Water Management

“You have to plant the water first, and then plant the trees”
Zephaniah Phiri, Conservationist & Water Farmer

Managing water on a site is one of the most crucial ways to assure the site's resilience and sustainability. World-wide weather patterns are changing rapidly and in many regions, rain events are becoming even more scarce and aggressive. Designing ways to harvest rainwater or collecting and efficiently re-utilizing grey water on site, are some of the projects the Water Management Service could help you design.

When harvesting water it can be done in two ways:

1.Harvesting water passively: The best and cheapest place to store water is in the soil. According to each site’s specifications and special characteristics, earthworks can be put to place so water can flow through and infiltrate in the soil in order to be used by vegetation and soil life later on. Beyond the obvious effects of growing soil, food, shade, fodder and many more plant products, through passive water harvesting, water can seep down to the underground levels and help replenish our acquirers. Passive water harvesting techniques include:

a. Infiltration basins

b. Berm & Basins (also known as swales)

c. Terraces

d. French drains and other

2.Harvesting water actively: The capturing and storing of rainwater goes back thousands of years when we first started to farm the land and needed new ways to irrigate crops. Rainwater was captured and stored for later use by many ancient civilizations, such as the Romans, Ancient Greeks and the Indians. Today, rainwater catchment is quickly catching up and many countries such as Australia, Israel and some US States are setting up legislations that aim to encourage and in some cases enforce the installment of rainwater harvesting systems. An active water harvesting system can be designed to serve an individual or an entire community and water harvested through such systems can be suitable for irrigation, household needs and drinking purposes. Examples of active water harvesting systems include:

a. Rain barrels,
b. Tanks,
c. Ponds and
d. Dams

Every water management design is done based on Brad Lancaster’s 8 fundamental water harvesting principles:

1. BEGIN WITH LONG & THOUGHTFUL OBSERVATION

Observe where the water flows, where it collects, where it drains away, and where it drains from

What is working – Build on it. What is not working – Change it.

2. START AT THE TOP AND WORK YOUR WAY DOWN

It is easier to harvest water high in the watershed than low because volume and flow is less and more manageable

3. START SMALL & SIMPLE

Small, simple systems are easier to create and maintain

4. SLOW, SPREAD & INFILTRATE THE FLOW OF WATER

When you do that you reduce destructive erosion and increase water’s infiltration into the soil

5. ALWAYS PLAN AN OVERFLOW ROUTE AND MANAGE THAT OVERFLOW AS A RESOURCE

Overflow water should fill a nearby vegetated earthwork and its flowpath should force the water to slow, spread and sink

6. CREATE A LIVING SPONGE

Spread organic mulch over the surface of the soil and harvest even more water to grow more resources

7. DO MORE THAN JUST HARVEST WATER

Maximize beneficial relationships and efficiency by stacking functions: Rain irrigated vegetation and cisterns can cool buildings, clean air, produce food, create wildlife habitat and add beauty to our lives

8. CONTINUALLY REASSESS YOUR SYSTEM: THE FEEDBACK LOOP

How is the land responding to your work? How are you strategies performing? Make changes and reassess again.

Are you are ready to design your Water Management system today?

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