That means building futuristic structures that use wastewater and solar power to produce hydroponic (grown in a nutrient-rich water, without soil) and aeroponic (grown in water-saturated air) crops.
Farmers plant a warm-season perennial grass and fallow the field for two years, improving soil quality and water-holding capacity.
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Once emitted, it persists in the environment for a long time - circulating through air, water, soil and living organisms - and can be dispersed over vast distances.
Many farmers using these seeds have even been able to implement a "no-till" system, which offers tremendous environmental benefits by preventing soil erosion, keeping farm water and chemical run-off out of local watersheds and releasing less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Metagenomics takes another approach, basically putting an entire environment--the water in an ocean, the soil in a forest or the insides of an animal--into a DNA sequencer.
One interesting pilot scheme being tried out in Minnesota allows farmers who reduce fertiliser run-off and soil erosion to enjoy an exemption from future state and federal water-quality standards.
The HighDro Power system works by harnessing the considerable energy from falling waste water in the soil pipes of high-rises, converting it to electricity.
Members of the project hope that future habitants on the planet will be able to harness the wind, water deposits and soil to become self-sufficient.
The adoption of herbicide-resistant crops could help improve water and soil quality by reducing the need for tilling.
Most of the city is built over, so it is important that the rainwater is channelled past the built-over surfaces into the soil, where it tops up the water table.
Indiscriminate logging and deforestation have caused the exposed soil to run off into the river, silting it up and reducing its water-flow capacity.
Biodiversity, which includes species, ecosystems, and ecological processes, is essential for the long-term maintenance of ecosystem services like photosynthesis, nutrient recycling, soil fertility, provision of fresh water, disaster prevention, and many others.
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Over a two-year experiment, we saw that there was a change in the soil structure as a result of a wetting and drying of the soil in clay-rich soils, and that can increase the amount of structure and hence storage of water.
Kurita Water Industries, one of Japan's leading environmental-engineering firms, started building its soil remediation skills over a decade ago.
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