Water in a Permaculture System: Everything you need to know, in twenty words or less.
Ha! As if. This is one of those topics that we cannot learn everything about in a single article, a single day, or even an entire course. But we can begin to understand why water is such an important layer of our designs, and explore some of the fundamental strategies permaculture designers use to harness and connect with the power of water in a permaculture system.
Here’s a quick intro video with Heather Jo Flores, and a tiny-tour of her home water system.
What do you do about water in a permaculture system?
As mentioned in the video, this article is less about reinventing the wheel and more about making sure you know about available resources to help you design your permaculture water system.
You can read the entire text of Food Not Lawns, How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community at www.foodnotlawns.com, but for today, start with the chapter on water, which will give you exactly what you need to jump into the hands-on section.
I hadn’t been taught the “big water, little water” approach yet when I wrote this, but I accidentally organized the chapter exactly like that anyway! It starts with an overview of “big water” and why we need to pay attention to what’s going on (plus keep in mind my admonitions in this chapter are already more than a decade old)…and then goes into “little water,” with lots of ideas about how to tap the flow in your own permaculture design.
Go and read it, then come back:
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Relevant Links and Resources
Here’s the ever-amazing Morag Gamble offering a free masterclass on water in a permaculture system.
The World Permaculture Association has an excellent blog. Check out this article.
This article is about ten things you can do to save water in your permaculture system.
Very clever! Here’s a tiny-house graywater system.
