Rock, Paper, Scissors... Water?

September 17, 2023

Last year, I read a great book called Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge by Erica Gies. It dives into how new climate disasters remind us every day that our world is not stable—and that it is changing in ways that expose the deep dysfunction of our relationship with water. According to Gies, "a hard truth is emerging: our development, including concrete infrastructure designed to control water, is actually exacerbating our problems. Because sooner or later, water always wins."

THE POWER OF WATER

Water can beat rock, paper, and scissors. Paper, which is mainly made of cellulose wood fibers held together by strong hydrogen bonds, easily dissolves in water. When paper gets wet, these hydrogen bonds are damaged and the fibers separate more easily. The more water, the more the paper falls apart. As for scissors that are made of metal, the oxygen in water reacts to the iron found within the metal which leads to corrosion, commonly known as rust. This rust worsens over time and eventually the scissors are no more. Last but not least, we have all seen what water can do to rock. Flowing water, over a long period of time, carves out what can be huge canyons out of solid rock.

I know what you are thinking. "But beating rock and scissors would take a really long time." Yep, unless we cheat! Humans are not patient and so invented the waterjet, which is a tool used to cut metal and stone with a (very) high-pressure stream of water.

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Water, slow or fast, is the ultimate sculptor of earth.

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WHAT'S WATER GOT TO DO WITH IT?... 🎶 got to do with it? 🎵

The relationship your yard and or messy garden has with water will very depending on size and location. Another factor is surface type. If you have a concrete driveway, or walk way, you have impervious surfaces. Meaning, it doesn't allow water to flow through it. This type of material aids in water runoff.

According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), water run off is water that remains above the surface, accumulates, and runs off in large amounts. Modern civilizations tend to speed water away, erasing its slow phases on the land. For example, North American cities install storm sewer systems that quickly channel water runoff from roads and other impervious surfaces. Runoff gathers speed once it enters the storm sewer system and is eventually lost to the Ocean. Seems like a waste of resources if you ask me!

When we step back and ask ourselves what water’s true nature is, we can see that it is to flex with the rhythms of the earth. Water is utilized best through the slow phases that absorb floods, store water for droughts, and feed local ecosystems. By figuring out what water wants, we can learn to accommodate its desires within our yards. This accommodation is now a crucial survival strategy, not only for the wildlife around us, but ourselves as well.

ALLOWING WATER TO SLOW DOWN

We as land owners (or anyone with outdoor space) have a few options to help water meander. Unfortunately, most of us don't own enough land in which Beavers would be of any use. Too bad, beavers have superpowers! Don't believe me? Check out The SUPERPOWER Field Guide: Beavers by Rachel Poliquin. 🦫

Here is a list of ways we can help, without a furry beaver friend.

(Expand each one for more info.)

Save water (and money!) with a rain barrel system.

Dry weather, meet rain barrel. Rain barrels collect rainwater from your roof by rerouting a section of your gutter’s downpipe into a nearby reservoir, usually a barrel or modified trash can. They are fairly simple to install and once you have one set up, the EPA estimates a single 55-gallon rain barrel can save you up to 1,300 gallons of water during the hot summer months!

Ditch the lawn. (That out dated 1950's style one.)

As I wrote about in my first blog, 'Ditch your outdated 1950's lawn & grow a messy garden', turf grass does very little, if anything for local ecosystems. Reducing this monoculture swath of turf will in turn reduce the need for watering. Planting native plants in place of lawn requires little effort and offers the opportunity to get to know your land, it's plants and the animals that live among them.

Create a rain garden.

Rain gardens collect rainwater runoff, allowing the water to be filtered by vegetation and then percolate into the soil which recharges groundwater aquifers. These processes filter out pollutants from fertilizer, chemicals, oil, garbage, bacteria and more that would otherwise runoff to enter storm drains and flow directly to nearby streams and ponds.

A rain garden can be placed at any point along the runoff pathway in the landscape. It is a shallow depression, only 6-8” deep. The rain garden fills with a few inches of water after a storm. The water then slowly filters (for about 48 hours) into the ground rather than running off to a storm drain.

Benefits:

• Improves water quality by filtering out pollutants

• Aesthetically pleasing

• Preserves native vegetation

• Provides localized stormwater and flood control

• Attracts beneficial birds, butterflies and insects

• Easy to maintain after establishment

Add a marsh pond.

A marsh pond aims to replicate the transition between wet soil and open water that would typically be found at the edge of naturally occurring pond.

To create, the pond is excavated as a gently sloping bowl. Ensure nothing is going to poke a hole in your liner by using a protection fabric which is laid over the soil and then covered by the rubber pond liner.

For the marsh, you have two options. The plants you want planted in the marsh area will determine the method you use.

1. Use a submersible pump to draw water into a filter which then conveys it to a slotted pipe buried in a bed of gravel in the shallowest part of the pond. This method ensure that the marsh is always moist.

2. For option two, you would still filter your pond, but the returning water is focused back into the open water instead of the marsh area. The marsh, which is more like a bog in this option, acts as overflow for the pond. When it rains, the pond will over flow into a section that also has a liner. The bog liner has seldom tiny holes poked into it for slow drainage.

This system provides both mechanical and biological filtration, and with periodic addition of bacteria, it can be virtually maintenance free.

I have been working to protect and improve local water quality through land conservation and volunteerism. So far, I've installed two rain barrels and dug a small pond with a bog. My next project will be installing a rain garden.

Since starting this water adventure, I've found several extra benefits other than saving money on my water bill and saving time by not having to water a lawn.

Just this past month, I was tickled pink to find out that I have, not one, but three full time residents living in my pond.

Green Frog (Lithobates clamitans)

Native trees, shrubs and other plants play an important role in reducing runoff and preventing excess nutrients and sediment from entering our streams, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. They also provide a plethora of “co-benefits,” such as habitat for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, moderating temperatures and providing opportunities for recreation. By working together and utilizing our yards to slow down water, we can improve water quality across the globe.

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Action item

Take the time to look into any of the suggestion I presented and see if you could put your yard to work, slowing water down. (rain barrels, rain garden, add small pond, ditch the lawn)

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Comment below to share what you're doing to slow water down!