestation in deserts is such an awesome concept..I love this technology!! Good Luck!!
