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  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Growing algae in irrigation water?
  • Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 02:14:51 -0800 (PST)

Hi, I have a request which may be a little strange and perhaps there is no
real answer to it. Anyways, it does occupy my mind:

I live in a semi-arid region with a prolonged and severe dry season. So,
every drop of water I can save counts. I have a spring up in the mountain
and several water holes which together provide just enough water to irrigate
about half an acre during the dry season, if I use it very sparingly.

I recently hit on the idea of letting the irrigation water run through open
channels or a series of containers where, under the light of day, algae would
form in the water. I do believe that these algae would have a beneficial
effect on the irrigated soil.

The problem is that I don’t want to expose the water directly to the sun
since I don’t want to risk that any of it evaporates. What would be the best
way to construct such waterways? Should I cover them with some sort of
semi-transparent shading cloth that is permeable to air? Or should I use
transparent glass or plastic that isn’t permeable to air? I don’t want the
water to heat up under the glass or plastic. But if I use a shading cloth,
I’m not sure that none of it will evaporate. As I said, I can’t afford to
loose a single drop.

Dieter






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