Wednesday, April 18
7pm
Flagstaff City Hall, Council Chambers
211 W. Aspen Ave.
Flagstaff, AZ
phone 928-779-1745
Turning Drains Into Sponges and Water Scarcity Into Abundance:
A free public talk by Brad Lancaster, author of the acclaimed Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands Vol. 1: Guiding Principles for Welcoming Rain into Your Life and Landscape. (www.HarvestingRainwater.com).
Lancaster asserts that water scarcity results when people treat rainwater as a nuisance in the home and municipal landscapes by shunting it off the land through impermeable city streets and into storm sewers. The path to water abundance begins with landscape designs and sustainable systems that encourage rain to infiltrate the soil through the watershed, nourishing plant life, people and ecosystems. This inspiring presentation shares eight universal principles of water harvesting along with simple strategies that turn water scarcity into water abundance. They empower citizens to create integrated water-sustainable landscape plans at home and throughout the community. Rainwater harvesting is the process of capturing rain and making the most of it as close as possible to where it falls. Greywater harvesting is the process of directing water from the household sink, bathtub, shower and washing machine drains into the soils of the landscape where the water is naturally filtered and reused to generate more on-site resources. The two work hand in hand. He’ll give examples of enhanced local food security, passive cooling of cities in summer, reduced costs of living and energy consumption, erosion & flood control, revitalization of dead waterways, minimized water pollution, groundwater recharge, community building, and more.
NOTE: Carl Ramsey will preceed the water harvesting talk with a presentation at 6pm. Carl is the owner of Architectural and Enviromental Associates and a leader in the community for sustainable building. He will be presenting on his LEED pilot program, the Bellmont house. In building this house Carl and AEA has utilized several sustainable building and living elements such as solar and wind power, and rainwater and greywater harvesting systems.