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Saltwater Farms

fundraising for project next: The USa's first Saltwater Farms

the project

A saltwater farm located in the Colorado River basin in Imperial County, with access to brackish groundwater unsuitable as irrigation, but ideal for use in the evaporative filters to drive down crop water use AND concentrate and precipitate lithium in the underground brines.

THE PLAN

Following the successful reception of the Salton Sea restoration plan,
we are in early evaluation and design stages to develop and deploy in a US first, the Saltonwater Farm concept pioneered by Charlie Patton of seawatergreenhouse.com .

Target areas include Imperial Irrigation district, and Arizona farmland that meet the criteria and have access to limitless and currently unwanted underground brines.

Imperial Irrigation District is ground zero for a burgeoning extraction industry to fuel EVs with the lithium salts rich underground brines we would seek to tap.

the design

1. PURCHASE: Buy farmland with water rights at market value, with unwanted and useless brackish groundwater

2. SETUP: Drill to aquifer, set up groundwater pumping to access brackish water, and buildout evaporative media and other infrastructure for conversion to design intent.

3. VALUE CREATION: Generate 80% reduction in water use through Seawater Farming operations, and capitalize on the moderated climate effect to upgrade to more heat sensitive and valuable crops.

4. VALUE CAPTURE: Monetize water savings by (a) selling saved water as water rights to WIFA (Water Infrastructure Fund of Arizona) and the open market, (b) selling higher value added crops, (c) purchasing cheap land lacking water rights to deploy saved water, unlocking economic potential on desolate land to (d) sell and accelerate capital generation and redeployment.  Lithium sales represent a potentially lucrative adder, but with added operational complexity for management.

1. Inputs (per acre)

     Variable Costs:
     a. Freshwater = $25/acre-ft  *  8 acre-ft per year = $200

     Fixed Costs:
     b. Evaporative filters = $20,000/acre
     c. Water Tower = $5,000
     d. Well = $10,000 (services 50 acres - $200/acre)
     e. Misc. infrastructure & piping = $5,000/acre

     Total = $30,400/acre
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2. Outputs (per acre)

     a. Freshwater = $2,000/acre-ft * 5 acre-ft/yr
     b. Crop value add = $2,000/acre
    c. Lithium Carbonate = varies based on concentration, purity and market price

     Total = $12,000/acre

3. ROI = 2.5 years