With action C5, the project seeks to reduce consumption of treated water for small gardens irrigation, taking as basis the creation of isolated systems, “off grid” concerning water and power supply.
Despite of a small size, given the wide number of identical areas that most cities exhibit – at least in southern EU countries, where encroachment and increase of residential areas have left within them identical groundwater wells and cisterns which are out of use but could sustainably satisfy irrigation needs of the surrounding gardens – these adaptation (concerning water) and mitigation (concerning power use) solutions can be very promising for further replication.
The works of action C5 will make use of abandoned hydraulic infrastructures (wells, cisterns) and, with the support of renewable energy sources (photovoltaic pumping), allow for installment of self-sufficient gardens, common to many other cities.
The wide replication and/or transfer of the concept to private areas and gardens in the urban fabric may represent a relevant opportunity for low scale and low-cost measures, useful to face scarcity of surface water and reduce the carbon footprint of irrigation.