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Lancaster residence image gallery

How we’re harvesting, cycling, and playing with multiple, free, on-site waters and what they grow…

Before water harvesting.
Our site at time of purchase in 1994.
Most runoff drains off site, up against home, or through the garage. All greywater goes down the sewer.
Palm tree blocks winter solar access.
Exposed and unwelcoming street and walkway heat up like a solar oven most of the year.
Illustration: Ann Audrey
After water harvesting.
Our site in 2021.
No runoff leaves site. On-site runoff is infiltrated before it gets to house or garage, and we have positive drainage away from buildings. Street runoff is directed to basins and trees along the curb. All greywater is directed to—and recycled within—the landscape.
Winter solar access regained after removing palm tree. Solar panels installed on roof, solar clothes dryer (clothes line) installed along fence, and solar oven and solar hot water heater installed on ground because old roof could not bear the water heater’s weight.)
Along with our neighbors we took to the streets. More native food-bearing trees were planted in the public right-of-way. Street curbs were cut to direct street runoff to tree basins. Traffic circles and chicanes or pullouts were installed to calm traffic, harvest water, and grow food-bearing shade. All strategies build community as we enhance and enjoy our community together.
Illustration: Ann Audrey
Before the 1996 planting of rain and trees.
Public right-of-way adjoining property, with asphalt driveway freshly removed. 1994.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
After planting of rain and trees.
Tree-lined footpath reviving the once sterile right-of-way. 2006. Blue arrow denotes water flow.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Vaughan Lancaster plays near a rain garden filled with street runoff flowing over the low point of a curb where there was once a driveway. A second rain garden is just outside the right hand side of the photo.
Photo: Brad Lancaster, 2011
Harvesting rain-irrigated prickly pear fruit in the public right-of-way.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Bountiful harvest of prickly pear fruit grown in public right-of-way and irrigated solely with rainwater and street runoff.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Girl scouts planting a street tree in 1996.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
In 2006, Chi Lancaster stands beside the velvet mesquite tree planted ten years before by the Girl Scouts.
Seed pods harvested from the tree are tasty to chew on and can be ground into flour. Neighborhood cholla buds, olives, chiltepines, mesquite flour, prickly pear jam, and honey sit on ground near the curb cut that allows street runoff to passively irrigate food-bearing plants in the public right-of-way.
Blue arrow denotes water flow.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Garth Mackum enjoying mesquite pancakes with prickly pear syrup at a Desert Harvester/Dunbar Spring Neighborhood Mesquite Fiesta.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Mobile hammermill grinding mesquite pods into edible flour.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Mobile hammermill grinding mesquite pods into edible flour.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Native food-bearing Christmas trees young (in the foreground, just before planting) and old in the background, planted 10 years prior).
My nephew Vaughan tries to show how big the desert ironwood tree will grow, just before we plant it and the rain along the public right-of-way’s footpath.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Late-winter garden grown entirely from rainfall and roof runoff harvested in 1,300-gallon (4,900-liter) tank in 2005.
We’ve since added a second 1,300-gallon (4,900-liter) tank to double the capacity.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Food grown and processed on-site and irrigated with rainwater.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Salad o rain-irrigated domesticated greens and native wild flowers. Photo: Brad Lancaster

Placed along the northern property line, the garottage’s two polyethylene rainwater tanks act as property fencing and a privacy screen.
First-flush water (dirty/fertile roof runoff deflected before it reaches the tanks) is conveniently directed to tasty dragon fruiting cactus.
Tank overflow is directed to cascading basins starting at highest point of yard (not in photo).
Gravity-fed rainwater from tanks plumbed to sink faucet.
Greywater from sink directed to plantings in the landscape via black branched-drain pipe.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Chi Lancaster pouring harvested rainwater into the Big Berkey activated carbon filter we use, as her son Vaughan drinks some of the filtered rainwater.
Water moves through the filter by the free force of gravity and collects in the container with tap below.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Three-way diverter valve under sink gives the convenient option of sending greywater to landscape or sewer depending on what goes down the drain.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Greywater drains (marked with the trees the pipes will send their water to.
Drain hose from washer is placed in a different pipe with every load of laundry.
Note: include an additional marked drainpipe going to the sewer (capped when not in use) as an option for households that occasionally use non-biocompatible detergents or that have seasonally saturated or frozen soils.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Outdoor washing machine in a non-freezing climate with a multi-drain greywater-harvesting system distributing greywater to mulched and vegetated basins.
Pipes maintain a minimum 2% slope.
Note: outdoor installations do not require P-traps or vent stacks for greywater drains, but they are required for the sewer drains.
Illustration: Joe Marshall
Greywater drain outlet empties into a mulched and vegetated basin that also harvests rainwater and runoff.
The pipe outlet discharges 3 inches (7.6 cm) above the surface of the mulch to keep roots from growing into and clogging the discharge pipe. Greywater immediately infiltrates through the mulch to the soil below. Greywater is dispersed to multiple basins to reduce flow to any single basin, enhancing infiltration further. Basins are sized to contain and infiltrate the peak surge of greywater that could potentially be discharged in a short time period.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Outdoor shower screened with salvaged materials and vegetation. Surrounding food-bearing vegetation—doubling as chicken shelter and habitat—is freely watered with the shower’s greywater via a gravity-fed branched drain pipe system distributing the drain water to multiple mulched basins within the adjoining chicken run (see Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2, 2nd Edition for more details).

Before & After photos…

Summer 1996 before digging and planting water-harvesting garden beds between main house and one-car garage.
During storms stormwater water would flow into adjoining structures.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
Summer 2021 after digging and planting water-harvesting garden beds between main house and garottage (one-car garage turned cottage).
During storms water flow to, and is rapidly infiltrated within, mulched and vegetated basins. No more flooding.
Photo: Brad Lancaster

1996 view from roof of bicycle ramada southeast to 9th Avenue and University Blvd.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
2021 view from roof of bicycle ramada southeast to 9th Avenue and University Blvd.
Vegetation is irrigated for free with passively harvested rainfall, street runoff, & outdoor shower greywater.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
1995 view of the public right-of-way adjoining our property on the northwest corner of 9th Avenue and University Blvd.
Before the harvest of free, on-site waters. Rainwater drains to the street.
Street runoff drains to the stormdrain.
Photo: Brad Lancaster
2016 view of the public right-of-way adjoining our property on the northwest corner of 9th Avenue and University Blvd.
After the harvest of free, on-site waters. Rainwater is captured within sunken, mulched, and vegetated basins.
Street runoff is directed to street-side rain gardens.
Photo: Brad Lancaster

For more…

See the new, full-color, revised editions of Brad’s award-winning books
– available a deep discount, direct from Brad:

Book Cover #1

Volume 1

THE book to enable you to assess all your free on-site waters, then create an integrated water harvesting plan.

Has the story of the transformation of the Lancaster residence and how you can do likewise

Buy the Book Now
Book Cover #2

Volume 2

Lots of step-by-step instructions on how to design, build, and plant many different kinds of rain gardens for many different contexts.

Showcases the strategies that transformed our neighborhood streets with water-harvesting traffic-calming, street-side native food forest plantings, and more.

Also includes a chapter dedicated to household greywater harvesting strategies.

Buy the Book Now
Active SystemsGreywater HarvestingNeighborhood Food ForestryPassive SystemsRainwater HarvestingStormwater & Street Runoff HarvestingSun and Shade Harvesting
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