There is another method for transporting the water vertically in a passive manner; evaporation and condensation!
Evaporation due to sunrays coupled with capillary action, even with another very beneficial addition; a fully producing greenhouse incorporated into the design, with last but not least water turbines for water heading back down the irrigation tubes from the highermost point.
The implications?
a greenhouse that can evaporate seawater and contaminated water (sun evaporates water from a seperate "dirty" pool), while also using the evaporative action of plants to humidify air. The warm humid air from both/all sources seeks the uppermost point in the closed climate greenhouse, where it can be condensed in a condensation tower, which uses a heat conducting fluid/air/material to capture the heat released as the humid air condenses, transporting it to a thermal mass... which is then used to level out heat spikes for the greenhouse climate.
The plants would furthermore be able to clean sewage water and other organically polluted water without prior, seperate evaporation by sun, instead allowing microbiology and plant biology to break down and incorporate the organic materials back into the carbon cycle of plants and soil.
...I'm all for passive, organic or biological "tech"!
That's why I want to marry the fields of computer-/information technology, passive/appropriate technology and biological/organic resources, living and nonliving (byproducts). Information technology is the most capital intensive and frail of the three, but with such incredible potential and versatility... an unmissable tool! I want a collection of DIY communities to spring up around the world and a general trend towards information sharing and massive, cloud or hive-like collaboration between people and workstations: efficient and sustainable utilization of technical resources, basically!
