Water is one of the most unique substances that exists. Most life on earth depends on healthy, clean water. Water flows in cycles throughout, on and above the earth. It heeds no boundaries or property lines. Historically no culture has survived without cooperative, conscious efforts to care for their water supply. Thus, to maintain and increase abundance for all, part of our role as ecological designers is to protect watersheds and replenish our water sources with clean water.
Understanding the nature of water and how it behaves in the landscape can help you ensure you’ve designed for water security, maximizing your resiliency while minimizing your workload.
Water is a form of energy. With energy, you have stocks (storage) and flows (use or movement).
Here is how water moves and is stored on our planet.
Water evaporates from lakes, oceans and other water sources. Trees perform evapotranspiration, releasing water in order to cool off, similar to sweating in humans. When enough water is in the atmosphere, it condenses and forms clouds. When conditions are right and enough has collected in clouds, it rains. The rain fall into watersheds and water is distributed through the landscape in this way. Watersheds drain into lakes or the ocean.
Some water, when it is slowed down enough, infiltrates into the groundwater reserve instead of running through the watershed. Some ground water is pushed through pressure out through springs, into lakes, and into oceans. Some of it continues to sink into deep storage caves.
Water that falls on mountaintops or in polar regions as snow may be stored for months, and as it slowly melts, feeds watersheds.