027 – The Basics Of Whole-Site Water Systems Design

Today we go over the four basic questions that guide all holistic water patterning design. Whether you’re an experienced  designer or homesteader, or a complete novice that is just getting introduced to optimizing water patterning on your land, this show is for you. That’s because, no matter what level you’re at, the process is always the same!

Every good whole-site water design follows this same progression:

1. How much water do you have? Quantify and qualify the resource you are working with!
2. Where is the water currently going / how is it currently behaving? Assess the current function of your homestead watershed.
3. Where should the water go / how should it be behaving? For what you want to produce / for your specific homesteading context, where do you need the water to go that it isn’t, and how does it need to behave en route and once it is in that location? This step is all about optimizing your hydrological function to have the healthiest soils capable of supporting to greatest amount of living plant life (i.e. your solar panel!) to convert as much sunlight as possible into the greatest about of carbohydrate possible.
4. How will you best get the water where it needs to go while behaving as it should? What are the appropriate drainage, infiltration and storage elements to pattern water passively or actively to optimize the overall function of your homestead ecosystem?

Water is blessedly predictable – it always flows straight downhill. Because of this, we can design systems that optimize the productive capacity of every drop of water that our landscapes receive – we just have to take a little bit of time to objectively analyze our landscapes. This is how you do it.

Show Resources

• Water Drainage Elements
• Water Infiltration Elements
• Water Storage Elements
• Pumping Options
  • Bunyip Pump (low-head, variable-flow)
  • Ram Pump (high-head, low-flow)
  • Rife River Pump (low-head, high-flow)
  • Nose Pumps (livestock powered pumping

Getting started designing your homestead?

START HERE: Enroll in the Minimum Holistic Goal Creation Mini-Course today for free. This is the ONE THING that will make everything else easier or unnecessary on your homesteading journey! 100% Free

Upon completing this course you will have a crystal clear idea of who and what resources you have to work with, your desired Quality of Life that your homestead has to provide for, and what you will need to produce and the conditions required to sustain that production to meet your Quality of Life needs.

Music by Alex Grohl

Check out this episode!