2. Team O.A.S.I.S
Kashyap & Chintan Gohel, Charles Otieno,
Sabrina Mitha and Sila Kapting'ei
and
YOU
3.
4. 1. To provide a permanent and permanently sustainable source of
potable (drinking)water.
2. To provide a manageable and sustainable source of food for the
growing population (of 9B people by 2050).
3. To provide adequate low-cost housing for everyone, helping in
population planning (family planning) hence raising standards of living.
4. To create useful employment, especially for the unemployed people
living on the streets and slums.
5. To fertilize soils of the vast arid and semi-arid lands and hence
establish watercatchment areas by reforestation programs and reverse
global warming
Objectives
6. 1. Clean filtered seawater is tapped from the ocean, 600m+ from
the coastline and piped far inland to the Desert Farms.
2. Part of the water goes into the trench-lakes while part goes to
the Desalination plants cum Housing.
3. Saline-water fish is also transported from other lakes and
oceans and introduced to the trenchlakes.
4. Fast-growing seaweed is also transported from the ocean and
grown in the trench-lake.
How? The Process:
Stage 1: Transport
8. Takes place on triangular shaped housing structures. Inside are 1
and 2 bedroom apartments while the exterior walls and the space
between two apartments is where desalination occurs.
Stage 2: Desalination
9. Water overflows slowly from a tray on top of the triangular structure
(a), trickling down the sides (b). Sunlight passes through the plastic
one-way film and is trapped inside, heating the water (c).
Stage 2: Desalination
10. The salty water evaporates and the moisture condenses on the
inner side of the plastic, and is tapped off. Condensation takes
place because of a sheet of cool water flowing down on the outside
of the one-way plastic film.
Stage 2: Desalination
11. Excess water drains out to the evaporation pan between the two
housing apartments, and is evaporated to dryness and water
collected.
Stage 2: Desalination
12. The desalination housing units are oriented in the general direction
of the sun, and receives maximum solar radiation between 10 and 2.
Stage 2: Desalination
13. 1. The land is watered with slightly diluted saline water and salt-
resistant grass grown, e.g. Pemba grass.
2. Slowly lowering salinity, different types of grasses are grown and
cut repeatedly mixed with cow dung forming compost, which wh
en mixed with sand, produces a thin layer of topsoil. Seaweed h
arvested from the beaches can also be added to provide nutrient
s and act as mulching, reducing evaporation rates of water near
the roots.
3. A border of trees is planted to act as windbreaks and a source of
shade for the plant nurseries.
Stage 3: Land Reclamation
15. 1. The fish from the lake are bred and serve as a source of food.
(Fish farming).
2. The seaweed provides shade for the fish, and also provides a
growing source of soil compost/manure to grow crops on. It also
acts as good mulching when wet, and a source of biogas for
cooking when mixed with cowdung and fermented.
3. Plant and tree seedlings are nurtured on the leeward side of the
long lake. Behind the nursery is the farm, protected with tree
windbreaks.
Stage 4: Farming
16.
17. This project does not ignore the fact that vast amounts of water
in arid areas is wasted as surface run-off.
Therefore, the outside surface of the desalination housing units
have channels in which rainwater collected from the walls is
channeled and stored.
Also, channels are dug in the ground to encourage floodwater
to go into separate empty trench lakes to act as reservoirs.
Stage 5: Rainwater and Surface run-off
Harvesting
19. 1. One acre of desalination housing produces upto 10650litres of di
stilled drinking water every day per acre of land, worth 132,000k
sh (or 1550 US$) at current market price, for FREE. This is enou
gh to sustain at least 200 people at 50 liters each, an improveme
nt from the 5 liters an average African gets daily after struggle. If
this distilled water is dedicated to drinking and cooking only, arou
nd 20litres per person, the number who can live on this climbs to
528 people! This improvement from the 5 liters an average
African gets daily after struggle.
Statistics and Figures.
20. 2. The trench lake is 9million litres capacity, 4m deep, 6m wide at
top, and 450m long. Needless to say, that's a LOT of fish, seaweed
and water. This can comfortably be a source of food-protein,
especially in communal catering.
3. On the same acre of desalination is the housing structures which
can support upto 60 single child families (180 people), or 114
singles (114 people)
Statistics and Figures.
21. This project is based on the module system, one module consisting of
a desalination housing unit, a trench-lake, a farm and a reservoir tank.
Upon obtaining more resources, another module can be added and water
feedline obtained from the main pipeline from the sea. Expansion is readily
and easily undertaken.
The project, since it addresses the issue of low-cost housing, can be
implemented practically everywhere, in schools to be residential
dormitories, in villages etc.
Therefore our future vision is to see the first desert city being
developed, overtaking the current city projects ‘Tatu’ and ‘Konza’ in Kenya,
not as a technology city, but a green city.
Future Vision
22. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
1. What are people living in the houses provided with?
A bed, cupboard, table, shelf, sofa, 3 chairs, washbasin.
2. What are the other buildings available in the desert city?
A library, hospitals, community centre (drama stage, traditional wrestling
arena), schools, playground/football field, religious centres (church, mosque,
temple).
3. What jobs will the unemployed people shifting to the farms get?
Besides the main agricultural aspect, people will be needed for mainten
ance of the different sections, transporters, builders, casual laborers, engineers,
and many more. All types of people will be needed since this project is a holistic
one.
4. What form is their remuneration?
This can be open to the prevailing demands and situations. Various opti
ons consist of discounted housing, water, food, schooling, health, etc.
23. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
5. How will you get the seaweed to the lake you have created?
Using the highway, several tankers (or decommissioned petrol tankers)
are driven to the site with seawater and live seaweed inside them. The seaweed
is then dumped with the seawater into the trenchlake and once the seaweed
cultivation is started, once every 3 months a new species of seaweed or fresh
supply can be brought. In the beginning of the project, dead seaweed deposited
on to the beach can be brought in to the farmsite to start off the reclamation
process as fertilizer.
6. How much money will it take to build a desert farm, and a desert city? Fe
el free to give statistics and figures.
A good part of this project involves low cost materials which should
bring down the full cost by a significant margin. A trial project with the 1000US$
should cover the cost of all materials (79800ksh/938US$), while labour will be
provided by our team members, and the land by our university.
24. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
7. How will you go about funding the building of this desert farm and city?
We shall, with your help, earn the funding from Thought For Food
foundation and construct a working model of 10 modules, after which we shall
approach various stakeholders in the market such as water pump manufacturers,
contractors, architects, cement manufacturers, farmers, machinery builders, etc to
start a joint venture capitalist project, except this will be a part of their CSR
(Corporate Social Responsibility).
8. How long will the above city take to build?
Once the designs for the module are sent, shop drawings approved, the
manufacture of the parts should take less than a week. Assembling them and
commissioning will take another week. Therefore, assuming we have to go small
scale, a single module, it will take us no more than 2 weeks. If we plan to build more,
government permits and other legal matters aside, the rate should drop to 6days per
module. If we hire workers and machinery, 10 modules can be made every 6days,
hence in a year, we can finish 520 modules (settling 1560people a year!)
9. What species of trees does this project aim to plant?
We plan to introduce coconut trees (since they do well in sandy soils with
some percentage of salinity in the water). Jatropha and other hardy bushes too, since
Jatropha is an excellent source of oil which can be best used to manufacture soap for
sale(economic activity).
25. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
10. How do you plan to get these trees ready by the end of the creation of the fa
rm?
We plan to use a concept called extended nursery system, where we plant t
hese trees a few years before the beginning of the project into large clay containers.
When the tree is nearly fully grown, we transport it to the new site, break the pot and
plant the tree. Thus readymade fully grown trees can be continuously supplied.
11.. What food crops will you plant?
Yam, arrowroots, cassava. These can be in the initial stages to gauge their
growth. Later on with stabilized water production, maize, bananas, potatoes and whe
at can be tried. We shall also try a range of new food crops to divert people from over
dependence on staple foods.
17. How is the project going to solve the problem of current unsustainable pop
ulation growth?
Prevention is better than cure. With looming food security crisis in future, it
would be folly to raise a large family, especially when living below the poverty line, as
is the case with many developing countries, especially Africa. According to UN
statistics, the population growth rate in Africa is one of the highest, and the overall
population is expected to grow more than double its current size, by 2025, over
1.4Billion people. Therefore, all residents of Project Desert Farms are greatly
encouraged to adhere to family planning. We see it a wise decision to bring children
into the world only when the food and economic state of the parents is stable, hence
lowering child mortality rates.
27. We need your Input and Support!
1. Interact with us, know more about our project, ask questions, critic it and
improve our ideas such that we may succeed in helping the unfortunate.
2. Sponsor gifts to give for attracting audience to our cause.
3. Talk about the idea with friends, colleagues, co-employees, family and
share updates of the project. Raise awareness of what we want to do to
save our earth!
4. Like the facebook page http://facebook.com/ProjectDesertFarms and
twitter #ProjectDesertFarms and invite more people to join the ever
expanding and exciting network of Desert Farms, easily done through our
STALLS. Simply approach a volunteer and all will be explained. :D
5. Last but not least, VOTE FOR US on MAY 1st-to-10th, and before the
voting starts, gather everyone you know and encourage them to do the
same.
Overall, remember, we are doing this for service to humanity, be a part,
even if it is a small one, of this step forward. =D
