Water scarcity presents this century’s biggest challenge for humankind. Most fresh water
in the world (roughly two-thirds) is used for growing crops. Agriculture thus is the largest sink
for fresh water on this Planet.
Lester Brown has alerted global political leaders and corporations
by documenting evidence as given below that the collapse of our modern civilization is likely
due to water shortages and food economy.
Therefore, the conservation of water on farms is of
vital importance for sustainability and dealing with the effects of climate change such as
droughts. This most pressing issue of our times is addressed in this paper by researching
alternative methods of irrigation.
Our focus is on an exciting new field in water science;
structured water. Also known as the fourth phase of water, structured water has a molecular
structure that is arranged in a liquid crystal.
In this paper, we experiment with this type of water
to see its hydration and yield effects on sprouts. In addition, we put structured water into the
larger context of alternative irrigation as a method to address a growing global food crisis due to
water shortages.
How to grow food with less water is perhaps the most fundamental question in
exploring sustainability from a scientific standpoint.
Conventional methods to conserve water
such as drip-irrigation have been researched and implemented over many years.
However, the
understanding of unconventional methods needs much greater and urgent attention than is being
given at present.
One such method is the structuring of water into crystalline patterns, also
known as the fourth phase of water or structured water.
In agriculture, the application of structured water to plants needs to be much better
understood. After generations of people using this technology, preliminary research showing
increased yield and peer-reviewed articles suggesting the existence of liquid crystals in
structured water, the time is ripe to give it proper attention.
Modern civilization is facing a severe crisis in food security. Today, we are at the end of
an unprecedented period of stable grain prices, food surplus and widely available fertile farmland.
For the past 50 years, the ups and downs on the world grain market have been
tightly controlled despite a few short irregularities.
The mechanisms of releasing carryover
stocks of grain with proper timing and devoting more fertile land to agriculture have resulted in a
very stable world grain price.
This time is over; our carryover stocks are now
depleted and the available land is limited by poor soil due to modern chemical agriculture,
translating into consistently higher grain prices in the past few years. In much of the world, we are now dependent on what we produce in a given season, with
no safety net.
The biggest factor in the food equation is freshwater, the “spread of water shortages poses the most immediate threat [to world grain production].
The
challenge here is irrigation, which consumes 70 per cent of the world's fresh water”.
Water scarcity directly translates into food scarcity; no water means no food. In this we
are presented today with a unique situation in the water crisis; the depletion of our major
aquifers.
For hundreds of years, we have been relying on drawing up groundwater to feed our
crops. This goes well only until the day there is no more water.
Then crisis hits quickly. We have
seen this in small countries such as Yemen or Syria, where “peak grain has followed peak water”. In this instance, this means that grain production peaked after water
consumption from aquifers increased above recharge rates