WATER

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Permalink Reply by Alex Cornish on August 29, 2010 at 19:49

Hello all!

I've just posted 3 videos on the video page which reveal that maybe with more sensible water management we might actually be able to turn back the clock of desertification and increase the planet's vitality and our own chances of survival.

Going aginst the conventional wisdom 1 individual in Australia managed to regenerate his land and that of his neighbours and this actually lead to an increase in rainfall.

Let me know what you think.

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 30, 2010 at 23:06

Mmm yes that and the other main regeneration on the Syrian border are outstanding examples of what can be done to not just turn the clock back but introduce very different ways of sustaining and regenerating both soil and rainfall. They really are great videos and immensly encouraging. Partricularly encouraging is what the team found had happened to the land/soil/rainfall at the site in Israel when they returned after leaving it totally unattended for four years

As in many areas of resource damage and depletion, there are ways of restoring, healing, changing to better and far more informed practise and the possibilites of their impact should be applauded and encouraged and hopefully introduced in our own communities.

There are other initiatives too, such as this very one, the Transition Initiatives, whereby communities become informed and enabled to act together in far better and sustainable ways in many many areas. Many of us welcome those initiatives and in being however small a part of them

What those videos show about other people getting it right - and what just the simple act of posting those videos into the TH video 'collection' shows, what the further actions that will in due course be agreed and implemented by TH and in all the other TTI's does is to bring a real hope that we may yet find ourselves with a real aswer to the root cause of all these problems - and many more besides.

brilliant addition to the video library Alex :-)

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Permalink Reply by Alex Cornish on August 31, 2010 at 8:24

Israel/Syria? I haven't seen those ones... I've seen Geoff Lawton's attempts in Jordan "Greening the desert" and "Greening the desert 2".

The land regeneration in Australia as per the videos does make me wonder why the fresh water in the world is a constant when this kind of reforestation and restoration of the water courses can actually lead to higher rainfall and increased levels of blue/green water in the locality.

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 31, 2010 at 19:22

Don't think there is a vid yet about the Syrian event, from what I can gather it was very much based on the 'greening the desert' initiative anyway and returned similar results. mmm I see your ongoing doubts about the fresh water supply :-) I can only repeat that by a complete global consensus of scholarship it is as I outlined earlier in this discussion :-) I believe you inadvertently hit on the real truth of it when you said " . .lead to higher rainfall and increased levels of blue/green water in the locality."

There is a belief sometimes that there is a symbiotic relationship that involves water and plants and soil and that these elements can become and remain mutually attractive, (even so, the increase in rainfall in areas that are properly nurtured isn't recognised as being 'extra' fresh water per se, just extra to a particular area) Also water doesn't stay within totally rigid patterns, it's presence can change, even for a number of years, as for instance when rainfall increased for nearly twenty-five years in the area the Spanish Conquistador Francisco Coronado, the first European to traverse the Sea of Grass in 1541, called Llano Estacado.

The immigrants who were thus encouraged in later years to settle that land, lulled into more planting and extensive agriculture by that increased rainfall learned a bitter lesson about assuming things about rainfall. One of the things they (and Washington) learned was that Charles Dana Wilbur's then prevalent theory of climatology, “Rain follows the Plough” had no basis in fact whatsoever! Not at that particular time . .

John Steinbeck wrote “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Of Mice and Men” about what happened next!

Of course that was then and this is now , so the team of experts that were responsible for Greening The Desert were far more informed, far more knowledgeable and had a great deal more experience than the ill informed initiators of the American Dust Bowl. Nor was their experience and knowledge limited to water, knowing how to use the existing rainfall together with other 'ingredients', especially in the initial months when they were more concerned with regenerating the soil, demonstrated a brilliant and extensive knowledge base.

I think that's absolutely key and is the difference between the Israel/Jordan experience and the Australian one (which was just two people who almost certainly didn't have that kind of expertise so there was a fair part of trial and error involved in their efforts. And if I remember, the Australian experience had some problems with crop sustainability issues or actually making a sustainable living or such? Hmm I'll have to dig it out and check that again)

It might be interesting to see if there's a more extensive knowledge base about the Israeli experience.

meanwhile . . .

back at boot camp – odd things are stirring in the bushes . .
:-)

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on September 2, 2010 at 10:32

To bring this discussion back to the local level – as below -

“The important aspect revealed by this data is that Hertfordshire's annual average precipitation is considerably lower than averages in England and Wales. Positioned in the East of England, Hertfordshire lies outside of the path of most Atlantic depressions and their associated cloud, wind and rain3. With relatively low rainfalls, a growing population and water use levels 16% higher than the national average4, Hertfordshire is particularly susceptible to increased pressure on water resources, a problem which will be heightened by climate change.”

From the 2008 Climate Change report for Hertfordshire headlined “Quality of Life in Hertfordshire”

the full report is available here -

http://enquire.hertscc.gov.uk/qol/2008/climatechange08.cfm

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Permalink Reply by carolyn westlake on September 2, 2010 at 20:38

Hi Don
Just wqnted to say a big thank you for taking the time to do all the researchy bits! Its very helpful especially for those of us who know little about the subject. When we get round to an Energy Descent Action Plan for Hertford the state of our rivers/ rainfall patterns/ population etc etc will be an important bit of the puzzle to know

don carlin said:

To bring this discussion back to the local level – as below -

“The important aspect revealed by this data is that Hertfordshire's annual average precipitation is considerably lower than averages in England and Wales. Positioned in the East of England, Hertfordshire lies outside of the path of most Atlantic depressions and their associated cloud, wind and rain3. With relatively low rainfalls, a growing population and water use levels 16% higher than the national average4, Hertfordshire is particularly susceptible to increased pressure on water resources, a problem which will be heightened by climate change.”

From the 2008 Climate Change report for Hertfordshire headlined “Quality of Life in Hertfordshire”

the full report is available here -

http://enquire.hertscc.gov.uk/qol/2008/climatechange08.cfm

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on September 3, 2010 at 9:59

Hi Carolyne - many thanks, your appreciation is much appreciated - been researching a lot of this stuff for the last thirty months or so anyway for my own very singular project, along with all the systems that lie at the heart of our societal models, national and global histories and the evolving philosophies that have and do drive our world. Just had to get a little more particular for Hertfordshire is all - it's interesting and a great pleasure to relate that work to a small group of like minded people that have the very particular determination to change things for the better at the point where all meaningful change has to begin . . .
:-)

carolyn westlake said:

Hi Don
Just wqnted to say a big thank you for taking the time to do all the researchy bits! Its very helpful especially for those of us who know little about the subject. When we get round to an Energy Descent Action Plan for Hertford the state of our rivers/ rainfall patterns/ population etc etc will be an important bit of the puzzle to know

don carlin said:

To bring this discussion back to the local level – as below -

“The important aspect revealed by this data is that Hertfordshire's annual average precipitation is considerably lower than averages in England and Wales. Positioned in the East of England, Hertfordshire lies outside of the path of most Atlantic depressions and their associated cloud, wind and rain3. With relatively low rainfalls, a growing population and water use levels 16% higher than the national average4, Hertfordshire is particularly susceptible to increased pressure on water resources, a problem which will be heightened by climate change.”

From the 2008 Climate Change report for Hertfordshire headlined “Quality of Life in Hertfordshire”

the full report is available here -

http://enquire.hertscc.gov.uk/qol/2008/climatechange08.cfm

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on September 3, 2010 at 10:35

In the same vein of applying like solutions to Hertfordshire, in this case so as to increase food supply by symbiotic and good local practise throughout the county via all of Hertfordshire's Transition Initiatives perhaps . . of course we aren't semi arid desert, at least not yet, but if we can find improvement and inspiration in what others have already done . .

Greening the Desert

"For years, many scientists have been making dire predictions of widespread irreversible ‘desertification’ in the African Sahel. But recent findings have proven them wrong . ."

"Another study of satellite images supported the notion that more plants make more rain [4, 5]. Evidence was found for a positive feedback between vegetation and rainfall at the monthly time scale, and for a vegetation memory operating at the annual time scale. That means greater greenness the previous month tends to increase rainfall a month later, and a green year tends to increase rainfall the next year, as greater plant growth and deeper root systems tap into more ground water for making rain . . "

" . . The greening of Sahel is a clear example of how the dominant Western knowledge system had grossly misinformed policy-makers; and it was the knowledge and initiatives of local farmers that saved the situation . ."

The full report is attached . . (the fully referenced report can be purchased from the Institute)

Attachments:

• The Greening of Sahel.odt, 33 KB

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on September 4, 2010 at 9:35

information backdrop :-)

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/sectors/36998.aspx

will link you into the SUDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) area of the UK. Environment Agency

d

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on September 4, 2010 at 9:41

According to Hansard, on 12th June 2008 Oliver Heald, conservative MP for North East Hertfordshire, had this exchange of questions and answers in parliament with Philip Woolas, the then Minister for the Environment at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibility for climate change, energy and sustainable development.

The subjects were Rivers:Hertfordshire - and Water Supply, the full exchange can be read here -

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080612...

a small abstraction – text highlights are mine -

“Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has received from the Environment Agency on the sustainable level of daily household water usage. [209656]

Mr. Woolas: The level of sustainable daily household water usage will differ for each area and over time, as it needs to take into account how much water can be sustainably abstracted in one catchment area (which might change over time) and how much water is used by all water users. The Government's strategy for water, ‘Future Water’, states our ambition to reduce per capita consumption of water through cost effective measures, to an average of 130 litres per person per day by 2030, or possibly even 120 litres per person per day depending on new technological developments and innovation.”

in other words significantly higher water bills are to be expected, they will keep on rising, and there may well be exorbitant price charges when the per capita limits are imposed and are exceeded. .

The information contained in these exchanges does I believe offer a suitable start to appreciating the water issues that are now and in the future expected to concern Hertfordshire. I'm currently chasing up Three Valleys Water (suppliers to Hertfordshire) about their Water Resource Management Plans and also Ofwat about other issues. Ofwat are slow, TVW are obfuscating so I'm engaging them via the FOA and will come back with this when I've prised them open :-)

Since when the government and Ministers responsible have changed, but the Water Strategies are, as of now, still as above.
d

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