Creating Water Resilience

The importance of groundwater is magnified in times of drought, calling for the urgent need

to implement water resilient systems.

“The water table is dropping all over the world,” said Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who took part in the research....

Just as light from the sun can be harnessed to generate energy right where it is needed, the issue of water scarcity can also be addressed through decentralization....

One solution to manage water is “by slowing, spreading, and cycling more of its flow instead of paving, piping, and polluting it.” suggests Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. Brad specializes in maximizing on-site resources such as water, sun, wind and shade. At his home in the Sonoran desert, Brad demonstrates this principal (as seen in the video below), by diverting the flow of the storm-water drain to water low-maintenance native trees; transforming an inhospitable, arid site into an abundant, food-producing environment....

In fog-rich, coastal areas, rather than building a roof to capture water is possible to plant living water harvesting systems which replenish aquifers and creeks....

In fact, installing local water harvesting systems lowers the cost of municipal water supply. Cultivating living, water-harvesting vegetation can also cool buildings by providing shade, thereby lowering the energy costs of air-conditioning.

Water resilient systems are not simply a matter of survival. They bring about an abundance of benefits via their ability to grow additional food, beauty, and wildlife habitat. Empowered individuals who begin implementing water resilient systems will emerge as a network of empowered communities, adapting to change through co-operation and decentralized self-reliance.

http://upliftconnect.com/water-resilience/