The river water in the farming region of Bujama in Lima, Peru, is so heavily polluted with metals such as lead, arsenic and cadmium, that growing vegetables in the area have become heavily contaminated.
Due to this crisis, engineering students at Lima’s University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) have created a revolutionary invention that sucks the water from the air to grow vegetables. The students have dubbed their invention the “air orchard”.
This ingenious device is fitted with 10 de-humidifiers that filter water from the air into a drip irrigation system connected to an urban farm on the ground below.
One week into operation the Air Orchard produced 2,448 fresh heads of lettuce, that are not only free from pollution, but also the pressures of the country’s current water crisis.
Students will be handing out their crops to the locals in an effort to promote their new sustainable urban farm.
by LJ Vanier, Team Spirit