PI SCI FOUNDATION

The PI Sci foundation stands for Science in the Public Interest and is dedicated to finding perennial and non invasive solutions on the planet.

 

No one would disagree that areas of high natural value must be conserved. The living resources that we need to conserve are rivers, forests, aquifers and biodiversity. These are evolutionary resources that took millions of year to make. They share a history of co-evolution with us. Our metabolism is based on them, be it natural mineral water or organic food - which makes them essentially valuable.

 

But conservation is a troubled ideal unless it comes with tangible benefits. So here’s the challenge - to find solutions that preserve nature and provide economic returns. We decided to find solutions that, ‘Conserve and Use’ living natural resources. This needs more  than just  invention – it needs invention with natural wisdom, which moves technology from reductionist to holistic.

           

Floodplains of rivers can provide a new source of water which is naturally stored and naturally recharged in aquifers under the sand. One of our solutions is to provide a local, perennial source of water for cities situated by rivers. The Palla river floodplain project in Delhi is a realisation of this idea on the ground. Another solution is a perennial scheme to supply local natural mineral  water for towns. This water will be sourced from a subterranean aquifer underlying a local forest, which is also naturally recharged.  This comes with great health and economic benefits.

 

Our proposal of a Natural City  is of the same genre. It is a pioneering new blueprint for a city – a departure from the historical structure of cities.  It is a design for a self-sustaining metabolic city which uses the principle of homeostasis, which governs all life on the planet

 

We have also worked on a holistic scheme to restore rivers and floodplains which will also bolster farmer income and connect the rural to the urban. This scheme can be realised through a Public Private Partnership– where farmers can lease a 1 kilometre wide tract of land on each side of the river for an assured and steady income of 30,000 rupees an acre, to provide quality floodplain water at normal domestic rates to towns along the river Farmers can, in addition, organically grow a  food forest or fruit orchards but not water intensive crops on this land. It would guarantee not only a good farming income but also great earnings from the water for the farmers without taking the ownership of the land away from them. The scheme would use only half the recharged water in the floodplain and return the rest to the river bringing back its health and still leave a substantial revenue for the city administration.

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