With water becoming an increasingly scarce resource, one Dutch inventor with a background in horticulture decided to find a solution to the traditional practice of using groundwater to grow crops and trees. Pieter Hoff, a former lily and tulip exporter, created the Groasis Waterboxx, a device that will allow plants to grow anywhere on earth.
The Waterboxx, comprised of a round polypropylene device, captures condensation and rainwater in a covered chamber and prevents the water from evaporating, creating a simple but highly effective water battery or ‘intelligent water incubator’ for plantings.
A wick inside the box drips water to the root systems of the plants each day. After roughly one year of tree growth deeper roots are established and the Waterboxx can be removed and reused to start another plant.
Hoff has also developed a biodegradable version of the Waterboxx and has successfully conducted tests in the Sahara desert in Morocco.
“My ideal is that the device is available to everybody, everywhere,” explained Hoff in a New York Times interview, “and my focus is to create a business model that enables the world’s poor to buy the box.”
Visit: http://www.groasis.com/
Via NewYork Times
