[Lapg] Harvesting Rainwater by Not Letting It Go to Waste Interview on NPR with Brad Lancaster, January 9, 2008

[Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

Harvesting Rainwater by Not Letting It Go to Waste

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17977057

Brad Lancaster's garden

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Brad Lancaster

Brad Lancaster's garden in Tucson, Ariz., 
features landscaping that takes advantage of 
rainwater and runoff from the adjoining street 
and path. His home features solar panels, a solar 
water heater and homemade solar oven.






Read an Excerpt

    * 'Rainwater Harvesting'



Illustration of Brad Lancaster's home in 1994.

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Brad Lancaster's property, at the time of 
purchase in 1994. Most runoff drained off the 
site, up against the home, or through the garage. 
All potentially reusable "graywater" from 
household drains went down the sewer, and a palm 
tree blocked winter solar access. Courtesy Brad Lancaster



Illustration of Lancaster's property in 2006

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An illustration of Lancaster's property in 2006 
shows that no runoff leaves the site. Street 
runoff is directed to basins and trees along the 
curb. All graywater is directed to and recycled 
within the landscape. With palm trees removed, 
winter solar access is regained. Courtesy Brad Lancaster



'Greywater' drains beside a washing machine.

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Brad Lancaster

"Graywater" drains (marked with destination: fig, 
white sapote, orange, and peach trees) beside a 
washing machine. The washer's drain hose is 
placed in a different pipe with each load of laundry.



<http://www.npr.org/templates/story//templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3>Morning 
Edition, January 10, 2008 · Big rains slammed the 
West this week ­ big news in a region that has gotten used to dry weather.

Now some city governments are looking to rain to ease their water woes.

Thousands of years old, the concept is catching 
on in drought-prone areas, including Tucson, 
Ariz., where Brad Lancaster lives. He's the 
author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond.

As Lancaster explains, harvesting rainwater means 
to "capture the rain as close as possible to 
where it falls, and then to use it as close as possible to where it falls."

The easiest method is to use the soil to capture 
the rainwater. "You create these bowl-like shapes 
in the landscape that collect water. You mulch 
the surface and plant them so the water quickly 
infiltrates, and then the plants become your living pumps."

"So you then utilize that water in the form of a 
peach, a pomegranate, an apple, wildlife habitat 
and beauty," Lancaster tells Renee Montagne.

A second, better-known version of rainwater 
harvesting is collecting rainwater from a roof in a tank, or a cistern.

The third example is harvesting wastewater, also 
known as graywater, from household drains, 
including showers, bathtubs, bathroom sinks and 
washing machines. (Other drains ­ such as the 
toilet, kitchen sink and dishwasher ­ are high in 
organic mater, such as food or bacteria, and are not suitable for reuse.)

Household wastewater is "an excellent source of 
rainwater that we can reuse to passively irrigate 
our landscapes in times of no rain," Lancaster says.

Lancaster says that 30 percent to 50 percent of 
potable water consumed by the average 
single-family home is used for landscaping. But 
nearly all of the irrigation water needs can be 
met just with rainwater and graywater, he says.

Rainwater harvesting can be useful even in areas 
that are not affected by drought, helping reduce 
flooding downstream, for example, Lancaster says.



Excerpt: 'Rainwater Harvesting'

by Brad Lancaster



'Harvesting Rainwater'




<http://www.npr.org>NPR.org, January 9, 2008 · Introduction

Catch rain where rain falls.
­East Indian proverb

I love the rain! I love to drink it, sing in it, 
dance in it, bathe in it. Of course that's only 
natural; our bodies are more than 70% water. You 
and I and everyone else­we're walkin', talkin' rain.

Rain is the embodiment of life. It infuses water 
into our springs, rivers, and aquifers. It cools 
us, greens the land, and nourishes the plants 
that feed us. It cleans the air, washes salts 
from the soil, and makes the animals sing.

Yet, the world's supply of fresh water is finite. 
Less than one half of one percent of all the 
water on Earth is fresh and available. The rest 
is seawater, or frozen. Our supply is renewed 
only through precipitation, a precious gift from 
the sky that falls as droplets, hail, or 
snowflakes, and then flows over the landscape as 
runoff. In this book, I refer to the gift as 
"rainwater." And the gift is ripe for harvesting.

Rainwater harvesting captures precipitation and 
uses it as close as possible to where it falls. 
The process mimics intact and healthy ecosystems, 
which naturally infiltrate rainwater into the 
soil and cycle it through myriad life forms. 
Instead of sealing and dehydrating the landscape 
with impervious pavement and convex shapes that 
drain the gift away, as most modern cities, 
suburbs, and home landscapes do, harvesting 
accepts rain and allows it to follow its natural path to productivity.

This book provides you with a simple series of 
integrated strategies for creating 
water-harvesting "nets" which allow rainwater to 
permeate and enhance our landscapes, gardens, 
yards, parks, farms, and ranches. Small-scale 
strategies are the most effective and the least 
expensive, so they are emphasized here. They're 
also the safest and easiest to accomplish. They 
can empower you to become water self-sufficient.

The benefits are many. By harvesting rainwater 
within the soil and vegetation­in the land, or in 
cisterns that will later irrigate the land, we 
can decrease erosion, reduce flooding, minimize 
water pollution, and prevent mosquito breeding 
(within water standing on top of the soil for 
more than three days). The process also generates 
an impressive array of resources: It can provide 
drinking water, generate high quality irrigation 
water, support vegetation as living air 
conditioners and filters, lower utility bills, 
enhance soil fertility, grow food and beauty, 
increase local water resources, reduce demand for 
groundwater, boost wildlife habitat, and endow us 
and our community with skills of self-reliance and cooperation!

My Rainwater-Harvesting Evolution

In 1994, my brother Rodd and I began harvesting 
water in our backyard by digging, then mulching a 
basin around a single drought-stressed sour 
orange tree. We graded the soil around the basin 
so runoff from the surrounding area, and the 
neighbor's roof would drain to the tree. The 
results amazed us. After a single rain, the tree 
burst out with new leaves, a dreamy show of 
fragrant blossoms, and an abundant crop of fruit 
that was soon converted into tasty marmalade and 
"orangeade" by family, friends, and neighbors. 
That was ten years ago, and we've since kept our 
irrigation of that tree to just three 
supplemental waterings per year. Yet we live 
within the Sonoran Desert where annual rainfall 
averages just 12 inches (304 mm), and most folks 
water their citrus trees at least once a week.

With the citrus tree flourishing, we decided to 
mimic its success and make rainwater the primary 
water source for all our outdoor needs. Using 
methods described in chapters 3 and 4, and more 
in depth in volume 2, we created and planted 
undulating water-harvesting earthworks throughout 
our once barren yard. The rain then gently soaked 
into the soil, soil erosion ceased, and verdant 
life began sprouting everywhere. We planted shade 
trees that grew tall around the house, cooling 
summer temperatures enough for us to eliminate 
our evaporative cooler (improved insulation, 
painting the house's exterior white, and passive 
ventilation also helped). We then boosted the 
growth of these trees still further using 
greywater recycled from the drains of our home's 
sinks, shower, and washing machine. Our daily 
municipal water use dropped from the Tucson 
residential average of 114 gallons (431 liters) 
per person per day1 to less than 20 gallons (75 
liters) per person per day, and our water and 
electric bills plummeted. This earned us five 
visits from workers at both the water and 
electric utilities because they were sure our meters were broken.

We wanted to do more. Every time it rained our 
street turned into a river, fed by runoff from 
neighborhood roofs, yards, and pavement. We 
redirected that runoff to 19 young native trees 
we planted in the barren public right-of-way 
adjacent to our property. These low-water use 
trees now sing with nesting songbirds and offer a 
beautiful shaded canopy for passing pedestrians, 
bicyclists, and motorists. Water that once flowed 
away now supports trees that filter pollutants 
carried in the road's runoff as they shade and 
cool the street (see the chapter on reducing 
hardscape and creating permeable paving in volume 
2 for more details). Mosquito populations have 
plunged because water no longer stands in 
puddles, but is instead soaked up by spongy mulch and taken up by plants.

Our lot was once hot, barren and eroded, with a 
house that could only be made comfortable by 
paying to mechanically alter its climate. Now our 
yard is an oasis producing 15 to 25% of our food, 
and after growing trees and installing solar 
panels to power fans, we no longer pay a cent to 
heat and cool our home (keep in mind we are also 
the type that will put on a sweater before firing 
up a wood stove). We've switched from 
contributing to neighborhood flooding to 
contributing to neighborhood flood control, and 
our landscape enhances local water resources 
instead of depleting them. On our 1/8-acre 
(0.05-ha) lot and surrounding right-of-way we 
currently harvest annually over 100,000 gallons 
(454,600 liters) of rainwater within a 1,200 
gallon tank, the soil, and vegetation, while 
using less than 20,000 gallons (75,600 liters) of 
municipal groundwater for our domestic needs and 
landscape irrigation in dry spells. Four-fifths 
of the water we now use comes from our own yard, not from city supply.

When friends and neighbors drop by they see the 
potential of water harvesting and learn how to do 
it themselves. Many then go home and spread the 
"seeds" by setting up work parties and creating 
their own rain-fed oases. That, in essence, is my 
vision: harvest rainwater within our own yards 
and neighborhoods, encourage emulation, enhance 
rather than deplete our water resources, and 
improve the lives of everyone in our community.

Excerpted from Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands 
and Beyond, Volume 1 By Brad Lancaster © 2006, 
2008, <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/ 
http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/>www.HarvestingRainwater.com. 
Reprinted with permission.





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