Quasi-Aquaponics in El Heiz, Egypt

Abstract

Given the current water scarcity issue and the unfortunate water waste related to farming in the Western Desert of Egypt, the community of El Heiz is in need of a more sustainable way to produce food. Flood irrigation is doing more harm than good, but agriculture of that sort is the livelihood of many people in the village. However, the current inefficiencies in this type of farming leave room for a better alternative to present itself. Such an innovative approach is related to aquaponics. While aquaponics uses a soil-less environment for plant growth and production, this particular system to be implemented in El Heiz uses the benefits of aquaponics, namely more efficient irrigation, to improve soil-based gardening. In addition to improved farming via quasi-aquaponics, the components in the system are driven by renewable resources, specifically wind and solar energy. Wind energy is used to drive a wind pump which pumps water up from an underground well to a nearby fish pond. Solar energy is used to aerate the fish fond and pump nutrient rich water from the fish pond to the plants in the greenhouse. The energy requirements of this entire system show that only three 300 W solar panels will be needed to run it in conjunction with the existing wind pump in the area.