A test of an ingenious water saving device invented by Lily grower Pieter Hoff, is being undertaken at Robert Mondavi’s vineyard in California’s Napa Valley, and is expected to save the winery 145,000 gallons of California’s precious water every year. The idea for the Popular Science Invention Award-winning Groasis Waterboxx developed from the way seeds are nurtured naturally in less drought-stressed environments.
Because of climate change, California growers have to plan for a future climate that is moving about a quarter of a mile North every year. If this recreation of Napa’s old climate works, the winery won’t have to move with it.
Essentially, the way it works is it is a self-refilling container for water for drip irrigation. Due to the enclosed container design, the water won’t evaporate away. You only need to fill the outer bucket tank half full with water once.
Every night new condensation is created on the surface grooves runs down into the reservoir, and also any rain is captured in the tank too, replacing the dripped out water below, so once filled, no new water is needed to keep the drip irrigation going.
While California needs water, the even more drought-stressed regions of the planet are where this will really take off. Two thirds of the human race will be water-stressed by 2025. Inventor Pieter Hoff is conducting more experiments with 20,000 of his Groasis Waterboxxes in places like Pakistan and Ecuador this year, and you can order some to try them out for yourself at groasis.com.
Source: Popular Science
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