EVAPO-CONTROL: System for avoiding evaporation losses in Agriculture dedicated water reservoirs

Project Information

EVAPO-CONTROL

Grant agreement ID: 868435

DOI

10.3030/868435

Project closed

EC signature date 26 April 2019

Start date 1 May 2019

End date 31 October 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

ARANA WATER MANAGEMENT SOCIEDAD LIMITADA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EVAPO-CONTROL (EVAPO-CONTROL: System for avoiding evaporation losses in Agriculture dedicated water reservoirs)

Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Climate change is one of the main long-term drivers of economic, social and environmental change, and significant investment will be required to face droughts, heat waves, forest fires or flooding. One of the economic sectors that will be affected the most by climate change impacts is agriculture, since this sector is responsible for the 70% of potable water consumption worldwide.
Efforts must be focused in the elimination of inefficiencies in farming water management, in order to allow the sector growth (essential to feed a world’s continuously growing population) without jeopardizing water availability. Agriculture also needs to be adapted to the new scenario of extreme weather and desertification in progression in great part of the world. Although great efforts have been invested in improving efficiency of irrigation (Spain and Israel are well-known for developing advanced irrigation techniques), there is still an important problem that remains unsolved: evaporation losses occurring in irrigation reservoirs.
Irrigation reservoirs store water required to irrigate crops for long periods, and they are usually big ponds dug in the land and open to air. These reservoirs are exposed to evaporation, provoking losses of 5-7% of water which has been previously abstracted (with its energy cost), and paid by the farmers.
The objective of EVAPO-CONTROL is to bring into the market a system for water reservoirs covering by floating modules in order to avoid evaporation losses, especially designed for its use in agriculture due to its low price, simple use and weather conditions resistance.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During Phase 1 the task developed consisted on the deep study of the geographic markets where EVAPO-CONTROL will be introduced. The market volume in the different countries has been determined, the affecting regulation in these countries have been studied and the key potential partners have been identified.
With these data a detailed plan to sequence the entry in the different markets has been set in place and the different business models have been evaluated in order to maximize the profitability of the project.
During this phase, the work plan for the next years has been studied, including the further development phase until the first sell (for its development it is foreseen to apply to EIC Accelerator) and the first three years of commercialization of EVAPO-CONTROL.
The project is being developed by Arana Water Management, a leading company on providing innovative water management solutions located in Murcia (Spain)

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

EVAPO-CONTROL is a solution for the coverage of big fluid surfaces by means of floating modules, which reduces dramatically the evaporation (preliminary tests result on over 90% of reduction), and avoids organic growth, wildlife perturbation and salts concentration. The main innovation in EVAPO-CONTROL is that it has been designed with a reduced raw material need, which allows an important reduction of price compared to similar competing solutions. This reduction on the price turns this solution into a competitive alternative for the agriculture sector.
The widespread use of EVAPO-CONTROL could result in the direct cut of nearly 5 % in the water use in the agriculture sector, which will also contribute to the adaptation of agriculture to climate change by the allows a smart management of irrigation water in arid climate zones. On the other hand, EVAPO-CONTROL reduces the material required for the product production compared to other alternative solutions available in the market, which reduces the impact on environment and CO2 emissions. The reduction of material, as it is made of polymer, reduces the EU dependence on imported raw materials. This impact will be greater by manufacturing EVAPO-CONTROL with recycled polymer in the future.

EVAPO-CONTROL