DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS FOR DEALING

WITH WATER AND FOOD SCARCITY

Assistant Professor Camilo Cerro

Abstract—For the first time in world history, more than half of the planet has presently 844,000,000 people (1 in 10)
world population lives in towns and cities. According to the United
Nations, urban areas are expected to absorb most of this population that do not have access to clean water [1] resulting
growth over the next four decades. With the world number of urban in 289,000 children under 5, dying each year due to
inhabitants estimated to grow from the present 3.9 billion to 6.3 diarrheal diseases caused by poor water and
billion people by 2050, the vast majority of this surplus will be
living in slums with inadequate or non-existent water, health or sanitation [2]. Attaining universal and equitable
sanitation systems. Today more than 156 million urban dwellers, access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
live without immediate access to water. In places like Mumbai by 2030 as proposed by the United Nations in the
India, where the average yearly humidity is of 75%, the problem of
water scarcity can be solved with minimal infrastructure with the sixth sustainable development goal [3] will be a
use of atmospheric water generators. There are 3.1 quadrillion major challenge, particularly in urban slum
gallons of water in the atmosphere at any given time. While the communities.
average humidity in your home or office is 50%, an atmospheric
water generator can produce water from humidity as low as 35%.
This means in a place like Mumbai, a single atmospheric water Governments are not able to provide the traditional
generator can produce up to 5000 litters of water a day. The solutions to the problems that arise in slum
production of this amount of water in multiple locations within a
slum has the potential to solve the water crisis by producing clean, communities due to lack of financial resources. To
filtered, free, accessible water and by doing so eliminating health attain goal six, we will need to approach a solution
and sanitation issues. The proposed project in this paper will with a different type of non-invasive infrastructure,
address the use of this technology while at the same time using it to
solve nutrition problems in the same slums by serving also as a that through ‘urban acupuncture’ [4] could produces
water resource for urban farms designed to produce fruits, multiple solutions to multiple problems with the
vegetables and mushrooms in the same structure that houses the least footprint and investment. In this paper, we will
atmospheric water generator. The proposed tower will grow
hydroponic produce within the slum, cutting transportation and be discussing a proposal to solve the clean water
packaging costs. The idea is to create a network of interdependent problem in underdeveloped communities (in areas
facilities that directly serve large numbers of people through a of high humidity) through the use of atmospheric
process of urban acupuncture producing services that require
minimal maintenance and the possibility of creating local jobs water generators. By creating a network of self-
while helping solve the water and food crisis in slums in the sufficient production points throughout a
developing world. community we will stablish an interdependent
system capable of producing large amounts of
Keywords—Sustainability, Atmospheric water generator, urban
farming, urban acupuncture, developing world, water, hydroponics. filtered water. But also, by using some of this water,
in tandem with hydroponic technologies, we could
INTRODUCTION
I. feed the population adjacent to the network through
For the first time in history, more than half of the the production of fruits, vegetables and mushrooms
world’s population is living in urban areas. which would be cheaper than other alternatives
According to UN-Habitat, around 33% of the urban since they would be locally produced (no
population in the developing world (in 2012), or transportation costs). The ultimate goal of this
about 863,000,000 people, lived in slums. If the proposal is to better the quality of life in these
underdeveloped communities by doing minimal footprint, produce local jobs and maximize the
interventions with the largest potential of scope of the projects area of influence (fig.1).
transformation.
II. PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS: URBAN ACUPUNCTURE
The idea of urban acupuncture was coined by James
Lerner in his book Urban Acupuncture: Calibrating
pinpricks of change that enrich city life. The idea
consists on transforming a large urban context by
using small scale interventions. The sites are Fig. 1-Construction Process.
selected by studying social, financial and ecological
IV. METHODOLOGY
factors to develop through a dialogue between
designers, the community and government, “Like medicine (architecture) must move from the
solutions to urban problems. The goal of this system curative to the preventive.”
is to relieve stress in the built environment in the ― Cedric Price, The Square Book ―
same analogical way that acupuncture does it to the
human body. This approach is especially beneficial As more and more people migrate to the cities
in the developing world where the government and looking for jobs and escaping climate change,
institutions have limited resources. It has proven designers have an opportunity to start to solve some
impossible for governments to deal with the present of the problems humanity will be confronted with in
problems of slums, and we know they will continue the next decade. We need to understand that
to grow. Transformational approaches need to more designing infrastructure is one of the best
with less in this communities, and they can only anticipatory investments towards preventing
work with direct participation of those living in humanitarian emergencies and the foundation to
them. develop resilient cities. The infrastructure I am
talking about needs to be self-sufficient, smart and
III. SITE rooted to local activities. It is also important that we
By some estimates, Mumbai, India has the largest take the opportunity to develop interdependent
slum population of any city in the world, with more systems, designed to solve more than one problem
than half of its 12 million people living in informal at the time. The ultimate role of the designer is to
settlements. For our purposes, we will be focusing better the quality of life of individuals.
on the locality of Dharavi. Founded in 1882, during
the British colonial period, this underdeveloped To explain the research process, the following
community is the second largest in Asia, with an methodology was produced:
area of just over 2.1 square kilometers and a •A site was chosen among underdeveloped
population of 300,000 to about 1,000,000 people communities (slums) after analyzing them in terms
[5]. Potable water is supplied by the Brihanmumbai of humidity potential for the creation of water and
Municipal Corporation to Dharavi and the whole of the scope of the projects area of influence. The
Mumbai but there is a large amount of water lost to possible intervention sites studied where: Dharavi-
water thefts, illegal connection and leakage. Today India, Neza-Chalco-Itza-Mexico, Kibera-Kenya,
most homes don’t have connections to utility Orangi Town-Pakistan, Manshiet-Egypt, Cite
services and the existing distribution systems are Soleil-Haiti, Khayelitsha- South Africa, Rociha-
not clean and waste the resource. Because of these Brazil, Hidalgo County-USA.
complexities and the density of population, Dharavi •An ongoing analysis of different technologies was
is the perfect site for an intervention using ‘urban established to define acceptable systems to be
acupuncture’, through which we would minimize proposed for the implementation of Urban
displacement of people by keeping a small Acupuncture in the specified site.
•Case studies of different proposals by other
designers that dealt directly or indirectly with our
proposed program where studied.
•A series of design were proposed so they could be
reviewed by peer designers. The design of the main
proposal has gone through three reiterations.
•3D Models were produced to help convey some of
this ideas representationally. And to test
construction systems, materials and local
construction capacities.
V. CASE STUDY
The idea behind this proposal is to try to solve an
existing problem, and by doing so expanding the
realm of the solution to tackle other site issues. The
main problem is the lack of clean and accessible
water in the proposed community. To deal with this
problem the proposed building will house a number
of atmospheric water generators in its upper floors
(fig.2). Height is of importance because it gives the
building access to humidity above the existing
housing developments around its location. The
water produced by the generators will then be
filtered and stored in water tanks around the
building above the ground floor. This will allow us
to use gravity as a means of moving water down for
public consumption. As the building will be storing
water, we are also proposing that the project also
tries to help the community by producing cheaper
food. The cost of fresh produce is dependent on
transportation costs. By producing local food, the
building is eliminating transportation costs and will
provide the community with fresh produce at a
lower cost. To do so the tower will also become a
vertical farm, using a combination of soil based and
hydroponic farming systems to grow fruits and
vegetables. Hydroponic gardening uses only 1/20th
of water compared to traditional (soil based)
gardening. Because it provides a sterile
environment for plants, it does not require
pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals, as there’s
no chance of damage due to soil-borne diseases or
pests. The system also grows crops two times faster
than normal farming and uses less space. The tower
will also produce mushroom by using a number of
fungi-culture pods. In this manner the project Fig. 2-From top to bottom; Roof plan-Solar panels, Terrace Plan-Fruit trees,
Equipment floor-Water generators, water tanks & Hydroponic farm, Typical
combines a water production and storage facility, a floor-Mushroom farm, hydroponic farm & water tanks, Ground floor-Market
hydroponic vertical farm and a mushroom farm to & water access.
develop an interdependent system that works year mushroom farm, uses that space for the atmospheric
around and in a semi-self-sufficient way for the water generators, which are placed side by side but
benefit of the immediate community. The ground separated enough to allow for maintenance and
floor then will serve as a market to manage water clean up. The units use more energy than the
access and sell the towers production. The project provided by the solar panels and will have to be
will create jobs during construction and for the linked to the city grid. The top floor has a garden of
maintenance and management of the unit. But the potted fruit trees. This level is open, but the trees
unit is not meant to be seen as a standalone element, are covered by a shading system that protects them
the idea is to create a network of this elements that from extreme rain while allowing access to sun
work together within the underdeveloped light. The roof doubles as a water catchment and
community to give access to food and water to a also holds the solar panel array. Together, the
large population. multiple functions of the building are designed to be
almost fully self-sufficient which would allow it to
VI. LAYOUT function independently from typical infrastructure
As you approach the building (fig.3) you see people elements and at the same time is part of a hive of
gathered around its structural system. The columns similar units designed to work together to solve
house the water faucets that are access free and food and water scarcity problems in an urban scape.
functioning 24 hours a day. Under the faucets a
screen takes all wasted water through a filtering
process and back into the storage tanks. People in
line, wait for their turn to have access to the water
spout where they fill containers to take back home.
The ground floor of the structure is a space of social
interaction, where people gather to talk and shop,
because that level functions as a market that sells
the produce grown in the tower. The employees of
the market are also managers for the facility and
assist the public with water access. The market has
a stair that links all levels of the facility. This stair
takes you from the public to the private section of
the building. In the first floor we find water tanks in
the center of an open plan surrounded by hanging
hydroponic systems containing hundreds of plants.
The building is not thermally sealed but it is
protected from the elements. The facade of the
building is composed of stacked translucent
polypropylene panels that defuse sun light. The Fig. 3- Atmospheric water generator and urban farm tower.

hydroponic systems have growth illumination VII. HUMIDITY AND WATER GENERATING
which makes the building glow at night and TECHNOLOGY
provides light to the area surrounding the building.
There are 3.1 quadrillion gallons of water in the
The whole structure is powered by solar energy
atmosphere at any given time. While the average
which is stored in a wall battery and used mainly for
humidity in your home or office is 50%, an
the hydroponic growth process and pumps and
atmospheric water generator can produce water
filters. The first floor also has a work area where
from humidity as low as 35%. Mumbai is a very
cleaning and packaging of plants takes place and a
humid place with an annual relative humidity of
pod that houses a portable mushroom farm. This
74.9% (between 69% low to 86% high). This makes
scenario repeats itself in the first, second and third
it the perfect venue for the use of atmospheric water
floors. The fourth floor, instead of housing a
generators. But what is an atmospheric water are not prepared to make large investments into
generator? There have been many ways of solving these problems. Our approach has taken a
extracting water from the air. The solutions can be specific form in the context of the proposed site in
active or passive. In the time of the Incas in Peru, Mumbai but we have, as seen on figure 5 and 6,
most of the constructions were done high in the designed multiple versions of the system at multiple
mountain above the rain line. So must of the water price ranges depending on the materials and
accumulation was attained by collecting dew which construction means accessible to the different
was kept in cisterns and moved around the urban populations of the proposed sites. The overall
centers through aqueducts at ground level by using technology is not inexpensive; each atmospheric
gravity. A modern version of the Inca passives water generator is about $5000.00 dollars plus
system (named ‘Fog catcher’), is used presently in maintenance costs. But the cost can be offset by
the Atacama Desert to catch fog in large nets that donations from companies that would want to be
through capillarity and gravity collect the water on associated with the project, UN loans or other
pipes at the bottom of the net and then transport the diverse financial options to be studied in relation to
water down slope to the farming fields in the valley the diverse potential of each site.
below the net line. For this project we are using a
different system based on the same method (fig.4)
in which a compressor circulates refrigerant through
a condenser and then an evaporator coil which cools
the air surrounding it. This lowers the air
temperature to its dew point, causing water to
condense. The resulting water is then passed into a
holding tank with purification and filtration system
to help keep the water pure and reduce the risk
posed by viruses and bacteria. The advantage of this
system is that the more humidity in the air the more
effective the system is. In the case study below we
are proposing the use of a unit that can produce
5000 liters a day. The facility itself would house
four of this units and have a storage capacity of Fig. 5-Concrete and metal paneling proposal.

24,000 liters. Free access from below would allow

Fig. 4-Water production, filtering, storage and use.

VIII. COST
The question of cost has been a very important
concern on the development of this project. On one
hand the ‘urban acupuncture’ approach will always Fig. 6-Shiping container proposal.
be cheaper than providing infrastructure to a large
community that presently does not have it. But the Ultimately, the purpose of an ‘urban acupuncture’
present situation is one in which the governments approach is to adapt to the potential of the
community and in the case of Mumbai (fig.7) we their needs and can export a portion of their
have simplified the building to be open to the production. Ultimately, this project is envisioned as
elements to minimize energy usage and to be a design solution to solving first; problems of health
constructed from a primary structural frame to be and nutrition. But the growth of the proposal has
made in steel to handle the proposed loads. But if also the potential to have financial repercussions in
cost proved problematic, we could revert to a the community helping solve quality of life
cheaper proposal like the one presented on figure 6. problems at different levels of the United Nations
sustainable development goals.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was supported by the American
University of Sharjah and the College of
Architecture, Art and Design.
REFERENCES
Fig. 7-Construction process.
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