Fixing Flood, Drought, and Fire, Reviving Springs and Rivers, and turning Desert into Paradise

[@Kaiwaipermaculturebolivia]

Thanks Zac, really love the vibe of this community. Of course the work is super impactful too. We say here in Bolivia "sin agua no hay vida" without water there is no life. Thank you!

[@Water_Stories]

Claro, sin agua no hay vida. Thanks Kaiwai permaculture, we look forward to engaging with you in the community!

[@Kaiwaipermaculturebolivia]

@@Water_Stories we are taking the two Oregon state uni water management courses virtually this year... hopefully we will get to connect with you at some point.

[@Water_Stories]

@@Kaiwaipermaculturebolivia that's great! Their program is good for a theoretical understanding of the basics. Our program offers more of the hands-on practical skills for how to apply water cycle restoration in the real world. One of the weak links we see with Permaculture courses is that it's very difficult to learn the real world skills from people who don't themselves have them, or haven't practiced much. So much of permaculture and what's in the PDC is mostly theoretical in nature, instead of practical. It is a very unique skill to be able to actualizing projects in the real world for clients and that is what our course offers. Zach spent more than a decade practicing around the world before offering any training program. This is very different from much of the permaculture world, where people start teaching others as soon as they learn the basics, without much or any real world experience. You might be shocked how little real project experience many of the big names in permaculture actually have. We've even had our students within 6 months learn to recognize major mistakes by big name permaculture designers. In some cases they ended up basically discarding the designer's plan, because it was so disconnected with the true nature of their landscape. Too often designers miss key elements on the landscape, relying on contours and maps instead of the language of the landscape. This is a real weak point in permaculture and something we hope to help improve through Water Stories. Check out this presentation if this is of interest: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5W8Ypqar6-ap5Ysi=Z3lWq0G_a6l6UckY

[@Kaiwaipermaculturebolivia]

@@Water_Stories I really appreciate the thought and detail put into this reply. I have started small and am lucky enough to have a place to continue practicing and applying learnings. I am very grateful that there are people and programs like Zach and Water Stories out there. Also of the work that Andrew Millison has documented in India with the Water Cup. It lit a dream for us to copy here and is almost an exact copy climate, agriculturally,economically, and socially speaking. They helped over 1000 villages create more water abundance with all of the secondary benefits that brings. His videos on aquifers and trees relation to rainfall are incredible knowledge resources. So far I am finding the Oregon State uni integrated water management course really useful. I recognise that Zachs experience is huge, indepth and from a real leader in Sepp. Your method raises the bar for the minimum required level of interaction and understanding on a site to produce an effective design. Really observing naturing, reading the signs, digging the test slices, being aware of possible pitfalls, discard dogma, identify what worked there before etc. Makes 💯 sense to me. We'd love to learn from you too. Will message you from your website.

[@b_uppy]

Cattails are a great source of food. The pollen is good for flour, and the young tubers are good too. And you can make baskets from the leaves. Native Americans had a lot of uses for them...

[@MrBranch69]

Thanks for restoring hope and health back in to the world 👍

[@FractalOmniverse]

Most inspiring video ever

[@Water_Stories]

That is some seriously high praise, thank you! Together with simple and proven techniques we can turn this mess around :-)

[@TESLblog]

7:50 in and I had goosebumps

[@Water_Stories]

Wow that's great to hear, thank you!

[@FractalOmniverse]

Amazing

[@4kpliter791]

Amazing!!

[@Water_Stories]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@valentynzadoiannyi5652]

wow! something new and interesting in my recommendations! that was interesting to listen

[@Water_Stories]

Thank you

[@inigomontoya8943]

Every time I learn facts like lowering the temps of an area by 2 degrees in a decade or so it makes me wonder why this has isn’t front page news at every climate conference. 😅

[@b_uppy]

Because panic causes panic buying. Panic buying is a point of profit.

[@Water_Stories]

We are wondering the very same thing. Rajendra has worked tirelessly trying to make that case. After more than a decade of attending every one of these conferences they are just now starting to talk about water as a key part of the issue. We created Water Stories to hopefully rewrite this narrative. This works as a people's movement, but unlike carbon markets there's not a way for a few people to get really rich from it, so it hasn't attracted their attention quite yet.

[@saraadair8362]

this is the most viable solution to the "climate crisis", that is the next control narative being brought in, thank you for your years of study to bring this message forward

[@Water_Stories]

This needs to be a people's movement, I've convinced that's the only way it will happen. Because this provides results so quickly it really makes that possible, you just need to get a few demonstration projects started, then the neighbors start doing it because it works.

[@b_uppy]

Examples/proof of concept starts at 11:20

[@zoella79]

I'm really enjoying your videos! Lots of useful information and very little hype. Thanks for being real. I have a little piece of land in Missouri, 9.25 acres, which is mostly the hump of a secondary ridge. My ongoing project is to slow and infiltrate water with small earthworks to eliminate my contribution to flash flooding. It's great to think my drop in the bucket is connected to a whole lot of other people doing their bit in their places ❤

[@Water_Stories]

Fantastic! You're doing very important work there. Have you joined the community yet? There's tons more information there and lots of like minded people to connect with. community.waterstories.com/

[@theremine3867]

Something I just cannot wrap my head around is how it makes sense to build ponds in hot sunny places like Southern Portugal or Spain where those water bodies are subjected to evaporation and we take rainwater that could normally sink into the ground and artificially keep it on the surface of the earth. Maybe you'll answer me that "runoff" is the problem, but I don't see how. As long as we don't pave the surrounding surfaces with concrete (which is not the case in Extremadura or Tamera) the water will eventually penetrate into it, even if. it "runs off" a few kilometers before that. It would definitely be infiltrated before flowing into the ocean as is usually suggested in those Permaculture explanations. I wonder if you have data on the long term development of the water tables in areas that were remodeled with water retention landscapes.

[@AdmiralReering]

13:25 Is your answer my friend

[@Water_Stories]

In one case in the desert of Rajasthan this work has brought the water table up 5 meters and brought water back to 250,000 wells. I think you would be surprised if you learned more about the flow of water over land. If it flows off and concentrates it has less and less of a chance to infiltrate. Additionally it creates flooding downstream, and many of those flood waters do find their way to the ocean. When the water is kept high in the system it slowly flows through throughout the year, when it is sent downhill quickly the flow happens in short bursts with little in between.

[@andresamplonius315]

Extreme Madura!!?? Its EXTREMADURA!!

[@andresamplonius315]

There's an interesting strategy to infiltrate water in the rainy season to harvest it months later in springs lower down. It's called AMUNAS in Spain and MAMANTEOS in Perú. Created posibly in preroman times in Spain and before the inca in Perú. Check it out.

[@FractalOmniverse]

Only issue found was your complaint about concrete heating, that actually helps, maybe not as much as a forest lol, but better than the same color materials that don't hold heat..

[@calebfast8088]

This channel and these videos are INFINITELY helpful. Thank you SO much for this. It is absolutely amazing and life changing.

[@Water_Stories]

Thank you! Have you joined us in the community? What's on our youtube channel is just the tip of the iceberg, all our best stuff is just in the community (which is entirely free). community.waterstories.com/

[@nephilimPB]

Someone in this video mentioned a list of trees rank ordered by their ability to create rain. Does anyone know where to find this list?

[@inigomontoya8943]

second that. my guess would be ones with the most surface area like the needles on a Redwood for mist to condense on but I'm sure theres much more to it.

[@mischevious]

Every species of tree has specific habitat requirements. You want to plant native, drought tolerant if applicable, then/and/or propagate from individual trees performing best in prevailing adverse conditions.- Breed for strength, facilitate those species and individuals doing best to reproduce. Or you’ll be fighting a losing battle, conditions are harsh everywhere now. Forests with deep shade covering the soil, high organic matter in the soil and biomass on the surface retain water in the system, perpetually recirculating; expiration-mist-dew-back to the soil. That’s the hydrological cycle that also precipitates rain. Perennial grasses have long deep roots that draw water down to deep tree roots and recharge aquifers. Ruminants to eat that grass encourage roots to dig deeper with their tugging bites. And they feed the soil!

[@b_uppy]

Trees that produce *airborne pollin* (as opposed to insect and animal pollinated) are desirable for binding moisture in air. That said you really want a good variety of *biome-appropriate* plants heavy on perennials, shrubs, trees and vines to build topsoil which supports the watercycles and watertables as well. See Mark Shepard on restoration ag, and Brad Lancaster on rainwater harvesting..

[@Water_Stories]

Here is a whole deep dive on the topic. This is pretty new science so a lot of these questions don't have answers yet. The easiest, simplest, and safest is to work with the species already adapted and interconnected within the ecosystem. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qICWhnSYebGfgsksi=H9xFHNCf1krqd3zg

[@mischevious]

@@Water_Stories Is anyone considering the regreening of Gaza? Assuming Palestinians come out of this in possession of their own land the devastation could be turned into an opportunity for a land of great abundance with the right help.

[@StefanoCreatini]

Great presentation Zach!

[@leifcian4288]

Thanks

[@freethoth]

In these villages where they burn trees to create char, would it be a good idea to create bamboo plantations and create char and biochar and let the native trees grow and sequester carbon?

[@b_uppy]

Instead of using materials that sequester carbon in a complicated way, consider industrial food industry wastes like wheat chaff and rice hulls for creating superior biochar. It binds better with soil to create terra preta. You avoid the need to crush the char... Biochar does add water permeability, and moisture retention to soil...

[@freethoth]

Rce and wheat chaff makes great bokashi, which reduces pathogens and makes great worm food. Bamboo is the greatest for biochar.

[@b_uppy]

Rice hulls make a great biochar, and avoids the need for crushing afterwards that biochar from bamboo culms does. Rice hull biochar distributes more readily, and is high in silica. The advantage of using wheat and rice byproducts for biochar is that it is 'shelf stable' and cheaper to ship than bokashi, as the one has lost much of its weight.

[@freethoth]

Shouldn't buy local?

[@Water_Stories]

There's a lot of local factors that need to be considered here. It could be a great idea, but it could also be catastrophic and there may be better options already available within the environment.

[@calebfast8088]

Could you further explain,or point me toward a video, where you talk about how trees host bacteria that encourage rainfall? Beyond that, are there certain trees more friendly to that bacteria and are there ways to inoculate trees with those bacteria? (I'm looking at very arid areas that haven't had a lot of trees for decades.)

[@calebfast8088]

Just got to the part where someone else asked a similar question, but I'll leave this here just in case there's some additional info. :)

[@Water_Stories]

Here is a short video about how it relates to the water cycle: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqKyknhmmKmSq9Usi=ZDUjuoWWbdv46N1G And here is a webinar we did with one of the leading scientists in the field that's a real deep dive into the topic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qICWhnSYebGfgsksi=H9xFHNCf1krqd3zg

[@thepeopleplaceandnaturepod8344]

very good!!!!

[@Water_Stories]

Thank you!

[@7991noraA]

Vamos, lets fix the world!

[@Water_Stories]

Vamos!

[@dungeonmaster6292]

This guy's face is sure retaining water

[@allanparker20]

Floods and fires are not becoming more frequent. Get your facts straight

[@Water_Stories]

What are you basing that off of? If you talk with people around the world their experience begs to differ. Also there are a litany of articles and papers talking about how flood and drought are increasing and blaming it on climate change.

[@allanparker20]

I'm not saying teaching this has no merit but the information being produced by mainstream media and governments is highly prejudicial and intentionally exaggerated to build a false foundation for the man made climate change narrative.