We all need water!
Upmanu Lall, professor of engineering at Columbia University, explores the future of irrigation.
Upmanu Lall is director of the Columbia Water Center ,and the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University. He has broad interests in hydrology, climate dynamics, water resource systems analysis, risk management and sustainability. He is motivated by challenging questions at the intersection of these fields, especially where they have relevance to societal outcomes or to the advancement of science towards innovative application. He has been engaged in high-level public and scientific discussion through the media, the World Economic Forum, and with governments, foundations, development banks, and corporations. He has served on several national and international panels. He was one of the originators of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, and is currently the President-Elect of the Natural Hazards Focus Group of the American Geophysical Union.
Futuristic Irrigation
In the future, due to population growth and climate shifts, the world will run short of fresh water; in fact it is already happening in many places. Even wealthy countries like the United States face huge challenges, with decaying infrastructure that will cost trillions to replace. That is, unless we find ways to do things differently.
My colleagues and I are looking at how to adapt, using emerging disruptive technologies, combined with new business models, careful design and policy changes. In the twenty-first century, more and more people are moving to cities; but those cities still rely on twentieth, or even nineteenth-century technology.. Cities like New York get their water from distant rural places through aging pipes, and produce a huge amount of wastewater. The use of old sewer infrastructure means that during rainstorms, sewers overflow and empty into open waterways.
But what if instead of collecting water from far-off areas, we captured storm water locally and stored it, instead of sending it into the sewers? Imagine if we designed such systems at the neighborhood scale, or for individual buildings? Imagine further if we treated and reused that water at different levels for different purposes.
Emerging technologies can help us do this. These include graphene and carbon nanotube filters, which can treat wastewater to an impeccable degree, using a tiny fraction of the energy that current filtering systems use. Combining these technologies with remote water quality sensors would allow us to create a system that would yield us more water, and save money and energy.
This doesn’t mean that the centralized systems as they exist today would go away. We’ll still have drinking water piped long distances; we’ll still have sewers; and we’ll still have big wastewater treatment plants. But our reliance on old-fashioned water technology could be reduced dramatically, and we’ll still have all the water we need.
Comments
2 responses to “Upmanu Lall, Columbia University – Futuristic Irrigation”
A Conceptual Proposal for Assisting Drought Areas in the United States
John Scileppi, PhD
July 15, 2015
Have you ever considered what oil tank railroad cars carry back after they have taken their loads of oil from the Midwest and West to the refineries and oil tankers in the East and South? I expect that typically these tank cars are empty on the return trip. Similarly, box cars and other freight cars tend to be loaded with produce and other materials like coal on one way of their journey, and return empty in order to pick up a new load. I also expect that along the way back to the oil fields and farms and mines, these railroad cars pass through areas that are likely to be flood prone. Consider that these cars could be fitted with temporary liners and water could be pumped into them from areas with an over-abundance of water and then later on in the return journey, the water could be pumped out into reservoirs or canals in drought-ridden areas. The railroad cars would then be re-loaded with their usual oil, produce or materials and the process would be repeated. Similarly, large urban centers could get rid of the huge piles of snow after major winter storms using empty freight cars.
This idea is not new. In ancient times, many cities were built using the rock ballast needed to keep ships sailing after they had delivered their loads of goods. Empty ships were more likely to capsize while at sea, and what started as a necessity (filling the hull with ballast) became an economic benefit as the ballast could be used to construct homes and public buildings. While railroads can get along without carrying loads on the return trip, the cars do need to return to the oil fields, mines and farmland, and the cost of hauling filled cars is not significantly more costly than transporting the cars empty.
From another perspective, the traditional source for producing water in areas of severe drought is desalinization. The typical way this is done is to heat sea water to the point that it releases steam which is then captured and shipped or piped to reservoirs. In a way, the current proposal is to let nature do the desalinization. Warm oceans in the tropics create large amounts of desalinated water vapors which become storms and produce rain – often too much rain falling in some areas which create flood conditions. In this proposal, this rain water is then pumped out of overfilled rivers and lakes onto railroad cars and shipped to the drought affected areas.
Such a proposal would create jobs needed in the filling and emptying of the cars and developing the infrastructure. The proposal could also reduce the effects of flooding and of droughts to farmlands throughout the nation thus creating additional farm jobs. Profits to the municipalities selling the water and to railroad companies transporting it could be used to fund infrastructure improvements and upgrade the rail system. The best way to implement this proposal would be through a joint public and private venture. Public municipalities and states could create canal systems to transport the water to the trains, and develop reservoirs to store the water that could provide recreational and tourist facilities. Companies (regulated by the government) could bid for the pumping rights and then sell the water where it is needed. The Army Core of Engineers and similar agencies could oversee this national scale project.
In a sense, such a project is an example of human ingenuity in harnessing nature, and in counteracting the deleterious effects of climate change. Weather forecasting is becoming a more accurate science as major storms can be predicted up to two weeks in advance. This allows for pumping the water away from areas likely to be flooded in the near future. Civil engineers can devise large air bladders similar to the tanks that hold natural gas. These bladders could be used to keep the water level constant by submerging them in the deepest parts of river and lake beds. They would be inflated when pumping water out and deflated when flooding is causing the water level to rise. In this way, rain and flood water is captured awaiting pumping into the railroad cars rather than allowed to flow back into the oceans. The alarming rise in the water level of the oceans would be decreased. In the process, science is utilizing natural processes to serve humanity more effectively.
Big ideas such as the canal system in the early 1800s in New York State, the federal interstate highway system during the Eisenhower administration and the Internet and Worldwide Web during the Bill Clinton era are examples of how developing new infrastructures fueled our economy and enhanced the quality of life in our communities. This proposal could be the next big idea.
I don’t know how to develop this conceptual proposal. I am happy to meet with anyone to make this idea a reality. Feel free to share the idea with anyone who can evaluate the merits and fine-tune the details to increase its feasibility. Many questions need to be researched such as how many tank cars currently travel across the U.S., and how many gallons does each hold? How can temporary reusable liners be installed to keep the water uncontaminated by any oil remaining in the tank cars after they are emptied? (Indeed, are such liners necessary? Aircraft carriers after emptying their jet fuel tanks often fill these tanks with sea water to maintain cruising stability. When arriving at their destinations, the tanks are emptied and the water content cleaned of contaminants and then returned to the sea.) Where should pumping stations be located? Which drought areas can be reached by railroad? How much water can be displaced by each large underwater air bladder? How many gallons of water need to be displaced to make a meaningful decrease in the destruction caused by flooding? How many gallons of water are needed to end the drought areas in a state such as California? Politically, how would such a project be communicated to develop support and advocates? How would be public officials and corporate policy makers be convinced of the value of this idea
Thank you for considering this opportunity!
Contact information: [email protected], 1 River Rd. Hyde Park, NY 12538, (845) 229-6277
I’m curious, why natural gas in the bladders instead of simply “air”?
I’m not in any position to assist you, but I love the ideas here and have been thinking a lot about a nationwide water re-distribution system and why we don’t already have one. If we (humans) can pipe and transport something as toxic as petroleum from one side of a continent to the other, what is stopping us from doing it with water? At least with water, a pipeline break or train derailment doesn’t mean an ecological disaster, it just means the local area gets soggy for a few days.
Along with this whole idea of moving water around the land, I think some manner of replenishing underground aquifers should also be part of the equation. If we’re worried about the rising sea levels, we could just return a bunch of that water we pulled up to the surface back to it’s underground lair and at least that water isn’t flowing back into the oceans, and restores all of those depleted wells around the country.
It seems to me that in the 21st century, draught in the United States isn’t just a tragic, semi-natural occurrence, it is downright irresponsible lack of action on our part. Draught, and similarly massive flooding (especially when the responsible weather system has been well forecasted) is simply something that should no longer be tolerated.