Water a precious asset

VILLA CENTOFIORI

GILI GEDE ISLAND

Water is a precious asset.

For us Westerners the water is a foregone resource, comes out by opening the tap and it never happens that does not spill abundant and clean. In Italy, where we are from, there are sources of exquisite mineral water anywhere and is definitely not a problem to obtain it.

In the rest of the world is not always so, and on all coral islands you can only rely on brackish or desalinated.

Starting to talk about the issue "water when living on islands�, I always reminded of an anecdote that then I tell the unlucky guy. This is your turn !

One day landed a local boat from one of the 12 islands in this archipelago in the southwest of Lombok that for many years, even before we arrived in this area back in 1999, was totally converted into a modest hotel with bungalows and water they use was brackish.

From the boat went down on our dock a party of French attracted by our properties and announced to the video-intercom at the entrance gate. As our custom, we welcomed the guests with enthusiasm and we have entertained the whole morning to talk and visit the property.

Back at the house, one of the ladies asked to use the bathroom. When she came out from the dependence where we had made her to accommodate, she started talking excitedly with her friend and knowing a little French reminiscent of studies done, I got the gist that

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VILLA CENTOFIORI

GILI GEDE ISLAND

could be summed up in “ils ont l'eau douce !.” "they have fresh water!."

When she realized that we were impressed by her excitement, she explained that where they staying on the island, the water for the shower was rather salty and after a few days the skin had started to itch.

The other lady took courage and asked, "do you mind if we take a shower?" They disappeared inside the dependence for over an hour and when they left, the dining to which we had invited them was ready and we spent pleasant hours together until at sunset the sailor of the Resort that had accompanied them came timidly to ask if it was time to return.

A couple of years later a distinguished Indonesian gentleman with a large following and containers with food and pizza, buzzed at the gate. It was the owner of island resort where the French group had been staying. The gentleman was a newly retired Indonesian general manager that bought this island to live there and manage the resort.

He was told that I had found and implemented a system to have fresh water in abundance, and its purpose was to obtain the necessary information to be able to bring himself water to his island . To be honest, he had already tried on the basis of the stories about me that had been given to implement the initiative, but obviously it did not work and the "pizza" was to get me to provide the necessary details for the implementation of the project. I’m joking... Indonesians never go other’ home unexpected, without bringing along food for all.

My system should not certainly be a secret, but the success was bound to follow certain principles without which even the first of my attempts had not been successful.

In the first place it was necessary to find water on mainland in large quantities and of course of good quality. To do this I had to buy the land at the base of a chain of hills nearby. Dig until we find water. In my case I dug a trench 25 meters Watch Publications on http://issuu.com/villa.centofiori/docs Come for a visit. Call +62 (0)817 368-444 or email me: centofiori.giligede@gmail.com.

We will refund your travel expenses if any of what we said is untruth or exaggerated.

VILLA CENTOFIORI

GILI GEDE ISLAND

long in the open and with an access ramp to the water level. Luckily for me at some point of the trench, I found a source from where water gushed literally and copiously enough to flood all the digging. In order to continue, I had to use a pump to keep the bottom of the trench dry enough to clean and smooth the excavation. In this way, I created a pool 25m long, 1.2m width and 24m in height for a total of 60-120 máśž water. I have arranged an immersion pump 1"1/4 1.5HP capable of pushing the water for more than 2km equal to the distance that separates the source from the destination. The PVC reinforced pipe enters the sea after about 600m through my garage where if need be I could add another pump thrust. The pipe sinks to the bottom of the channel to about 30m depth then emerge after 650m, along my dock, get into an underground pipeline and continue up the hill 27m high where to pour water into the reservoirs tanks of 3500liters placed on top a 4m high tower. The surplus with a further pipeline flows into the lake built on the plateau at the top of the hill.

In practice, if the well-digging trenches required the work of 15 people with tools at least primitive for two months, the really challenging work that I had to face was the laying of the pipeline on the bottom of the channel where a strong current is acting twice a day with the in and outgoing tides. A first attempt using a set of 60 iron rods 15mm, 12m long was broken along with the pipeline connected to it, stretching like a chewing gum pulled at both ends, this because my helpers divers believed they could avoid the shore up the pipe with pegs 1.5m long that I had asked to arrange every 3m. they dropped to the bottom after having fixed only few.

The attempts of my interlocutor have failed for a similar reason, but in his case he used the pre-

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We will refund your travel expenses if any of what we said is untruth or exaggerated.

VILLA CENTOFIORI

GILI GEDE ISLAND

cast concrete ducts to weight pipeline that nevertheless it was rolled up like a snake and had plunged about 4 km of pipe for the total distance of 1.4km and water did not arrive at destination.

For the second attempt I used 20mm rods, 6m long each and tied together with a robust shackle and a stake every 6m using their shackle to lock. This time I joined the divers to check that everything was done according to what I had predetermined. Once placed this rod line, functioning as anchoring and ballast and anchored it at both ends, it was lowered the pipeline which has gone to stay in a large U welded on the rods every 3m and with a swivel lid top. Today, after many years, it all works wonderfully well and the pipeline has almost completely disappeared from view having been bury under the sand.

The complex implementation began with the study of the tides to find those moments of "tired" in which it was not present any current at all for a time long enough to complete the job. The boats of support, one with the material to a sink and two boats with compressors to supply air to the divers, in the presence of current would drift leeward without possibility of maintaining a straight line. Only a couple of times a year we a have favorable conditions to this operation by ensuring just over an hour to sink 700 meters of rod and the next day the pipeline.

I had previously arranged a robust line with small colored buoys floating between the two piers of departure and arrival, but partially sunk to not give hindrance to navigation. In this way I was able to monitor the current going in and out making this floating line curving like a bow. Only when it was back to a straight line we could start operation and swiftly complete it successfully.

All the inhabitants of the island where I live, occasionally during the dry season that lasts 45months/year remain without water and come to ask for a little more and I grant that indiscriminately. Actually, in the past I had prepared a line that carried water up to service-entrance gate so that the near village could draw water. Unfortunately I had to give up because like all things free of charge was squandered even for washing clothes and other non-essential uses. Even the authorities are trying to help them by donating systems for rainwater harvesting that invariably are soon abandoned unusable for lack of maintenance.

Resorts on the small islands off-coast Lombok have the same problem and only the three islands to the north where tourism flourishes, are replenished daily with tank barges. Alternative systems have always existed, more or less expensive and reliable, but for Villa Centofiori that I put up for sale I have solved the problem permanently and self-amortizing.

Watch Publications on http://issuu.com/villa.centofiori/docs Come for a visit. Call +62 (0)817 368-444 or email me: centofiori.giligede@gmail.com.

We will refund your travel expenses if any of what we said is untruth or exaggerated.