Aquanomics brings news of a fascinating, quite possibly game-changing invention.
Steve Shoap has invented a rapidly deployable system to move large quantities of water over long distances. The invention can rapidly bring water, electric power, and communications to areas that have lost them
Shoap’s site explains how it works. (Don’t let the kludginess of the site deter you. Time spent here is well worth it. He has a number of other equally innovative patent-pending inventions too.)
Fighting wildfires and delivering water, electric power and communications to regions that have lost these services
Attach electric power wires to Large Diameter Hose (LDH) sections. The LDH would be placed on large reels on the back of 4WD trucks. One truck would start at a source of water and it would drive towards a fire. When its LDH was fully deployed over the terrain, the next truck would connect its hose end to the first LDH, and then would begin to deploy its hose. Special connectors would connect the electric power and a data network between LDH sections.
Pumps are needed to keep the water moving, and they would be snapped into the pipeline where needed. The pumps would receive their electric power from the attached wires. The pumps might weigh a several hundred pounds, so they could be kept in the beds of dedicated 4WD trucks. Transformers weighing several hundred pounds are also be kept on the pump trucks because it is efficient to use a higher transmission voltage and then use a a transformer to step down the voltage to the pumps.
Before a new section of hose is connected to the end of a deployed section, a GPS device is connected to the data network in the deployed hose. The GPS sends the altitude of the location to the system computer which sends a message back over the network to the GPS unit. The message tells the firefighters if an electric pump is needed at that location. Firefighters can talk or send messages over the data network. Pump and valve status can be monitored and controlled via the data network.
This could save lives.