Acequias and City Water Crisis, and Solutions

Darius the Great was such a powerful leader in ancient Persia that many of his people considered him as a God. The wealth of his kingdom had a foundation in good engineering of water projects. He brought in the finest minds, and created a way to divert water from rivers and underground sources, and even used underground tunnels to transport water to save evaporation. As agriculture prospered, his kingdom grew, making cities and armies possible. Years later the Arabs mastered his engineering, they called the irrigation ditches acequias, meaning "steps of delivery", or "gradual little steps".

This alluded to the fact that the water flow sometimes was engineered to flow "up grades", and long distances of relatively flat lands. The name, "Acequias" is still used in New Mexico today, because when the Moors invaded Spain, the technology passed on to Spain, and Spanish explorers introduced the technology to the "New World". This water management was superb. Indeed cities and towns across the United States still use some of the old asequias to supply city water supplies and irrigation for farming. But, as population has increased, the climate has warmed, and agriculture has sucked out more and more of available water, the ancient system is not adequate.

Many cities are stuck in a philosophical and practical rut. Many communities are still using water systems designed 30, 40, 50, or in the case of Las Vegas, New Mexico, over 100 years ago. The great men who designed those old systems were visionaries, and knew their work would bless people for years. My great Grandfather, helped design the water system for the town of Lamesa, (where I was born) over 100 years ago. But the time has come for a generation of leaders with new vision. Leaders that realize that water is the most important and pressing issue of our time, and will be the most valuable element of our culture.

In the book: Water Wars, the United Nations and the World Bank are both cited for research into water issues and implications for conflict. It is believed that more wars and social conflict will emerge over water, in the next 50 years, than all other potential "conflict issues" combined.

Ben and Saneh Boothe have devoted years to researching water issues, and have travelled the world, to inspect, research, and interview experts on water solutions. "In Dubai, a desert land, we see one of the world's most modern cities, with abundant water supplies. Most of it it desalinated from the ocean, and the desalination plants there are some of the largest in the world, often powered with the help of wind, solar and other renewable energy systems." said Boothe. In Sidney and Perth Australia, the cities have long been known to have exhausted traditional water sources. "There they have build desalination plants powered by wind turbines, and continue to have ample water for industry, agriculture and city growth." Boothe says. We were invited to participate and make design proposals for a new desalination plant in Harlingen, Texas. That plant, is now operating with a daily production capacity of 2,000,000 gallons per day, at a cost of $2.74 per thousand gallons. That price is about half of the average cost of water production for cities in the United States.

They asked our company to create a proposal to power the system with our special designed wind turbines from Holland, and the cost to produce water, using Wind Power, showed a projected cost of 97 cents per thousand gallons." said Boothe, chairman of http://www.wind-inc.com. In the USA, it has been reported that there are 600 cities and towns that are facing water shortages and water supply issues. Lakes have dropped in level, rivers have dried up.

Of the world's 10 largest rivers, only 2 of them now make it to the ocean. In China, some 1800 lakes have dried up in the past 10 years. "Take a car trip from St. Louis, to California, and just observe the rivers, lakes and waterways, and you will see how dry our nation has become." said Boothe.

Yet there is a veritable ocean of salt water, in aquifers underground. Even fresh water aquifers often have a "heavy 1/3" at the bottom levels, that is brackish and unfit for consumption. This is our new treasure. Towns and cities that see their lakes and "acequias" drying up or no longer adequate, may be sitting on a "gold mine" of underground salt water, that can be converted to fresh water. "Our combined system, has integrity of quality and reliability, as well as the ability to provide water for cities and agriculture for the next 100 years." said Boothe.

The President of Cornucopia Enterprises, (http://www.cornucopia-enterprise.com, Saneh Boothe, has developed a system of agricultural greenhouses, that use wind and solar power to run irrigation pumps and fans, and well as use of drip systems. "We can grow food at a fraction of the water use, at a fraction of the energy use, and this results in fresh food, nutritious food that costs 1/2 to 1/4 of the price you now see in our nation." The "Boothe Team" offers their time, research, and consulting expertise to help in these critical areas, "Energy", "Water", and "Food". The three critical elements for survival in our times.

See the video:  http://www.youtube.com/embed/_YwIpZvShbQ or go to You Tube to the benboothe video site, and it is the first one on the list.