Water Management
"All regions of the world show an overall net negative impact of climate change on water resources and freshwater ecosystems." ~ EPA.gov
We are growing more and more concerned about the well being of every kind of water from oceans to lakes and the quality of our drinking water. This concern has led us to incorporate an important feature into our system that we believe will be an important part of the solution. But first let's take a brief look at the problem:
Our oceans are in trouble
A high-level international workshop convened by the International Program on the State of the Ocean met at the University of Oxford early in 2011. It was the first inter-disciplinary international meeting of marine scientists of its kind and was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean, including warming, acidification, and overfishing.
The 3 day workshop, co-sponsored by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), looked at the latest science across different disciplines.
The 27 participants from 18 organisations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats - and a stark conclusion about future risks to marine and human life if the current trajectory of damage continues: that the world's ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
Delegates called for urgent and unequivocal action to halt further declines in ocean health.
Now let's look at another problem our oceans and waterways have to contend with. Water from rain and melted snow wash over city streets and parking lots and lawns and pick up many chemicals, bacteria, oil, gasoline, antifreeze, break fluid, dirt and trash. This is called stormwater pollution. Studies have shows that this type of pollution can be just as much of a problem for our water as sewage plants and large factories that spew pollutants. The polluted stormwater drains into storm sewers- these are the drains that we see at corners and sides of our streets. This water is rarely treated at all but generally ends up in the same foul state in the nearest body of water.
An article titled: "The Problem of Urban Stormwater Pollution" tells us that, left unregulated and uncontrolled, urban stormwater:
- pollutes drinking water sources, filling in reservoirs with clogging silt and oxygen-robbing nutrients and contributing to drinking water emergencies
- fills in navigable waterways with contaminated sediment, leaving us with increased dredging and spoil disposal costs
- closes or shrinks lucrative rockfish, shad, flounder, crab, oyster, and other commercial fisheries due to chemical contamination, oxygen starvation, and the resulting loss of habitat
- fouls beaches and other recreational waters, causing losses in revenues from declines in boating, fishing, duck hunting and coastal tourism
- scours smaller stream channels and dumps huge gravel and silt loads, ruining fish and amphibian habitat
- obliterates small streams, springs and wetlands during development (these natural waterbodies are sources of clean ground and surface water and serve as habitat for aquatic life)
- damages homes and businesses during the flash floods common where stormwater is left uncontrolled
An interesting read is the Puget Sound Initiative, where they found that over 50% of the pollution in the Puget Sound came from stormwater.
All of the underwater photos on this page were taken by us on a recent snorkeling trip to Hawaii. Just before our trip, the news was rife with catastrophic reports on the health of our oceans. We kept all of this in the forefront of our minds as we swam and marveled at the beauty of this underwater world. Many fish came right up to our faces and some even stared at us for awhile. We left feeling ever more energized to implement our project in a timely enough manner to help our oceans and the rest of our planet before the damage is irreparable.
As the last line from one of our favorite movies, A River Runs Through It, says, "I am haunted by waters."
What does any of this have to do with the Solar Roadway?
So how can Solar Roadways help?
Although we know have a much better understanding about how dire the global water problem has become, we first began to tackle this issue because of a simple, practical concern:
We received about 130 inches of snow two years ago here in northern Idaho. While we dreamed of having Solar Road Panels heating our driveway, we realized that just melting the snow wouldn't be enough: the resulting water would just run off the sides of the heated surface, refreeze, and lift the panels through what's known as heaving. In short, it would damage our new driveway.
A solution had to be found to remove or relocate the runoff water. We consulted with some water and forestry experts on the matter. We learned that if we could move water just 200 miles, then we could virtually eliminate any drought conditions in the U.S. In our research, we also started to learn about of the damage caused by contaminated stormwater entering our waterways.
During Phase I of our research, we began experimenting with a solution to relocate stormwater. First, to a water treatment facility, where necessary. Then, to whatever location the filtered water is needed.
After particulates are filtered out by something similar to a French drain, the storm water is stored below ground in storage tanks where it can't freeze. When it reaches a certain level, it is pumped along the Solar Roadway though a series of check valves (controls the direction of the water - for instance, north or south) to the water treatment facility. Once treated, the clean water is then pumped through a similar system along the Solar Roadway to the desired locations such as agricultural centers and aquifers.
Pollutants are removed, our waterways are safe, farmers are happy, and aquifers are resupplied.
We still need to finetune this system and plan to continue research in Phase II. We now realize the full potential value of this Solar Roadways feature and are anxious to implement it.
"We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one." ~ Jacques Cousteau
"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry." ~ Thomas Fuller
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