Monday, May 26, 2008

Water Harvesting

Water is one of the most important factors when considering any type of growing food system.As the earth is getting warmer due to the effect of Global Warming,we as Permaculturists and citizens of the world have to look at water as a gift not a right and preserve it as much as possible.In Permaculture we harvest water from the landscape and use it as many times as possible before it leaves our properties.We need to design our systems to be drought proof so we have water stored for extended periods when there is low or no rain events.

One way is to store water is in the soil through designing into the the landscape swale systems,which are differently constructed depending on climate and soil type.The other way is to harvest water from catchment areas and store it in containers.Now containers can vary from dams,ponds,lakes,tanks and even as small as sauce pan catching water from a leaking roof.

Whilst driving to a local village recently I noticed 3 X 1000 liter tanks sitting in a farmers field and wondered if it was possible to get hold of some like that to use on the farm.I asked Toshi to inquire to the near by home owners to who owns the tanks and if he could tell us the supplier.He was able to get the phone number of the farmer and upon calling him he said we could have these tanks for free.I promptly jumped into the truck as to not miss this opportunity.

We took a dozen eggs from the farm and a leg of deer someone had just given us (Toshi didn't know how to cook it anyway) and headed off.On closer inspection we found the tanks needed minor repairs but they were easy fixed.The farmer was shocked to receive the eggs and deer and pointed out there was a fourth tank we could also take.He happened to be a strawberry farmer and gave us two tubs of strawberry jam into the deal.In a matter of minutes we had the capacity to store 4000 liters of water.

The farm doesn't have a irrigation system and the guys here have usually used a 500 liter tank to water crops.This is a very time consuming task and this year we are growing more vegetables than before so we have to think seriously about where we can collect and store water so we can use gravity to transport the water to the crops.It does rain alot here but there will definitely be periods when we can't rely on rain to service our crops.

Firstly as we didn't have a hose to reach the crop area,we designed a tank stand out of railway timber easily and transported the 500 liter tank of water to the stand.Getting it off the truck was a mission as now it weighed at least 500kg.

We thought more and redesigned the tank stand to be located under the roof of a small structure that houses worms.We put guttering on the edge of the roof and now catch water off the roof.The tank now stands about 1 meter higher than the cropping area so when we can afford drip irrigation there will be enough head pressure to be functional.

As this garden system is set out on contour we can easily fill each path with water to filter slowly through the soil.I have also installed one of the 1000 liter tanks onto the tank stand and filled it with a comfrey and water solution.Comfrey is a dynamic accumulator of silica,nitrogen,magnesium,potassium,calcium and iron and it grows wild around here so it can be used as a compost tea.I am just letting the comfrey rot down and the use the water on the crops.The minerals will be the returned to the soil more efficiently.The simple observation of plant and season cycles can produce free fertilizer.A bit of research can find this information and a bit of networking and being resourceful can come up with the materials for it to happen.Imagination can move mountains.

I also have a 200 liter barrel on the tank stand with dandelion rotting down for a similar purpose also filled from the roof.All this water and fertilizer located really close to the crops.So much time and effort saved.Clever design.Things need to be redesigned again as funding allows but we can see a clear path to the potential of our ideas.

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