AskNature

Innovation Details

Approximately 21 million people worldwide are affected by river floods every year. In order to build an efficient and sustainable river facility, the E-Colant.Net unit balances river erosion and sediment accumulation, improves the adhesion of plants and soil, and increases water permeability. The solution was Inspired by the pattern arrangement of shark fins, plants’ water filtration structures, and the gills of tilapia. The design provides resilience of the river channel when floods hit, increases filterability, provides biological habitat, and increases ecological diversity. The multi-level river terrace public space design also allows residents to reconnect with the river’s natural elements.

Define the problem being solved.Approximately 21 million people worldwide are affected by river floods every year. Due to drastic climate change, this number may increase to 54 million by 2030. In the rainy season in Taiwan, the amount of rain gradually increased. Taichung, the second most populous city, suffered severe floods, and the floods in Shalu District came from the flooding of Nanshi River and Beishi River. The destruction of upstream water and soil conservation, improper river engineering, river eddy problems, and river siltation increase the risk of flooding the embankment, resulting in a decline in the river’s self-purification capacity and threats to the surrounding ecology.

What organisms/natural systems helped inform this design?The team referenced the pattern arrangement of shark fins to organize the water flow, and the law of fish scales to construct units to create bumps. The convex surface allows plants to attach to the unit and filters the liquid to guide the water to the underground layer, while the concave surface reduces water turbulence. Additionally, the team referred to the gills of tilapia to filter the water entrained with sediment and used the concept of pores of the phylum porifera to filter silt. In the process of guiding water to the ground, heart valves are used to prevent water backflow. The hook structure of harpagophytum inspired the design to increase soil grip and make plants grow better. Fish scale arrangements were also referenced to distribute water, reduce turbulence, and minimize drag.

What does this design do?In order to build an efficient and sustainable river facility, the team created a unit that balances river erosion and sediment accumulation, improves the adhesion of plants and soil, and improves water permeability. In order to balance the erosion and accumulation of the river, the team conducted corresponding technical tests using flow simulation. The turbulent flow of the original water has a strong scouring force on the curve, and it is easy to accumulate sand after turning, and it will cause floods when the rainfall is large. From the perspective of the bionics function, the E-Colant.Net unit shape and connection can significantly reduce the flow rate and pressure by conducting the test. The shape of E-Colant.Net concentrates the erosion forces on the concave area to balance erosion and siltation. The convex surface can capture sediment. The soil is accumulated in an area suitable for plant growth. In the past, the design was non-remedial to floods, the damage to natural habitats. This design, by reducing eddy currents, provides resilience of the river channel when floods hit, coexists with floods, increases filterability, provides biological habitat, and increases ecological diversity. The multi-level river terrace public space design allows residents to reconnect with the river.

How does this solution address the problem or opportunity?After installing E-Colant.Net, Nanshi Stream can have a more friendly waterfront, and can also preserve the original spring and laundry culture by supplementing groundwater. Excessive water seeps into the ground during floods. After the flood, the water absorbed by the groundwater can pass through the river bed and return to the river surface again to achieve the ability to adapt to the flood. In the future, residents can easily approach the water’s edge, observe ecology, interact with nature, and gain emotion and consensus to protect streams.

Ethos Element: How compatible is this design with all surrounding living systems? Is it safe? How is it more sustainable than the alternatives?This design sustains the surrounding river ecology, such as fish and all water creatures including aquatic plants, with the local residents by improving the ecology of the river. Local residents can have closer contact with the ecology. In consideration of safety, this design uses the porous surface to not only increase the flow rate but also increase the surface friction, allowing users to walk in the river channel on foot and reduces the possibility of falling into the water. E-Colant.Net is also more sustainable than the alternatives conventional technology such as cemented, rock gabion, and sandbags wall because these alternatives are not ecologically sustainable and needs to be remedied in time to avoid leakage of water. However, E-Colant.Net adapts with the flood, reducing the erosion and siltation of the river, and using the flood water to create an ecosystem by keeping plants and animals to grow.

(Re)connect Element: Describe how this innovation helped the team connect with the natural world.By participating in developing this solution, the team had an opportunity to connect with the nature of Nanshi stream. The team found that the social-ecological networks of the area have been lost. The team uses the iSites lenses to observe the know-how of nature’s clever solutions in dealing with its surrounding problems. In the process of discovering biological models, the team conducts observations to find the local species of Nanshi Stream and how these species can survive in the destructed stream ecology. The iSites and biomimicry methods inspire us to discover forms, processes, and ecosystems of nature in surroundings. It mentored and guided the team to create a creative breakthrough design from the conventional design method. The iSites process connects people with the natural world as a source of inspiration for this design, and also optimism to make Nanshi Stream to be a better place.

How were Nature’s Unifying Patterns or Life’s Principles applied to this design?When communities face floods, they do not need to block the floods but coexist with the floods because only coexistence can adapt to the original operation of nature. The need is to balance, coordinate and respond locally. Nature tends to optimize its own strategy. Instead of maximizing and improving the original cemented riverbed, this design establishes groundwater infiltration to improve the watershed space, considers self-renewal to maintain integrity, adapts to changing conditions, pays attention to river biodiversity, improves resource efficiency, and uses low energy consumption to achieve optimal function.