Water Issues Today and In History, DESALINATION, DRIP, MUNICIPAL WATER NEEDS

Darius the Great Commanding New Water System, 400 B.C.

Darius the Great, was such a powerful leader in ancient Persia that many of his people considered him a God.

But Darius said:"I was just Darius, until we mastered irrigation. Only then did I become 'the Great'".

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 reduce evaporation. As agriculture prospered, his kingdom grew, making cities and armies possible. Darius had vision, and knew the importance of water, as a key to economic development.

But an ongoing problem they had and all history has had with water management, is "mineralization" and trends for water to become salty, with growing use and demand.

"PEOPLE OF VISION TODAY ARE ALSO CONSIDERING INNOVATIVE WATER SOLUTIONS. AMONG THE BEST OF THE SOLUTIONS IS THE CONCEPT OF DESALINATION" says Ben Boothe, Chairman of www.benboothe.com.

An early "asequius" (irrigation ditch) designed by Darius the Great, 400 BC.

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" or 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, thereafter Spanish explorers introduced the technology to the "New World" in the 1600's on through the 1800's. Today farms and even towns of New Mexico are still serviced by the ancient acequias, that had their engineering birth in Persia nearly 2,500 years ago.

This traditional water management was superb. But while cities and towns across the United States still use some of the old asequias to supply city water supplies and irrigation for farming, they are finding that it is simply no longer adequate. As population has increased, the climate warmed, and agriculture has sucked out more and more available water, the ancient system isn't delivering enough water. Water throughout the world has become more scarce, more mineralized, and more expensive as it is used again and again, by growing demands and limited supplies.

Only 2% of the world's water is potable. The rest has become brackish, mineralized, polluted, or salty. Water is depleting world wide.

Many cities are stuck in a philosophical and practical rut. Many communities are still using water systems designed and built 40, 50, 60 years ago, or in the case of Las Vegas, New Mexico, perhaps older. 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) after the turn of the century.

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 their research implications for conflicts because of water issues. 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.

My wife and I (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. Our stress is on desalination of salty and brackish water that has heretofore been unwanted and unused. It is found in rivers, old lakes and there are huge underground aquifers of brackish water. By the desalination process, farmers, municipalities, and industry can create ample sources of new clean water. Our design uses renewable energy, to run the pumps and system therefore making desalination an economical way to produce water. This can be used for consumption, production of food, using the same water, drip irrigated in GreenHouses powered with solar and wind, and multiply food production, using less energy, and creating food close to urban centers saving transportation costs as well. So here is a direct connection between water, desalination, survival of communities, food production and survival by better use of basic elements of survival.

"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, some have dried up, hundreds of rivers have dried up. Of the world's 10 largest rivers, only 4 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 dry river beds, depleted 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 lower 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, 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."

Areas with good water supplies that can support living, business and expansion needs actually have higher appraised values.

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.

For water management consulting, review of water systems, and a proposal for the feasibility of desalination as an alternative solution, contact: 800- 583 -6655, 505 454 1823 or 817 7983 1484 and ask for Ben Boothe.

Links for more information:

http://www.bootheglobalperspectives.com(Articles)

http://www.benboothe.com(Water Consulting and Research, Impacts upon Valuation)

http://www.wind-inc.com (Renewableenergy applications)

http://www.cornucopia-enterprise.com(Foodproduction, Greenhouses, drip irrigation)