The solution to the drought lies with this 'granadino' in Colorado
The company of the 'Granadino' Javier Martí-Canales is an expert in the exploitation of aquifers | Divirod is a society of technology and data analysis that was born to optimize the use of water in irrigation systems in United States
Javier Martí Canales (Jerez de la Frontera, 1969) has the solution to alleviate the adverse effects of drought. Granadino by adoption, this businessman is the founder and director of Divirod (www.divirod.com), a company that operates in Colorado (USA) to solve the effective use of water in irrigation, parks, golf courses and residential gardens. Divirod is a technology and data analysis company. It was born with the idea of optimizing the use of water in irrigation systems, for agricultural farms or even parks. And what he got was the engineering necessary to create soil moisture maps in a novel way to manage water intelligently, as needed to apply more or less.
With the technology that Divirod has designed, a device has been generated that allows you to see what the ground offers. « We capture the energy from the satellites and with this we remove the water maps from the ground and inform so that water is removed in one direction or another », develops Martí-Canales. The director of Divirod considers that it is a market niche « giant » that would allow predicting a future consumption of water for its use in a domestic or agricultural way. « At an industrial level, it can bring significant economic development to companies, since it implies using it for agriculture, parks and residential use, obtaining a better performance », he explains.
To achieve this technological knowledge, Divirod has generated « monitoring and data analysis systems ». In parallel, this company is in contact with the two companies that monopolize 70% of the global irrigation market based on linear systems or extraction pivots. In addition, the company is trying to reach agreements with irrigation companies for parks, gardens and golf courses. Besides, Divirod is also trying to enter the Middle East market. « The project is interesting since it allows a substantial saving of water, which is an increasingly scarce good », says Javier Martí Canales.
Expectations
Divirod's expectations are quite high. « We intend to launch a distribution network, which we hope will be broad because the irrigation market in the United States moves several million dollars », explains Martí-Canales, which ensures that to date no company that has spoken to « has closed the door for us » and there are « enough investors interested in the project ». Divirod's next challenge is to scientifically validate the project and begin to generate an economic return that has not yet occurred. For now, they have an observatory distributed throughout the country with 88 surveillance points with measurements on land, rivers and aquifers. « It allows you to understand the different climatic regions of the United States and see the evolution of climate change.I had the idea of improving the treatment of soil moisture, which was usually done with probes that put the soil at risk », argues Martí-Canales.
The person responsible for this project compares this aquifer with the wells that exist in the Vega de Granada as a safeguard for supply in the event of drought. However, it details that the great difference between them lies in the size, since the water bodies with which we work in Colorado are much larger. « In the United States, unlike what happens in Granada, there is fear right now that the aquifer will be lost because it is mining. We are getting into managing the extraction of water from the aquifer. We are not going to stop drawing water, but we are going to catch only what we need. In Granada, of course, it would have application ... if you get a contract to do it ».
The latter is what moved Javier Martí-Canales to emigrate outside of Spain. He left Granada in 1994 on a contract with the European Space Agency and since then he has not settled in the province again due to the difficulty of establishing a business in Spain. For Europe he worked on a specific mission and then carried out earth observation work. Later he had the opportunity to go to work in Chile as the leading engineer of a project and finally he settled in Boulder ( Colorado ), where Divirod's project is currently being developed.
Reference:
https://www.ideal.es/granada/solucion-sequia-colorado-20171224230251-ntvo.html
