Testimonials for Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1

“Brad Lancaster is one of those rare individuals who combines practical ability to design and implement common-sense solutions to rainwater management issues with a clear ecological and political vision of the importance of doing so. In Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Brad shows us how to use rainwater around our homes and in our communities so that our human-created landscapes reflect the abundance of nature. As we move from assumptions of scarcity to participation in abundance, our lives and our communities can be transformed.”

-David Confer, Ph.D., environmental engineer and sustainable design and development consultant

“What a wonderful, enthusiastic book. Brad Lancaster lives what he preaches — a water careful lifestyle that is all about more life. Brad is a worthy teacher–his love and deep respect for water shines through on every page.”

- Ben Haggard, author, sustainable systems designer, and permaculture teacher

“Brad Lancaster’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond is an important book about using rainfall as the primary driver in creating and restoring landscapes for agriculture and communities. It is ecological design at its best.”

- John Todd, Ph.D., Research Professor and Distinguished Lecturer, The Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, The University of Vermont; President, Ocean Arks International; Senior Partner John Todd Ecological Design, Inc.

“This important and timely water-harvesting book reads like a conversation with a trusted friend. As such, it is an effective how-to and why-for manual for living within our means in our shared watersheds. Heartfelt thanks, Brad, for spotlighting the route to abundance in these arid climes!”

- Barbara Clark, project manager, Teran Watershed Project, Cascabel AZ

“Our modern society is afflicted with a severe case of hydrological illiteracy. Brad’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, in three volumes, is the antidote needed to mitigate this epidemic of cerebral imperviousness impacting the collective head-waters of our cultural ego-system! Pragmatic practitioners of “waterspread” restoration for arid lands and beyond, will find a wealth of accessible and practical information in these books. The Conservation Hydrology mantra of -Slow It - Spread It - Sink It — has never been better articulated in as clear and concise terms for the homeowner, ranch owner, sub-division developer or city stormwater engineer. I will require this book for all my Basins of Relations community watershed students and feel it should be so as well for all land managers and land use planners. This book is sure to become a classic for all people who believe in a future based on rehydration instead of dehydration and for that I say, Bravo Brad!”

- Brock Dolman, WATER Institute Director, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

“Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1 is more than a text on how to harvest rainwater. It is a way of life that gives back nourishment to our earth rather than what has become the standard of continually taking. This way of life has become almost a religion for Brad and as he demonstrates, it should be the same for all of us.”

- Heather Kinkade-Levario, R.L.A., President of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) Author of Forgotten Rain - Rediscovering Rainwater Harvesting

“The world needs more practical visionaries like Brad Lancaster! Blending his own knowledge, experience and wisdom with the collected wisdom and practices of water harvesters from around the world, Brad gives us access to a wealth of critically needed tools for rethinking our relationship with the gift of water from the sky. This man more than walks his talk; he lives, breathes, eats and drinks it!”

- David Eisenberg, Director of the Development Center for Appropriate Technology, co-author of the Straw Bale House Book, and a two-term member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Green Building Council

“Brad Lancaster presents the first of three volumes of his vision on what might be called Eco-hydrology. It is not just a book about harvesting rainfall, although there are many practical ideas on how to make use of the water that falls on your land. It is a guide designed to help the reader see what Brad sees when looking at a city lot or homesite. He has set as his goal to train you to see your land and the environment in which it is set in a new way, as a natural resource to be managed in harmony with your living there. While water harvesting is central to living a new paradigm it is only part of a broader vision designed to enrich your quality of life while enhancing the surrounding environment.”

- James J. Riley, Ph.D., Soil, Water and the Environmental Science Department, The University of Arizona

“Like small acorns that grow into mighty oaks, Ben Franklin’s succinct and wise words are perhaps more valuable today: ‘Waste not; want not… A penny saved is a penny earned.’ The anticipation of rain and its eventual harvest and storage for nurturing the native habitat, our source of food, the quality of our air and water, and visual delight for our senses is a natural model for us to mimic. Brad Lancaster’s pioneering series of books, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, shows us how we can mimic the way nature works, as it immediately provides the resources necessary to support a world of efficient and effective use of water that helps create abundance in all our lives.”

- Dr. Wayne Moody, American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), Planner

“This book and the thinking behind it should be part of the basic education of civil engineers, architects, landscape architects and planners everywhere. As a civil engineer working for a progressive municipal water utility in an arid climate, I can see if a majority of our citizens followed these practices, many of our current and future challenges would be alleviated. The positive side benefits in terms of erosion-control, creation of bird habitat, and natural cooling would be exceptional.”

- Patricia Eisenberg, P.E., past president, Arizona Society of Civil Engineers

“On a water-world such as ours, Brad’s book should be a required study for all human beings. Scholarly, forthright and, above all, practical, this work delivers critical knowledge to those thirsty for a positive relationship with water. Thank you Brad for your friendly presentation of such a complex and important component of global sustainability!”

- Paul A. Branson, Earthwise Technologies Ecological Restoration

“Brad Lancaster’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Vol. 1, is a fantastic resource for all of us dryland dwellers! Lancaster’s enthusiasm and commitment to more sustainable and rewarding dryland lifestyles bubbles out of every paragraph, and his writing is personable and easily accessible, even though packed with information. This combination makes rainwater harvesting seem not only absolutely necessary if we want to survive for long in drylands, but easy and fun as well! There are lots of concrete, step-by-step examples and explanations of why they work, and Lancaster has had hands-on involvement with many of them. And, they are illustrated with many clear drawings and photographs. This book will be an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to live in drylands in a way that is more responsive to our growing knowledge about the limits to water and other resources, and about better ways to manage them. I’m eagerly awaiting Volumes 2 and 3!”

-David A. Cleveland, Prof., Environmental Studies, U California Santa Barbara, Co-Director, Center for People, Food & Environment, co-author of Food from Dryland Gardens.

“Brad’s book is amazing. He has made it so readable and the photos and diagrams and even cartoons make it easy to follow and very practical, yet the research and figures are there to read which make it a very scholarly book as well. His passion for the subject shines through in a very non-preachy way. It is a remarkable achievement. It is so relevant for places all over the world. It is clear that water is going to be one of the most important issues for the 21st century and he tackles it in a way that everybody can play their part.

- Paul Hallowes, Santa Barbara, California

“This book is the best of both worlds, highly user friendly and highly informational. Its practical and straightforward nature is an antidote to inaction from overwhelm and confusion. It will definitely be an essential resource for our work at the Institute of Permaculture Education for Children and facilitate bringing Permaculture and Water Harvesting into schools.”

-Patty Parks-Wasserman, Director and Founder of Institute of Permaculture Education for Children

Testimonials for Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2: Water-Harvesting Earthworks

“Harvesting rainwater was once a worldwide technology, but was replaced by pipes, canals, and sprinklers: an inefficient and wasteful strategy that results in running dry. In Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2 Brad uses the concept of ‘planting water’ as a guiding principle in designing landscapes that passively harvest resources to grow more resources. Such brilliant, low-tech, regenerative systems are vital to hydrating the land and maximizing the benefit that water brings to plants, animals and people. Thus, this book is an excellent and comprehensive tool for all bucket and shovel ‘engineers’ to maximize the hydrological resource, reduce energy use and transform their once erosive landscapes into ones of stability, botanical diversity, and abundance.”

–Arty Mangan, Bioneers Food and Farming Program Director

“This volume should be on the bookshelf of every conscientious homeowner in the desert Southwest. Rainfall truly becomes something to celebrate when we can use it to fill up the soil banks in our property instead of watching it rush down the street into a storm sewer.”

–Nancy R. Laney, Executive Director, Tucson Botanical Gardens

“The cheapest – and sanest – way to meet our growing need for water is to squeeze more out of the water we already have, especially rainwater and used household water. Lancaster approaches these unsung streams as a farmer might, cultivating them in order to nourish dry landscapes. He has produced a water-farming guide that will inspire both the casual gardener and the card-carrying permaculturalist. With step-by-step instructions and clear illustrations, he guides the reader through simple techniques – berms, curbcuts, greywater plumbing – which in turn guide water into your soil and landscape. Lancaster is clearly determined to save the world. And he’s determined to make it easy for the rest of us to help.

–Hannah Holmes author of Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn

“Brad’s book is a treasure. It brings much-needed clarity to a timely subject and what’s more it inspires, motivates, and lifts the spirit. It’s a resource that no steward of the land should ignore.”

–Owen Dell, landscape architect and contractor, author and educator, Santa Barbara, California

“The level of detail that Brad provides is unmatched in the water-harvesting industry. This is one of the seminal books of our time.”

– Nate Downey, author of Harvest the Rain and Rooftop Water Harvesting in New Mexico

“Water has been identified as a global crisis in the making and Arizona is fast becoming ground zero for this issue in the U.S.. Fortunately people like Brad Lancaster are working to change our illogical, wasteful approach to water use. Brad is one of those outstanding teachers who communicate passion and excitement while bringing an amazing wealth of knowledge to water conservation. This second encyclopedic volume is a distillation of his many years of study, experience and experimentation and gathers together in one volume a vast number of resources. The information is thorough, well documented, clearly explained, and eminently useful. Every civil engineer, landscape architect, planner, and architect should read this book and implement its strategies. If they did, our coming water crisis could be averted and our cities could become far more productive and pleasant places to live.”

–Antony Brown, Director, Ecosa Institute

“This is a fascinating book, full of real life examples and lots of inspiring ideas for a variety of sites and soil types. Anyone who wants to live and garden more sustainably will enjoy it.”

–Elizabeth Davison, Director, University of Arizona Campus Arboretum, Lecturer, Division of Horticultural/Crop Sciences, University of Arizona

“The prescription for water sustainability Brad has painstakingly drawn up in this very informative book is based on real life successes, has a very wide application even across the seas and is simple and reliable. What touches us most are his friendly narration and the ‘tell-tale’ illustrations that have an eye for detail.”

–Shree Padre, Messenger of Rainwater Harvesting, India

“Brad is an earth and water sculptor. Practical, easy to follow, well researched and logical, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 2 is destined to be one of my more dog-eared resource books. It’s probably going to get a little muddy too!”

–Cado Daily, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Water Wise Program

“The book is a wonder of practical and progressive strategies for anyone interested in preserving our precious surface-water resources and putting them to good use. Brad Lancaster has outlined how to use earthworks to capture rainwater and to use it to foster productive plant life. Volume 2 of this three-volume work builds on the conceptual framework of volume 1 and introduces easy-to-understand definitions, diagrams, and photographs to implement these water-harvesting ideas.”

–Corky Poster, Architect and Planner, Director, Drachman Institute, Distinguished Professor of Outreach, University of Arizona, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

“As a permaculture teacher and designer, Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond is my ‘go to’ source for how to design a sustainable water system.”

–Dan Dorsey, Sonoran Permaculture Guild

“Those who apply the lessons Brad Lancaster describes so clearly in this one-of-a-kind book can dramatically lower their consumption of water from conventional sources, yet live in a virtual oasis, even in the driest climates! Buy a copy today and put it to good use.”

–Dan Chiras is author of The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy, The Solar House, The New Ecological Home, The Natural Plaster Book and many more.

“After guiding us to see the world of water harvesting as he does in volume 1, Brad Lancaster now gives us the details on how to shape our landscape to capture as much water as possible in volume 2.

Volume 1 provided us with the principles for water harvesting and volume 2 gives us the blueprints, methods, and tools for applying those principles to our own or neighborhood landscape. Details abound. While others say the devil is in the details, Brad shows us that success is in the details—along with doing it yourself. When I first became interested in water harvesting it was sufficient for me to be satisfied with understanding water harvesting as the process of applying hydrology to small watersheds. But, the students have shown me that that is not enough! You must do it to really understand it. Volume 2 gives us the details for catching the water on our land and putting it to use, thereby reducing consumption of utility-provided water, and if we can get whole neighborhoods to follow also reducing the magnitude of street flooding.

You need to understand and apply the 8 Principles of Water Harvesting given in Volume 1 in analyzing your site. Once you know what you want to do, you can select the appropriate practices and then with volume 2 you can do it. I don’t think you’ll find yourself reading volume 2 cover to cover as you need to do with volume 1, but volume 2 is a practical engineering guide where you can look up the details you need for a given project.”

–James J. Riley, Ph.D., Soil, Water and the Environmental Science Department, University of Arizona

“Brad has outdone himself with this volume. I think it will be an even more valuable reference and resource for the thoughtful public than the first volume. Thank you Brad for making the effort to do justice to that most precious of water sources — our rainfall.”

–Val Little, Director, Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona

“Whether you have years of experience or are just beginning to explore a greener way of living; whether you’re a do-it-yourselfer, an educator, a client, or a consultant/designer of regenerative systems, this book (and these 3 volumes) is for you. You will love the ease of reading, clarity, and beauty of illustrations. And it will get you off your buns and out into the land you love.”

–Barbara Rose, Dancing Rocks Community, Education, Integrated Design, Consulting, and Local/Native Foods and Herbs, Tucson, Arizona