By: Christopher Kalloo
One of the major problems facing the world today is the rate at which human population is increasing. In a 2008 study, the United Nations forecasted that the estimated world population would be just over 9 billion by the year 2050. Estimates also show that by 2020 developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America will be home to some 75% of all urban dwellers.
Rising global populations therefore means:-
- Increasing competition for limited land space resulting in more rural areas transforming into urbanized regions
- Increasing demand for food availability
- Greater demand for natural resources e.g. water
- Greater strain on natural environment
The concept behind the Drip-Bottle Irrigator for Urbanized Gardening is to:-
- Find a solution with management of water during periods of limited availably or scarcity
- Find a cost effective way to help with water management in small scale farming/gardening
- Promote agriculture with respect to hobbyist gardening/farming in urbanized regions i.e. towns, cities
- Promoting the practice of waste management by employing the concept of recycling/re-using
Materials needed to construct Drip-bottle Irrigator:
- Empty 2-Litre Bottle
- Cutlass Wire
- Nails e.g. 2”Nail, 1 ½’ Headless nails, etc.
- Bottle caps
- Hacksaw
- Mount Tape
Steps:
- Use an empty clean 2-litre plastic bottle
- Cut across the bottom of the bottle using the hacksaw in order to create an opening for water to be poured into.
- Using the nails, puncture a hole into the bottle caps.
- Using the cutlass wire, shape it into the form of a hook, and pass the wire through the hole of the bottle cap
- Assemble
- Suspend at a height, vertically
- Use mount tape to keep the opening of the drip-irrigator closed.
Positives of the Drip Bottle Irrigator System:-
- Minimizes water wastage
- Cheap and easy to manufacture. Low maintenance.
- Can be used in limited land space.
- Smaller hole sizes give a more uniform flow rate of water over a longer time.
- No mechanization needed for water to flow. Uses Gravity flow & surface tension to disperse water to plants.
- Utilizes a key element in environmental preservation, which is solid waste management in the form of recycling.
- System can be adapted to use other types of plastic bottles e.g. 20oz, 5 L etc.
- Water soluble fertilizers can be directly added to the drip-bottle irrigators.
Negatives of the Drip Bottle Irrigator System:-
- The design of the system is not standardized. Bottle design and hole making need to be improved.
- The water output from the system is reduced over time when the atmospheric pressure becomes less within the bottles.
- System location can hamper effectiveness of water availability to plants.
- System limited to small scale gardening & farming. Cannot be utilized in more conventional methods of mass production agriculture.
- Holes in bottles may become clogged over time, reducing the output of water to plants.
* the following was an excerpt of a technical research paper for use at the Sugar Cane Feeds Centre in 2010 done by Christopher Kalloo entitled “The Implementation of a Drip-Bottle Irrigator System for Urbanized Gardening”.
CPEF 