Live data from Hacker News

Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

bbc.com

61–70 of 75 posts

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#61
post #6

Fresh water is the new global warming scam. There's water everywhere, just nobody wants to route it properly. Instead just complain and wait for the leaders to leverage it to stay elected.

Can you explain where the article is wrong in saying that Peru has limited fresh water supplies? After that, explain “everywhere” including arid and desert regions. Please cite sources and your level of expertise.

Is this the comment section of a news site or are you trying to grade a university-level student essay?

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#62
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain where the article is wrong in saying that Peru has limited fresh water supplies? After that, explain “everywhere” including arid and desert regions. Please cite sources and your level of expertise.

Is this the comment section of a news site or are you trying to grade a university-level student essay?

Asking someone to support very broad claims isn't “university-level” and in this case, it's something which would be world-changing if true.

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#63
It is nice to see acknowledgement that there was any activity at all in Peru prior to the Incas. Who knows, those earlier people, probably already speaking Quechua, might even have built this or that monumental structure, too, instead of waiting around for the Incas to come along and build everything, last-minute, just in time for the Spaniards to find.

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#64

If you are into this, you have to check all the different systems found in Lo Tek. Can't recommend this enough. https://lampoonmagazine.com/lo-tek-sustainable-resilient-inf... https://longnow.org/seminars/02020/sep/15/design-radical-ind...

The first link is NSFW as a headsup

If that link is NSFW your work isn't safe.

OH MY GAWD! ZKIN! NEKKID!

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically you want to slow the flow of water and increase the soil's permeability and retention capabilities. Beaver dams are a good way to start, but things like Hugelkultur burms, terracing and swales are all methods of capturing water run off and directing them into the ground where they can enter aquafers or be absorbed by the immediate soil.

That technique has led to conflict for over 4000 years though [0] [0] http://www.worldwater.org/conflict/list/

These aren't large scale projects across rivers, but just enough to capture the run-off on one's own property. Mostly you are improving soil retention, and refilling the aquifer. Often times it's as simple as creating repeated depressions in the desert so that dust, seeds and wind blown matter can collect along with just enough water to start plant growth so that the topsoil can be stable once again.

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#66

Water retention needs to be made a bigger issue globally. Others eluded to the fact that what is effectively the draining of the water cycle in CA is a main cause of CA's water/fire problems, but that is also the problem in places like central Europe where the straightening of the rivers during industrialization (19th C.) is and has essentially been "draining the swamp" of the central European water cycle. It's somet…

North America used to be home to so many more beavers than at present. Europe, too?

Ben Goldfarb wrote Eager, about beavers and their place in a resilient ecosystem:

https://www.worldcat.org/title/eager-the-surprising-secret-l...

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#67

If you are into this, you have to check all the different systems found in Lo Tek. Can't recommend this enough. https://lampoonmagazine.com/lo-tek-sustainable-resilient-inf... https://longnow.org/seminars/02020/sep/15/design-radical-ind...

The first link is NSFW as a headsup

Persistently pursuing peak performance by preaching puritanic prudence?

BABBITS!

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#68
post #16
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact is that water is plentiful in some areas while insufficient in others (and the areas can change over time), but so fucking what - you cannot transport it efficiently enough. Well, sometimes you can: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

Oh, as a native Southern Californian I completely understand this. It’s amazing to me that anyone can claim this is no big deal like there aren’t billions of dollars at stake in agriculture and industrial usage.

Yeah, not to mention just how old this problem is. Ever heard of Roman aqueducts? :)

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#69

I can't speak for Peru specifically, but natural ecosystems play a huge role in absorbing and holding on to rain water, ensuring it doesn't all just flow back into the sea. This has been known for ages - I remember a friend who did environmental sciences telling me stories of cities in developing countries that cut all the nearby forests and as a side-effect also ruined their water supply. So with that in mind I'm a…

There is a really interesting example of the role of the surface vegetation for groundwater in Bamberger Ranch[1] in Central Texas. Central Texas was massively overgrazed by cattle in the 1800's and 1900's, and the ecosystem was completely transformed from prairie grass dominant to cedar and mesquite dominant vegetation. This resulted in a drastic loss of groundwater and utterly transformed the ecosystem. David Bambe…

there's a good video about that ranch in youtube as well

https://youtu.be/ZSPkcpGmflE

Re: Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water

#70
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this the comment section of a news site or are you trying to grade a university-level student essay?

Asking someone to support very broad claims isn't “university-level” and in this case, it's something which would be world-changing if true.

The manner in which it was asked was very poor.
Post reply on HN