There are many ways we can slow, spread & sink water in the landscape, in order to re-hydrate & ensure we don't let this valuable resource turn into a major erosion factor. The best methods, as always, are whatever works best in each specific situation, so there are no recepies in terms of techniques, but there are general principles and natural laws (such as gravity, capillarity, hydraulics, fluid dynamics, etc.) which can be observed in a direct form on one's landscape (if we obey the primal principle of doing good protracted observation, over time) before we figure out how to best design with the key & vital component of water in each particular situation. Water Movement Into Aeration HolesThis is a clip from the classic Water Movement in Soils made by Gardner & Hsieh at Washington State University in 1959. It shows how water moves easily into an aeration hole that has been filled with sand, but that when the aeration hole loses its connection to the soil surface, a hydrophobic condition may occur.RippingVery compacted soils (typically where machinery has been compacting the soil or bad animal-management) can be 'ripped' (with a Yeoman's Plow, see below) to progressively increasing depths, as summarized in this diagram (from the Permaculture Designers Manual) to allow water & seeds to enter deeper and so eventually more weeds to grow deeper roots. Yeoman's PlowThe Yeoman's Key Line design method has been used for many decades around the world as a way of better way of understanding and managing water in the landscape. Vídeo de YouTubeSee a large selection of videos on Yeomans' Key Line Design here Ripping is one of many techniques employed but, as always, it is the underlying science and principles which have to be understood properly in order to know which techniques to use when and where, and how to adapt them to specific local conditions. Although there are doubts as to the effectiveness of ripping (or 'keyline plowing', eg. as these researchers state - who did a very linear kind of experiment), there are countless farms designed with this system across the world which testify to its effectiveness, especially when used together with other methods (eg. adding compost teas to the tractor, as it makes sense to suppose that opening the soil in this way will make absorbtion of all kinds of useful materials (water, seeds, compost, micro-organisms in compost teas, etc.) much more likely and effective. SwalesA swale is a particular kind of ditch which is designed to collect and hold water on contour (so that it has more time to sink deeper into the land), rather than drain it away. Contour-level Toolsfrom Permaculture in Brittany
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Bunyip Water Levelfrom Permaculture in Brittany
Laser Auto Level Kitwhat professional surveyors & topographers often use, and if you have the kit, it has its advantages for earth-works |