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As someone whos been thinking quite a bit about land restoration I cringed a bit when watching the video about the Henry French's philosophy. There's a more en

As someone whos been thinking quite a bit about land restoration I cringed a bit when watching the video about the Henry French's philosophy. There's a more encompassing worldview perspective that should be taken where rather in terms of thinking about 'superfluous water' there should be an inquiry around what relation one wants with water - where are the areas you want to perhaps concentrate water (e.g. at a pond/rainwater harvesting) and dryness (e.g. where you have a human settlement structure), and how one can 'slow, spread, sink' water to have a healthier relationship to the greater watershed and relationship to atmospheric water vapor. Courses like https://waterstories.com https://waterstories.com and writings like https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/ https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/ may help with expanding with thinking this way, along with Brad Lancaster's books ( http://harvestingrainwater.com/ http://harvestingrainwater.com/ ) on rainwater harvesting. From a farm perspective Chris Jones is also worth listening to for his critique of drainage tile ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svwjd3FwNCY&t=5668s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svwjd3FwNCY&t=5668s ) (Bias: I've partly taken the water stories class, and an investor in the upcoming climate water project book)

engineer_22 2y ago
There are many places where there is no shortage of water, and for safe hygienic habitation it becomes necessary to remove it
- seltzered_ 2y ago
  Yes but.. We have to also think about how waters being removed from land. Is it being removed so quickly that we end up with low rivers and risk of saltwater intrusion during drought conditions [0]? Is water drainage not getting buffered by say, growing vegetation? My argument isn't against French drains outright, but whether we're thinking more broadly about the impact of human relations with water. [0]: new orleans saltwater intrusion scare from 2023: https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/28/louisiana-saltwater-intrusion-federal-emergency https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/28/louisiana...
ComputerGuru 2y ago
I get where you are coming from but I feel when you look at the greater picture this concern would be completely mooted. The fact is that most unwanted water happens due to construction, with things like streets, parking lots, driveways, etc creating impermeable surfaces that force the water to build up and flow downhill and into foundations when, if things had been truly left untouched, there would have been no problem at all to begin with. Surely that's a mitigating factor that makes it much more acceptable to geoengineer water removal?
- seltzered_ 2y ago
  I think I'm trying to advocate for appropriate geoengineering, thinking about not just water removal but also how water should be removed (how quickly, where to concentrate water, atmospheric considerations) At the least I'm trying to advocate for say, pairing a French drain design with a rain garden or something to slow water down. In some areas they actually incentivize planting trees close to sewer drain areas since it helps manage water during flood events. Not trying to be pollyanna and advocate for a sponge city approach evrywhere either, I'm aware of the issues with permeable pavement potentially leading to sinkholes and such (ref: https://x.com/waterhodl/status/1660307940451000320 https://x.com/waterhodl/status/1660307940451000320 )

engineer_22 2y ago

There are many places where there is no shortage of water, and for safe hygienic habitation it becomes necessary to remove it

seltzered_ 2y ago
Yes but.. We have to also think about how waters being removed from land. Is it being removed so quickly that we end up with low rivers and risk of saltwater intrusion during drought conditions [0]? Is water drainage not getting buffered by say, growing vegetation? My argument isn't against French drains outright, but whether we're thinking more broadly about the impact of human relations with water. [0]: new orleans saltwater intrusion scare from 2023: https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/28/louisiana-saltwater-intrusion-federal-emergency https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/28/louisiana...

ComputerGuru 2y ago

I get where you are coming from but I feel when you look at the greater picture this concern would be completely mooted. The fact is that most unwanted water happens due to construction, with things like streets, parking lots, driveways, etc creating impermeable surfaces that force the water to build up and flow downhill and into foundations when, if things had been truly left untouched, there would have been no problem at all to begin with. Surely that's a mitigating factor that makes it much more acceptable to geoengineer water removal?

seltzered_ 2y ago
I think I'm trying to advocate for appropriate geoengineering, thinking about not just water removal but also how water should be removed (how quickly, where to concentrate water, atmospheric considerations) At the least I'm trying to advocate for say, pairing a French drain design with a rain garden or something to slow water down. In some areas they actually incentivize planting trees close to sewer drain areas since it helps manage water during flood events. Not trying to be pollyanna and advocate for a sponge city approach evrywhere either, I'm aware of the issues with permeable pavement potentially leading to sinkholes and such (ref: https://x.com/waterhodl/status/1660307940451000320 https://x.com/waterhodl/status/1660307940451000320 )