A watershed is “that area of land, a bounded hydrological system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.”
— John Wesley Powell

Political boundaries are arbitrary. Watershed boundaries are real.

What watershed, what naturally bounded community, do you live within?
Have you walked, run, biked, danced, kayaked it in a big rain?
Have you watched the water flow, its volume, its quality, its source, and its destination?

I recommend you do. You will better know the Place you live within. You will better know the community to which you are connected, and with which you could connect better still.

Below are examples of how some communities are encouraging the strengthening of this connection.

Excellent watershed maps are available for Oakland and Berkeley, CA, showing current and historic boundaries and conditions.

The even more-elaborate Mannahatta project shows us what Manhattan looked like in its natural state (in 1609) before the city was built.

Watershed Management Group, with TerraSystems Southwest, has made a some great Tucson Basin Watershed Maps.

You can use these resources to make signs that highlight your neighborhood’s or community’s watershed(s). Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the sign we made for my Dunbar/Spring neighborhood and its watersheds (and click on the link below it to download as a jpeg).

Santa Cruz County, in California, is one municipality that places watershed signs where roads cross over watershed boundaries/ridgelines.

These efforts help show the flow, instead of obscuring it within drain pipes and other hidden infrastructure, so we can better celebrate the flow, and enhance it and the watershed by turning draining watersheds into harvesting-water catchments.

For more on how we can do this on our own sites and within our own neighborhoods, read Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1 and Volume 2.

For images of examples you can also check out my Water Harvesting Image Galleries.

Also check out Brock Dolman’s excellent Basins of Relations booklet, and while you're at it check out his wonderful Bioneers presentation. It is on YouTube in three parts: Part one, Part two, and Part three.

Click to download the JPEG of this Dunbar/Spring Washes and Watersheds sign.

For more of Brad's blog posts, visit his Drops in a Bucket blog.

Show the flow. Cycle it. Celebrate it. Know it. And as you do, show others the way.

The three images below are installations that I feel show and celebrate the flow. Their beauty lures me in, and invites me to look deeper. See more images in the Contemporary Water-Harvesting Art gallery, part of my website’s larger Water-Harvesting Image Gallery.

And for more how-to information see Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1 and Volume 2.

There is a tradition of harvesting rainwater in all human-inhabited drylands of the world where it rains (and in a great many wet areas that also experience dry seasons). I’ve been very lucky to have been able to travel to, and learn from, some of them.

Below are three images. One from Israel. One from Jordan. One from India. If you are traveling to any of these countries, I highly recommend you seek these sites out. They are all open to the public, and you can find them via the information I give in the captions of these and many more images in the Ancient Water Harvesting Art image gallery within my Water-Harvesting Images Gallery.

[To see the remaining images and read the rest of this short & sweet post (and any others!), I invite you to visit my Drops In a Bucket Blog.]

Brad transporting plants

Years ago at a red light I looked into the car beside me and saw the frowning driver’s hair blowing into the back seat as though she were leaning into a mighty storm. But her windows were up. The gale was coming from her air conditioner — on a beautiful day when an open window could just as easily cool and refresh. Then I coughed, and looked back at her tail pipe spewing out toxic exhaust. I was on a bicycle, and loving the day, except for the coughing. And that’s when the simple realization hit me.

Everything we do, every choice we make, has consequences. And no matter how seemingly simple, they can be profound. We can choose to be and live problems — or solutions.

I realized every time I drove (or mechanically cooled myself) I was directly poisoning air, water, soil, and myself. However, every time I rode my bike, my exhaust was never worse than a flatulent. When I drove my car, I fueled it with toxic gasoline from a distant corporation. When I rode my bike, I fueled me, often with a burrito made from locally grown tepary beans and cooked in my backyard solar oven. A burrito I would’ve eaten anyway now tasted even better.

[...]

From “Oil Addiction Has Never Been More Expensive…For Most of Us” © Sightline Institute; used with permission.

How I do live without owning a car?
I live in a central, mixed-use, pedestrian-scaled neighborhood, a few blocks away from major bus routes, where I can easily get the majority of my needs met within a 3- to 5-mile (1.8- to 3-km) radius. When working in town, I consciously select work that is closer to home to keep my typical in-town travel radius smaller and more easily bikeable, although I do venture much further out on occasion. And I started playing with the bicycling lifestyle long ago while I still lived with my folks in their “remote” suburban home 10 miles from my work. Plus I’m always advocating for more human-powered transport infrastructure and policy in my community and beyond.

Having sold my car, it is now far more convenient to ride a bike, walk, or take public transport than to arrange to borrow a vehicle. Convenience is key. And even when I’m feeling tired at the beginning of a ride, once I get going (and afterward) I am always glad I did.

I have an Xtracycle Free Radical Cargo Loader that extended my 20-year-old mountain bike so I can use it as a bike truck. I can pack 200 lbs (90 kg) on its back, carry people, other bikes, building materials, trees, groceries, and more. Before I had my Xtracycle I just used my mountain bike with bike bags, a big basket, and when needed, a bike trailer. Photos of the trailer, made from salvaged materials, can be seen farther down in this blog post.

[...]

Visit my Drops in a Bucket blog to read the full posting, view photos, and access a wide variety of great bicycle-related resources that I hope will inspire and equip you to get from point A to point B without all the X-Y-Z.

This is number six in a series of Drops in a Bucket Blog posts on Brad Lancaster’s water wanderings in the Middle East; this trip led in part to Volume 1 of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond being translated into Arabic, and Brad’s participation in the upcoming International Permaculture Convergence in Jordan this September. NOTE: If traveling to the Middle East, check out this blog series for dynamic projects and sites to check out.

In northern Jordan during the summer of 2009, I was on a mission to document a modern-day Roman-era cistern resurgence. I met with Engineer and Permaculture Project Manager Sameeh Al-Nuimat at the Care International office outside Amman. He was great. He has rural hardworking roots, loves native plants and traditional ways, is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about whole-system design, and decided we’d begin the day by having an Arabic breakfast with everyone in the office. We all grouped around a very small, low table piled high with hummus, pita, olives, falafel etc, and ate with our hands. What a wonderful way to bring everyone together as the day begins!

The Village of Rainwater Tea
We then made for the water. In the village of Bayudah Al Shrquia there is a long tradition of rainwater harvesting. Roman- and Byzantine-era cisterns abound in both ruin and reuse, with the limestone hills peppered with underground tanks dug into the rock. Many of these tanks have been in continual use since their creation over a thousand years ago, while others have been newly refurbished, funded in part by revolving community loan funds often facilitated by Care International. The cisterns are olla-shaped, and often built below a limestone catchment. A depressed sediment trap just in front of the cistern’s water entrance is usually the only filtration. A boulder with a trap door is put atop the cistern opening so no one falls in.

To read on and see more photos, follow this link to my Drops In A Bucket Blog on my website. You'll be able to follow me down into an underground cistern, learn more about ancient water-harvesting systems, and drink a virtual glass of mint rainwater tea with me….

Number 5 in a series of Drops in a Bucket blog posts on Brad Lancaster’s and David Eisenberg’s U.S. State Department-sponsored adventures and gleanings in the Middle East Northern Jordan, April 2009

Jordan Valley, Jordan, 2009

My guides Mohammed Ayesh of NCARE and Iqbal of JOHUD took me to an oasis.

The village we were in was strewn with garbage, and the soil was bare and severely eroded. Houses were made from concrete brick and whatever materials could be scavenged. Then we saw the oasis: an island of green bursting from the yard’s pallet fence.

Learn about Basma, the creator and caretaker of this oasis, and the story of how it came to be here, on my home blog, Drops in a Bucket.

Number 4 in a series of Drops in a Bucket blog posts on Brad Lancaster’s and David Eisenberg’s U.S. State Department-sponsored adventures and gleanings in the Middle East

Northern Jordan, April 2009

Throughout northern Jordan we visited dynamic villages that were enhancing their quality of life by recycling water and money as close to their sources as possible.

The money is recycled primarily via revolving community-loan funds. Here is how it works: a village collectively gathers a pot of money, a portion of which is lent out to its villagers to fund projects the village has deemed worthy. The most popular projects are those that recycle water with rainwater-harvesting cisterns and greywater-harvesting systems, while others used their loans to finance composting projects, organic gardens and orchards, and small livestock – all investments that increase local productivity along with the resiliency and sustainability of the village and its natural resources. A villager who receives a loan has two and a half years to pay it back, interest free. The money can then be lent out to yet another villager. The village’s productivity keeps improving with the investments, enabling the village to give itself more loans, continuing the upward spiral of recycled investments that stay in the community. Neither non-locally owned banks nor interest drain off the profits.

…

Ali Flahmohammad Khtatabh, the Imam of Whadneh, proudly showed me the 2,500 Jordanian dinars’ worth (currently equivalent to over US $3,500) of cisterns the village loan fund had financed at his home and the homes of his children. He was the first in his village to install cisterns, and as its spiritual leader, he made it clear that the harvest of rainwater was in alignment with both the teachings of the Koran and good sense. He was so happy with the cisterns that he kept building more.

To continue reading about Brad's observations on water-tank culture and current and potential greywater-harvesting strategies in the Middle East, along with an ahead-of-the-curve piece of pro-greywater legislation in Israel, and more, follow this link to Brad's Drops in a Bucket blog on his website.

Number 3 in a series of Drops in a Bucket blog entries on Brad Lancaster’s and David Eisenberg’s U.S. State Department-sponsored adventures and gleanings in the Middle East

Al Absaa, Saudi Arabia, April 2009

At Al Absaa we toured irrigation projects within the largest oasis in Saudi Arabia. Over one million date palms grow here. But the springs that have fed the oasis for generations are going dry. Oil drilling by Aramco has diverted, blocked, or consumed water flows that used to feed the oasis. The city of 1.5 million is also rapidly growing and consuming additional water. This is a story I encounter again and again the world over; this time it just happens to be in Saudi Arabia.

[...]

One spring, “The Mother of Seven (Streams),” is now the mother of none. Twenty years ago it stopped flowing on its own. Water must now be pumped. We looked down into the deep hole from which the spring water used to flow. The hole was dripping, but empty.

A father and son were swimming in a pool fed by the spring’s pumps. The father told me that the water used to be warmer, that he always swam here as a boy, and was glad his son could do likewise. I wondered if there would be water here for his grandson to swim in.

For the rest of the blog post and photos, follow this link to Brad's blog on his website.

By Brad Lancaster, www.HarvestingRainwater.com, ©2010

Number 2 in a series of Drops in a Bucket blog entries on Brad Lancaster’s and David Eisenberg’s U.S. State Department-sponsored adventures and gleanings in the Middle East

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 2009

Most of the water people now drink in Saudi Arabia is desalinated seawater. And there are great costs, among them air pollution from the power plants which burn oil to run the desalination plants. We read articles daily on the many people falling ill from the pollution.

The new Saudi Arabia is very dependent on this oil, not only for water, but the mechanical heating and cooling of the new modern buildings of imported concrete, steel, and glass.

But the traditional dynamic Saudi culture was borne from surviving and thriving in this hot, dry climate — without oil, imported building materials, and appliances. We wanted to see the old practices of harvesting water, building with local materials, and passive cooling and heating. So, we headed for old Jeddah.

Old Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is a gem, and as our guide Sami promised, it is replete with a rich tradition of harvesting rainwater, life, and vernacular architecture. Sami Nawwar was our lively host. He is caretaker of the grand Nasseif House/Al Balad at the core of old Jeddah. Sami is hugely excited about old Jeddah and has been fighting to save it for over 40 years.

To join Brad, David, and Sami on the rest of their tour of old Jeddah, click here.

© 2010 www.HarvestingRainwater.com

Watergy is a term coined to describe the interconnection of water and energy. Every time we consume power we consume water. This is because water is used in the generation of our power – in Arizona this figure ranges from 0.001 to 56 gallons of water per kWh of power consumed.¹ Therefore, anything we can do to reduce our power consumption also reduces our water consumption.

Typically the amount of water consumed during power generation is much greater when the power is generated at centralized power plants, as opposed to on-site with renewable power production such as rooftop solar, whose water consumption is negligible.

Introducing a Watergy Cost Calculator for You and Your Community

How much water is expended in the generation of electricity from different sources?

How much energy, and subsequently embedded water, do average U.S. and Arizona households use per month, depending on where their energy comes from?

How about you and your community?

Use this one-page Community Watergy Calculator (PDF version – non-interactive) or Community Watergy Calculator (Excel version – interactive) to find out.

Click the image for a larger size.

The Watergy Cost Calculator. Notice how a Tucson, Arizona, household consumes 558 gallons of water per month via its electricity consumption if it gets its power from coal (the primary source of electricity in Tucson), but consumes only 1 gallon of water per month via its electricity consumption if it gets its power from rooftop solar. Now let’s go up in scale. Notice how all Tucson households combined consume 112,161,890 gallons of water per month via their combined electrical consumption if they get their power from coal, but they would consume only 219,925 gallons of water per month via their combined electrical consumption if they were to get their power from rooftop solar. In the Excel version of the spreadsheet, you can enter the number of households in your community to generate ballpark numbers for how much water your community consumes through its power generation.

The Community Watergy Calculator was conceived of by me, and created by Megan Hartman, based mainly on watergy data for Arizona from this wonderful and succinct resource “The Water Costs of Electricity in Arizona.”

Still more watergy information can be found at www.harvestingrainwater.com/watergy-climate.

Before I speak or teach in various communities, Megan generates one-page Water Conservation and Climate Data sheets for those communities. Many of these are available here, with more being added on a regular basis. These spreadsheets also list:

• What percentage of the community’s energy consumption is used to move (or move and treat water), depending on the data we are able to obtain.

• How much rain per person per day falls on the community in a typical year (rainfall GPCD) compared to how many gallons of municipal water per person per day are consumed in a typical year (municipal GPCD). In most cases, per year, a greater volume of rain falls on the community than is provided by the municipality. This helps make the case that if the community were to harvest and utilize more of that free, high-quality rainwater, it could reduce or eliminate its depletion of local water sources, and reduce or eliminate the “need” for the high cost/high energy importation of water from elsewhere.

Click the image for a larger size.

Water and Climate Data Sheet for Tucson, AZ. Notice how the average Tucsonan uses 112 gallons of municipal water per day. And notice how during an average year there are 198 gallons of rain available per person per day – if only we were to harvest that rain and make it available throughout the year. To arrive at this rainfall GPCD figure, the spreadsheet calculates how much rain falls on the surface area of Tucson in a year of average rainfall, then divides that figure by 365 (days per year), and then divides the result by the population of Tucson. Also notice that 44% of the City of Tucson’s annual municipal energy consumption is used to move and treat water.

For simple and effective tips on how you can greatly reduce your energy consumption at home; increase your on-site passive heating, cooling, and solar power production; and enhance comfort and productivity, see Chapter 4 of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1. The whole book is packed with great info on how you can make progress on goals like these, while greatly enhancing the potential and use of your local rainfall, stormwater, greywater, and more.

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1. Extrapolated from Water Costs of Electricity in Arizona, a Project Fact Sheet of the Arizona Water Institute (Tucson, Arizona) from a 2007 investigation by Pasqualetti & Kelley. Fact Sheet ID: AWI-07-102 Pasqualetti.