Massive Scale Rainwater Harvesting and Redistribution

Abstract

A high-altitude, modular, robust rainwater harvesting construction is deigned, which is made of strong, lightweight building-block composite materials, for relatively rapid assembly and disassembly. Multiple modular rainwater harvesting constructions can be configured to build a modular, scalable, mobile rainwater collection system for harvesting rainwater at high altitudes and at massive scales. The captured potential energy of harvested rainwater at high altitudes provides the energy required for redistribution of rainwater from regions with high precipitation rate to regions with low precipitation rate. The rainwater harvesting system can be used for onshore and offshore rainwater harvesting, using different proposed configuration to connect the rainwater harvesting modules to the ground or to the sea floor.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is in continuation of a U.S. provisional patent application, App. No. 61 / 953,853, filed on Mar. 16, 2014, entitled Commercial Scale Rainwater Collection and Redistribution, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to use of artificial large scale structures for massive scale rainwater harvesting at high altitudes. More specifically, the present invention pertains to modular, mobile structures for harvesting and redistribution of rainwater.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The world's freshwater resources are unevenly distributed around the planet: over 60% of the Earth's freshwater supply is found in just 10 countries. Severe water stress affects 3 billion people, two-thirds of whom reside in the BRIC countries. Water needs are quickly increasing in emerging economies such as China and India, which together account for nearly 40% of global popu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about solving challenges related to collecting and transporting rainwater from regions with high precipitation rates to regions with low precipitation rates. The invention uses composite modular building-blocks made of abundant and waste materials such as lignin and recycled plastics, which provide strong and lightweight construction material. The micro-structure of the building-blocks is a honeycomb structure. This invention makes the system robust, scalable, and mobile. The main technical effect of the invention is the ability to quickly assemble and disassemble the structures to create a mobile solution for rainwater harvesting.

Problems solved by technology

Moreover, water resources in many developing countries are becoming heavily polluted and unsuitable for human use.

Inadequate water resources could be an impediment to growth as developing nations face rapidly growing demand for food and energy.

While rainwater harvesting at smaller scales, from small and large buildings' roof tops and in natural and manmade ponds for local use have been used for centuries, redistribution of massive amount of fresh water from one region to another, would require massive amount of energy, which would make such plans prohibitively uneconomical.

Furthermore, more than 90% of rainwater occurs over oceans, so regardless of energy requirement, there are no current solutions for massive scale offshore rainwater collection and redistribution.

Given these challenges, today, there is no solution for massive scale rainwater harvesting at high altitudes.

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