Celebrating Water

"Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all." -Nelson Mandela

Happy World Water Day! March 22

People are celebrating all over the world, and there's much to be thankful for, whether for abundance or drought, storms or peaceful streams. Though 2.1 billion people live without clean drinking water [3], some of us (Seattle!) are fortunate to have relatively clean watersheds that reportedly don't need treatment [2].

How do I begin talking about something so essential or consequential as water? Wisdom tells us to begin where we are. Well my hometown is Seattle, WA, and despite having lived nearly 30 years of my life there I am amazed at how much I am still learning. I've always been under the impression that we are lucky in the Pacific Northwest--Seattle being the largest city--for how clean and delicious our water is. Now the older I get the more I learn about the effects of pollution, ecosystem damage, climate change, increasing population, water treatment--and the more water becomes one of the greatest treasures. It is kin to my life blood (after all, perhaps 55-60% of my body is made of water). Yet how wise is my relationship to water?

My personal water history: Seattle Public Utilities supplies water from the Cedar River and South Fork Tolt River watersheds. I estimate that I've lived in 15 different homes in Seattle and have visited 5 times that number to spend time with friends or acquaintances. Depending on my "needs", I have accessed water: to drink straight tap water, boil water for cooking or tea, draw a bath or shower, wash dishes, or run the washing machine. Virtually none of these homes I have visited have utilized greywater systems (I've heard Seattle municipal codes make it illegal to install such systems). Of the different garden irrigation systems I've worked with, both overhead and drip are common, which are generously used during our Mediterranean summers in order to maintain thirsty ornamentals. In fact from May to September it's estimated that up to 45% of our water resources go toward maintaining lawns and gardens [4]. I've truthfully contributed to this figure by not intentionally installing water-wise or drought tolerant plants. Also I will admit: sure, Seattle doesn't encourage graywater systems, yet I also haven't endeavored to develop DIY systems, so I too waste water, in order to clean my body, dishware and clothing. I also don't typically utilize additional filtering so I am likely harming my body with city-supplied treated water (as clean as it comparatively is). 

My story may be very similar to my neighbors; multiply my usage, and consider our population of 700,000+ people and we can barely begin to think about how much water we are using (or wasting) on a daily basis. Though we have issues with water usage and efficiency based on our current city-wide pipe system designs -- we are probably doing better than many other areas in the country (although some cities like Long Beach and Berkeley have been working to develop graywater systems as a response to long-standing drought problems--we should be following suit). Even though we are fortunate in our area to have an abundance of clean water--we need to think more long term and start planning, and making changes to increase our efficiency of water usage in order to preserve water as a resource in the long term. Today Seattle Public Utilities claims to provide 140 million gallons of water/day to 1.4 million people. That means we are each using 100 gallons of water/day. Does that number surprise you?

But let me back up a little; the way water moves into our city from our watersheds is an interesting story. I mentioned the two watersheds we pull from: Cedar and Tolt Rivers. Cedar River Watershed encompasses 90,638 acres of forestland and delivers 70% of our water; Tolt River supplies the other 30% [1]. Think about all the plant life our water is cycling through, and consider that natural system of filtration (can we mimic this natural system within the city with more financial investment? What's stopping us?) Additionally, the glacial moraine (soil left from glaciers) is a powerful enough filtration system that SPU does not need to filter the water (they claim they're only 1 in 6 major drinking-water systems in the country able to achieve this--perhaps demonstrating how lucky we are[1]). However, SPU does operate two treatment facilities, so they can control the taste and odor of our drinking water, while upholding health code standards--so they do treat it.

Anyway about the movement of water. Melting snow and rain collect and store in Chester Morse Lake and Masonry Pool reservoirs created by the Masonry dam (a little bit east of Iron Horse State Park). The water is conveyed into the Cedar Falls hydroelectric power plant, then released back into the river, flowing to the Landsburg dam. Here the water is diverted into two large pipelines, one that goes seven miles to Lake Youngs in Renton, and eventually pumped to the Cedar River Treatment Facility. The Tolt River is held in the Tolt Reservoir and is also channeled into a hydroelectric facility, where it is held in a regulating basin, then gravity fed into the Tolt Treatment Facility. From both treatment facilities, water is conveyed through "transmission mains" (sometimes as wide as 8' in diameter!), which eventually flow into smaller pipelines, storage tanks and reservoirs in the City and surrounding areas. This grid of pipelines is said to be 1,700 miles in all [1]. Our water goes through a lot to get to us!

Returning to the question of our collective water usage. What exactly is our 100 gallons/water/day/person being used for? And do we want to continue to be so reliant on  city water? These questions have been addressed by Seattle's Rain Garden Rain-Wise Program, with regards to stormwater management. The down side to our abundance is the tendency for oversaturation during winter months: when rain hits a large surface area of cement it runs off into our sewer systems. When our sewer systems overflow, they must open emergency pipelines that inadvertently allow raw sewage to be released into the Puget Sound. Today, 100 million gallons a year of polluted stormwater are managed through Green Infrastructure methods including rain gardens. But if you think about it, each person is theoretically consuming 100 million gallons a day, so really, the amount of stormwater being soundly managed is insignificant! But it's at least a step. Stormwater management is one part of wise use of water resources. If we can begin to develop more greenwater infrastructure, utilize graywater, and increase the amount of water collected and stored on individual housing plots, we might be able to reduce the 100/gallons/day/person usage. We also need to clearly discern where all those 100 gallons/day are going because it's definitely not to individual users (though we are all benefiting); most is likely going to businesses, industry and and so on. We need to clarify who is using what, and how much, and not place too much responsibility on individual householders.

But we can each play a part. For starters Seattle Public Utilities lists strategies for water conservation on their website indoors and outside [5]. When you look at their suggestions you might think they are not suggesting enough (as I do) and then you might follow the link to the Saving Water Partnership [6], where you can find more detail including rebates you might be incentivized by. Even on their website they still don't address water catchment and storage on small scales (mulching and planting at the right time is great and all, but what about all the run-off?). Do we really need to place so much emphasis on individual home practices for water conservation? How much of a dent in total water usage will that make? Again, who or what corporations are the largest offenders and how do we bring accountability into the picture?

But whatever, again, we can only begin from where we are (and control what we can control). From a permaculture perspective there is a lot we can do to conserve water around our individual homes and therefore influence healthier patterns of water usage on a larger scale. Something fun to do: search online for a contour map of your neighborhood, or Seattle at large, and determine what the existing drainage patterns may be. You can determine what the elevation is, look at soil maps to determine how fast or slow the drainage might be (ex. water moves slow through clay). Walk around your home and note where all the cement is, how much plant cover there is, where natural slopes are existing. You could even sketch up your own map depicting all of that, and begin to surmise how water is moving through your landscape, and if you can slow it down (reducing run off), and retain or catch water for storage during the dry summer months. If you are a keen gardener you might be attracted to the idea of thereby needing less irrigation (in addition to choosing the right plants). Check out the Rainwise Program for more ideas.

Why should we care about reducing our water consumption, reducing run-off, or maintaining clean water? Sometimes it seems that the argument of preserving resources for future generations isn't enough of a motivator. When we are just trying to take care of ourselves (oh those nice bubble baths) in an ever toxic world, we forget that we are causing more problems for ourselves in the future by not addressing real concerns. It's really difficult to visualize the state of our world 10-20 years from now, and we fear it's not pretty, and it's easier to let other trained people take care of it. Meanwhile we are complicit using 100/gallons/water/day/person while raw sewage and other pollutants run off into our Puget Sound. Let's not forget this is happening everyday and that we can make different choices.

Let me return to the quotation at the beginning of this post. We can rest in a certain amount of trust that Nature will take care of itself, within its own natural systems, and through negative feedback loops. But we can make things easier for ourselves collectively by making sure to conserve resources for ourselves, and future generations, while sharing resources fairly. Obviously this is an ideal, and our realities today do not measure up. But if we keep the ideal in mind and hold fast to creating cleaner water across the planet, the world will definitely be a better place! This is just the beginning of a conversation; let's talk!

Works Cited
[1] "Water System Overview." Seattle Public Utilities. Web. March 22, 2018. https://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/WaterSystemOverview/index.htm
[2] "Watershed Protection." Seattle Public Utilities. Web. March 22, 2018. https://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/WaterSystemOverview/CedarTreatmentFacility/WatershedProtection/index.htm
[3] "The Answer is in Nature." World Water Day 2018. Web. March 22, 2018. http://worldwaterday.org/
[4] "Third-Tier Water Rates." Seattle Public Utilities. Web. March 22, 2018. http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServices/Water/WaterRates/ThirdTierWaterRates/index.htm
[5] "Reduce Water Use." Seattle Public Utilities. Web. March 22, 2018. http://www.seattle.gov/util/EnvironmentConservation/MyHome/ReduceWaterUse/index.htm
[6] "Rebates." Saving Water Partnership.Web. March 22, 2018. https://www.savingwater.org/

Soil & Climate Change Mitigation

Author's comment: It's amazing how far I've come in understanding soil science since I first started asking questions in 2012. See blog posts here and here. At the time I was caretaking a couple garden spaces, and little did I know the soils were actually in decent shape (thanks to the efforts of former gardeners). Also six years ago I wasn't making the connection between soil building practices and climate change, nor was I aware of our rapidly depleting top soils. A few years later I was gardening in a newly tilled area with no soil building at all--a great demonstration of the effects of urban development on Seattle Soils. See that blog post here. Fortunately at the time I was in the middle of a "Soils" class so was able to interpret the results of the test. Still I wasn't thinking in terms of climate change mitigation; I'm not sure why but it seems hard to talk about it. In my current garden in West Seattle, I haven't actually taken any soil tests yet. Just by looking at the health of the plants and the color of the soil I am able to determine it's in pretty good form. Of course, soil testing would reveal the fascinating chemistry within it--but it's not the right time of year to yield the best results. So I'll wait for now. And keep building the soil. And researching.

I've been gardening in West Seattle for just over a year. There are some peculiarities about this space, including that it sits in a ravine at the base of High Point, so gets part sun much of the year, and is in a bit of a frost pocket. When I first moved in I noticed a lot of the soil was sandy, which surprised me due to Seattle Soil's reputation of being clay/acid. Which was a good reminder of how much variation exists in any area.  Based on what I learned in the "Soils" class I was aware of soil building practices I could do to remediate the sandy soil, so I focused on that immediately. A couple months ago, I was transplanting some materials and noticed what a year's worth of soil building had given my garden at Tim's. I was so excited I posted a photo on my Instagram:

This gave me a lot of encouragement that with thoughtful effort, I can influence the health of soil in whatever garden spaces I am working in. Almost two years ago I took a "Soils" class at a community college, which opened my eyes to soil structure, chemistry and the formation of tilth. I couldn't believe I had been gardening all those years without this basic knowledge. I've now been coming to learn how the health of plants really begins in the foundation of soil science. However since this field is always changing with new research, I've committed to continuing my education for life on this particular topic, while investigating the microclimates I am working in. In addition, there is the issue  of climate change and how it will influence soil science in the time to come.

Next month, I am moving again--onto a farm on the Olympia Peninsula, and I've been told by the farmers they are working with peat soils. I know very little about this type of soil so in preparation, I've decided to do some research. All I remembered from my "Soils" class was that peat is a carbon sink with a ton of organic matter and poor drainage. Upon learning there are peat soils at this particular farm, a question immediately arose in my mind: should we be digging up peat soils? In the face of climate change--shouldn't we be preserving peat lands wherever they exist? I will begin answering this question only as I start working on this farm, I'm sure.

Peat soils are called "Histosols" per their taxonomy. Here is a nice map of histosols in the U.S. created by the NRCS:

This map suggests to me that the Pacific Northwest is not a region where histosols are usually found. So if we have them in our area, they are probably in little pockets. Also from this map we can observe the percent of histosols in general is very small! According to Soil Society of America, histosols make up only 1% of the world's glacial-free land surface, which makes them very special. International Peatland Society says they make up 3%--but either way it's still a very small amount. IPS believes for the sake of mitigating climate change that peatlands must be properly managed to avoid increasing greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, etc) and compaction (caused by changing hydrology patterns), while increasing carbon sequestration. I couldn't agree more! I am not sure how to pose this conversation with the farmers but perhaps I can casually bring it up sometime while working in the field.

There is a really nice article in Permaculture News that discusses peat soils (read here). I am not sure what percent of peat this farmland is where I will be working, but I'm assuming the farmers lean more in the direction of realizing their economic benefits--as we've had very little discussion of permaculture practices thus far. I do know they haven't formerly drained their land, so it's possible the percent of peat is not super high--otherwise they wouldn't be able to produce their vegetables (due to anaerobic conditions). And I must also acknowledge the farmers are simultaneously practicing some conservation to maintain natural habitat, particularly along the waterways, and the area for vegetable cultivation is only around an acre (not including pastured animals). I am definitely not trying to imply the farmers are disturbing their peat soils, just that it's possible some of their practices might benefit from shifting into more of a permaculture framework.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommends "paludiculture" practices, which work within the constraints of the peat microclimate. Without disturbing natural hydrology, you can cultivate crops more appropriate for that setting. The FAO also suggests various fodder crops, wood (trees that can tolerate high saturation) and food crops including aronia berry, lotus, cranberry, water chestnut and wild rice. From my perspective this particular bit of land  might provide a great educational opportunity for people in the area on peat soils and paludiculture. In fact the farmers might be able to work with a conservation district or WSU to conduct research, and they could provide workshops on permaculture and paludiculture--peatland restoration and cultivation--for the sake of climate change mitigation. We certainly could use more organizations in the area that are directly tackling issues on climate change.