Publications

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Volume 2: Water-harvesting Earthworks,www.HarvestingRainwater.com, January 2007. A thorough guide describing how to create and use diverse water harvesting earthworks and their numerous variations. Many case studies are featured along with tips on how to integrate your earthworks with multiple on-site resources and challenges so they do far more than harvest water. Includes a chapter on integrating the harvest of greywater. More than 225 illustrations and photographs. by Brad Lancaster. Rainsource Press,

Drylands Watershed Restoration: Introductory Workshop Activities, by Ben Haggard. Sol y Sombra Foundation, 1994. A wonderful resource about water harvesting earthworks and how you could set up workshops on the subject, although hard to find nowadays.

An Introduction to Erosion Control, by Bill Zeedyk and Jan-Willem Jansens. Earth Works Institute, Rio Puerco Management Committee, Quivira Coalition, May 2004. Basic how-to guide for simple and effective erosion control strategies that harvest soil and water. www.quiviracoalition.org
An Introduction to Induced Meandering: A Method for Restoring Stability to Incised Stream Channels by Bill Zeedyk. Earthworks Institute/Ouivira Coalition. July 2004. An illustrated field guide to simple riparian restoration concepts and techniques. www.quiviracoalition.org
Water Harvesting from Low-Standard Rural Roads by Bill Zeedyk. The Quivira Coalition, April 2006. Book addresses the construction and maintenance of unpaved rural roads with harvesting water from the roads as an important aspect of maintenance activities. www.quiviracoalition.org
Water for Every Farm – Yeomans Keyline Plan by Ken B. Yeomans, 1993. Keyline Designs, P.O. Box 3289, Southport, Queensland, 4215 Australia. A dry, but valuable resource covering farm, road, and subdivision design around keyline water harvesting principles; contour fields; forests and cultivation; and erosion control.

Porous Pavements by Bruce K. Ferguson, CRC Press, 2005. The comprehensive guide to porous pavements.

“Dynamic Water Storage,” by Tim Murphy. Permaculture Drylands Journal, #30, summer 1998, pp. 22–24.

Alternative Irrigation: The Promise of Runoff Agriculture, by Christopher J. Barrow. Earthscan1999. Earthscan Publications Ltd., 120 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JN, UK. An introduction to strategies of runoff agriculture used around the world.

Semiarid Soil and Water Conservation by H.J. Finkel, CRC Press, 1986. Good practical guide with engineering calculations.

Policy and Practice in the Management of Tropical Watersheds by H.C. Pereira, Westview Press, 1989. Good information and case studies.

A Landscaper’s Guide to Mulch by the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board. 777 Davis Street, Suite 100, San Leandro, CA 94577. Email: acwma@stopwaste.org. Web: www.stopwaste.org. A great guide put out by a California County which illustrates how governmental departments and private businesses are successfully using mulch to reduce costs and reduce waste.

A Landscaper’s Guide to Grasscycling by the Alameda County Waste Management Authority and the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board. 777 Davis Street, Suite 100, San Leandro, CA 94577. Email: acwma@stopwaste.org. Web: www.stopwaste.org. A great guide for those who just can’t break the lawn addiction. At least reduce the size of your lawn and then read how a different mowing technique can help save water and maintenance by putting your grass clippings back into the soil rather than tossing this resource into the garbage.

Keyline-specific resources

Keyline systems of water and soil conservation were developed in Australia during the 1950’s by P.A. Yeomans as a response to increasing desertification and erosion of the landscape. His book Water For Every Farm (see “Resources” below) is an important resource on holistic farm design. Keyline is a set of principles and techniques based on a whole systems approach that works with natural patterns to restore or increase the depth and fertility of the soil, while increasing its water holding capabilities. Keyline integrates terraces, ponds and cultivation techniques with the natural landscape to infiltrate water into the soil efficiently and hold it on the land as long as possible. In order to truly work with nature, implementing a Keyline system requires careful observation and assessment of a site.
- From Article in By Tobias Policha appearing in the October 2001 issue of Oregon Tilth
www.foodnotlawns.com/keyline_water.html
Darren Doherty Australian Approved Keyline Design™ Farm Planning Consultant (2002)
Whole Farm Planning Certificate ~ Train the Trainer  (1995) www.permaculture.biz  said this is one of the best article examining the Keyline Plan http://www.yeomansplow.com.au/basis-of-keyline.htm
The Keyline Plan by P.A. Yeomans. Sydney: P.A. Yeomans, 1954.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010125yeomans/010125toc.html
After only three years of experimentation with the Keyline system, Yeomans self-published this, his first of several books. In the tradition of Louis Bromfield and Plowman’s Folly, it is an eye-opening look at how to help land retain all the rainfall it receives, opening the whole soil body to root penetration and releasing the natural fertility of the land.This book became an agricultural best seller and sold out. It is still sought after by collectors. The book is offered here without restriction through the permission of Allan Yeomans, who himself is writing a book offering a cure of global warming through better farming by increasing the carbon retained in the earth as humus. Allan Yeomans also runs a farm-implement company in Queensland; a pre-publication version of Allan Yeoman’s book can be read and Allan and his farm implement company can be reached at through his website.
The Challenge of Landscape by P.A. Yeomans. Sydney: Keyline Publishing PTY, Ltd., 1958.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010126yeomansII/010126toc.html
This massive illustration-filled book is primarily a practical farming textbook focused on water conservation and small-scale dam construction and gravity-fed irrigation projects. Especially useful for practicing sustainable rainfall-dependent farming above the broad flood plain where water is always feast or famine. Made available here without restriction with the permission of Allan Yeomans.
The City Forest: The Keyline Plan for the Human Environment Revolution by P.A. Yeomans. Sydney: Keyline Publishing, 1971.
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010127yeomansIII/010127toc.html
This is a tiny book of barely 100 small pages written in very compressed form, chock-a-block full of partially-developed insight. It should not be the first of Yeomans’ books that a person reads, as having the background of his earlier works it will become more comprehensible. It is almost a utopian plan for human betterment, having as much or more to do with city planning and landscape architecture on a macro-scale as it does with farming. Made available here without restriction with the permission of Allan Yeomans.

On-line resources

Raingardens – A Household Way to Improve Water Quality in Your Community by the University of Wisconsin Extension offices, 2002. Available for free at http://cleanwater.uwex.edu/pubs/raingarden/gardens.pdf
www.raingardens.org

Stormwater BMP Design Supplement for Cold Climates by Deb Caraco and Richard Claytor, Center for Watershed Protection, 8391 Main Street, Ellicot City, MD 21043. www.cwp.org. This document is specific to stormwater control strategies, rather than water harvesting. Nonetheless, much of the info can be applied to water-harvesting earthworks.

Videos/DVDs

Harvest Rain, by the Fundacion San Bernardino. Contact Valer Austin: vaustin@elcoronadoranch.net. Highlights the dramatic success of constructing check dams in the watersheds of El Coronado Ranch, Arizona