Last night I watched a documentary from the incredible series Human Planet. It focused on the ingenious and astonishing lengths people go to in order to have access to water. From community traditions found in the Sahara including Algerian tunnellers that tap into ancient water networks, to fog harvesting in the Atacama desert in Chile, one of the driest places on Earth.

It reminded me of the inspiring Greening the Desert documentary by Jeff Laughton (I posted a couple months ago). This is based in Jordan, a country where 92% of the land is desert, with the remaining land in arid highlands (Amman) and the arid Jordan valley. It has one of the lowest levels of water availability per capita in the world and is in water overshoot - drawing much of its water from non-renewable deep aquifer reserves. The concept of drinking historic water which hasn’t been touched for thousands of years is compelling. But longevity is exactly what water excels in. It just keeps enduring, evaporating, precipitating, flowing through all living things. Ancient, yet fresh, able to revitalise our body, giving us life for another day. It must be one of the most recycled items us humans consume. Polluting to the extent of rendering water useless, or even harmful, may be considered a crime against humanity.

Gratefully, I’ve never had to experience the effects of drought. But I’m getting a little closer. This year, I’m living in Kenya. It’s now the dry season and our rainwater harvesting tanks are empty. I’m managing to have the odd shower and I’m getting used to a new mode of grubbiness. Luckily we have a car and a spring nearby, which we tap for drinking water, passing it through a .1 micron filter to keep the more eager bugs out. Water feels scarce but I can’t complain, I have plenty compared with others. This experience is certainly helping me appreciate the preciousness of water.

Drought isn’t just affecting the usual culprits. My friend was telling me last night that the South East of England is having a drought. “In February???” I gasped. A quick search confirmed it. Southern England is one of Europe’s most water stressed areas. It’s undoubtably a problem but I don’t think it’s that difficult to deal with, technically speaking. Examples like BedZED demonstrate how you can significantly reduce water consumption without affecting lifestyle quality. And in our streets and on our roofs, there is so much opportunity for better surface water management, which can be twinned with improving natural habitats and increasing local food growing. We can do it, if we really want to.

The greatest challenge is for desert-like countries such as Jordan where there is population growth, diminishing resources, heavy industrial agriculture polluting water courses, and climate change to exacerbate the problem. We need pioneers to show that the answers are within easy reach of us all. That’s why I love Geoff Laughton’s “Greening the Desert”, Permaculture Farms and One Planet Communities. And of course, documentaries such as Human Planet for providing us with a beautiful perspective on water around the world.

We’ve been planting trees in the field around our workshop. Four moringa (moringa arborea) and a mango tree. Moringa is a special tree and deserves it’s own separate blog post (when I get round to it). To save us having to water the plants each day, my colleague Caleb suggested we use glass bottles to do it for us.

After digging a small hole next to the plant, you fill it with water. Ensure the glass bottle, is fully filled with water, then tip it upside down and press it into the hole, pointing towards the plant. Water will be absorbed from the bottle as the soil and roots need it, so you only have to visit your plants every few days. It’s basically a low-tech drip irrigation. We are hoping the moringa trees will shoot up fast now. Apparently they can reach a height of 3 meters in a year.

The spirit that moves through all things

Slow it. Spread it. Sink it… is the recurring principle for water management on land. So down the slope of a hill, you can apply this using dams, swales, plants, aquaculture, rainwater harvesting, shallow wells, mulching, animals drinking water, greywater systems and the soil itself, which when healthy is excellent at water retention.

During class, we took a virtual tour of some real life examples of urban water management. For example, in Los Angeles there is a government policy where new builds have to have zero rainwater run off. BedZED in South London is another example, where the permeable street scape ensures water can drain into the natural water table or be shepherded into wildlife ditches. Green roofs also help sponge up rainfall while creating extra habitats for wildlife, and another insulating layer for the building.

Swales

A few days ago I didn’t really know what a swale was, now I’m in love with them. They are basically ditches that capture water. They are dug on contour so that water can evenly soak and spread into the soil without causing any erosion channels. Swales were talked about throughout the permaculture course as a key growing strategy, particularly in arid lands where water is particularly scarce. We also covered gabions, a type of wall which controls water flows to slow erosion patterns. 

Swale profile by Reny Mia Slay, Introduction to Permaculture

Dirt! The Movie

In the evening, I watched the film Dirt. One of the things that moved me from the film was the plight of farmers in India. Under considerable stress, 200,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997. One of the underlying causes is the rapid shift to heavy pesticide, coupled with rapid technological advances. With no guidance or support for dealing with these changes, farmers were poisoning their lands using chemicals that they were unable to afford.

Whilst cooking dinner that night, there was a partial eclipse of the moon. It was pretty special, although we didn’t fully realise that it was an eclipse until after it happened. With my new permaculture buddies, we chatted around the fire, feeling optimistic and excited about applying some of new knowledge from the day.

Sunday afternoon: collecting spring water for drinking. Our nearest place is about a mile away. We have several rainwater collection tanks around the house supplying all the water we need for showers, toilets and washing.