Rainwater-Harvesting Principles

Even though it is summer and we aren't getting much rain right now, you can still think about rainwater-harvesting and start getting ready now for when the rain and snow does come.  I have been reading Brad Lancaster's website, www.harvestingraingwater.com, a lot lately.  He has a lot of great information and suggestions on how to capture and keep rain water.  One of his practices that I find interesting is how he keeps the water that falls onto his property, on his property.  He encourages others to do the same.  By using swales and berms and by amending your soil so it is more absorbent, you too can keep more of the rain that falls onto your property, on your property.

Here are Brad's Eight Rainwater-Harvesting Principles.  If you want more info, he has two books out as well as his website.  They are all worth checking out.

1.  Begin with long and thoughtful observation.
      Use all of your senses to see where the water flows and how.  What is working and what is not?  Build 
       on what works.
2.  Start at the top-or highpoint-of your watershed and work your way down.
      Water travels downhill.  Start at the top where there is less volume and velocity so it is easier to follow
       the next principle...
3.  Start small and simple.
     Work at the human scale so you can build and repair everything. One thousand small strategies are far
      more effective than one big one when you are trying to infiltrate water into the soil.
4.  Spread and infiltrate the flow of water.
      Rather than having water run erosively off the land's surface, encourage it to stick around, walk around
      and infiltrate INTO the soil.
5.  Always plan for an overflow route and manage that overflow as a resource.
     Always have an overflow for the water in times of extra-heavy rains and use that overflow as a resource.
6.  Maximize living, organic ground cover.
     Create a living sponge so the harvested water is used to create more resources, while the soil's ability to
     infiltrate and hold water steadily improves.
7.  Maximize beneficial relationships and efficiency by "stacking functions."
     Get your water-harvesting strategies to do more than hold water.  Berms or swales can double as high
     and dry raised paths.  Plantings can be placed to cool buildings.  Trees can be selected to provide food.
8.  Continually reassess your system:  the "feedback loop."
     Learn from your work-we begin with the first principle.

I know a lot of this information seems daunting, but Brad breaks things down and takes them one step at a time and makes it seem like a much more manageable way to keep our yards and gardens.  By getting more water to stay on your property, you will be able to decrease your dependency on irrigation in order  to keep your landscape green and healthy.  So think about taking some baby steps toward keeping more rainwater on your property instead of letting it run down the road. 

Sustainable Thursday

With the summer season upon us and in full swing, watering the garden or your trees and bushes becomes a frequent chore.  During last weeks rain storm, I stood and watched where the water was going and I was shocked to see a good portion of it running right off my property and down the street.  I have amended the soil in my garden beds and have been slowly trying to stop the water from leaving my property, however, it was clear that a lot of it was still running off.  So the question is how can I stop that and retain that water in my garden?

Since my house sits way at the back of my property, the majority of my yard is in the front of my house and gently slopes toward the road, which encourages all the rain to run right off my property.  So how could I keep more of the water on my property?  Rain barrels?  Sure, they are great, but once they are full, you are right back to square one with all the excess running off.   So I decided to do a little research.

I found Brad Lancaster's website, books and videos.  He lives in Arizona and is passionate about rainwater harvesting.  Here is a little blurb about him from his website, www.harvestingrainwater.com.

Since 1993 I’ve run a successful permaculture consulting, design, and education business focused on integrated and sustainable approaches to landscape design, planning, and living. And as I live in the dryland environment, rainwater harvesting has long been one of my specialties and a passion. Through my business I’ve been able to share this passion and many of the fun innovations and daily adventures that come about from striving to live more sustainably and comfortably in the Sonoran Desert.  At home my brother and I harvest over 100,000 gallons of rainwater a year on a 1/8-acre urban lot and adjoining right-of-way.

I found his website and the work he has done, to be fascinating and I ended up reading his website and watching several of his videos.  I plan to read his books in the near future as well.  He has a really good video about getting your soil to absorb water more like a sponge and retain it instead of letting it all run off.  You can save a whole lot more water by having your land absorb water like a sponge, then by adding rain barrels.  Here is a link to that video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wbyUz4IkjM  It is well worth the 5 minutes it takes to watch it. 

Since I am in the process of creating a garden in my front yard, now is the perfect time for me to start implementing some of these ideas and incorporating them into my garden landscaping.  Imagine when it rained or snowed, if all or the majority of that moisture stayed right in your yard instead of running off down the street.  By implementing some of Brad's ideas, I will not only create a better water situation for my new garden, but for the plants and trees that are all ready established there as well.  So take a few a minutes to either watch his videos or read his website.  I think it is really full of helpful rainwater harvesting and he has ideas we can all implement without going to the expense of adding huge rainwater collection tanks.