Harvesting road water to rehydrate & regenerate a high desert town

Enter some intro copy about this videoVan Clothier, co-author of “Let the Water Do the Work”, shares unique and effective strategies to affordably harvest stormwater & snow melt runoff from, and divert sediment off, both dirt roads AND steeply-sloped paved roads for free irrigation, creek and aquifer recharge, flood control, and minimizing road maintenance costs. Costs are reduced with gradually-sloped basin banks and stabilizing vegetation that minimize or eliminate the need for rock stabilization of basin banks. Work is reduced and made easier with a custom-made jig, clamping to the street curb, making drilling of 6-inch (150-mm) diameter curb cores easy. Rolling dip dirt road drains divert stormwater and sediment into sediment trap basins that overflow via water-calming and -infiltrating sheet flow spreaders.

This dynamic program in the high desert town of Silver City, NM is funded by a grant from New Mexico Environment Department, so there is no cost to the adjoining property owner, once they sign a one-page agreement to steward/maintain the installation. 100 installations are funded by the grant, including workshops training crews and officials with Silver City streets department and Grant county road department on how to design, implement, and maintain such water-harvesting, rather than water-draining, installations.

See different strategies to harvest street runoff in BOTH the public right-of-way and private property – with default overflow routes that benefit everyone.. here.

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CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:41 How use of rock is minimized to reduce costs
3:54 Harvesting water off dirt roads with a rolling dip drain – Part One
5:45 Sediment clean out basin receiving sediment from dirt road runoff
6:42 Pipe flow splitter option
7:56 Basin flow splitter option
9:50 Harvesting stormwater from a steeply-sloped paved road & how to direct it under sidewalk to irrigate a street orchard
13:42 Harvesting & cleaning stormwater from street to freely irrigate public AND private land to recharge the town’s aquifer and creek
17:51 Always have an overflow route, and use the overflow as a resource
19:53 Harvesting rain and stormwater to reduce or eliminate the “need” to irrigate with costly municipal drinking water, & instead irrigate their landscapes control flooding for free.
20:20 How the harvested stormwater is naturally cleaned and cooled by the soil into which it infiltrates, and then travels subsurface to recharge the creek weeks or months after the rain
20:55 How pavement heats up the stormwater, while water-harvesting rain gardens help cool it
25:16 Using a 6-inch (150-mm diameter) curb CORE, instead of a curb CUT – a less expensive, less installation work, option
29:15 How Silver City was a marsh or ciénega before it became a town, and how water harvesting helps regenerate the former wetland soils
29:40 Neighbor Dug loves his street-side water-harvesting basins & films the water flow
30:42 Water harvesting from dirt roads: Part Two
31:50 Calm, spread-out sheet flow overflow from sediment trap’s “sheet flow spreader”
35:10 How this project is funded & collaborations with the town
40:22 What inspires and regenerates Van and his passion

Filmed in Silver City, New Mexico, September 2025
Average annual rainfall: 16 inches (406 mm)
Elevation: 5,900 feet (1,800 m)
Latitude: 32.7˚ N

WEBSITE OF VAN CLOTHIER AND HIS COMPANY STREAM DYNAMICS
https://streamdynamics.us/

VAN CLOTHIER/STREAM DYNAMICS YOUTUBE PAGE
https://www.youtube.com/@UCBEW4iRAo9D1mQXmx0ic1tg

VAN CLOTHIER & BILL ZEEDYK’S BOOK “LET THE WATER DO THE WORK”
https://quiviracoalition.org/product/let-the-water-do-the-work-induced-meandering-and-evolving-method-for-restoring-incised-channels/

BILL ZEEDYK’S BOOK “WATER HARVESTING FROM LOW STANDARD RURAL ROADS”
EXPLAINS HOW TO DESIGN AND BUILD ROLLING DIP ROAD DRAINS
https://quiviracoalition.org/product/good-road/

BILL ZEEDYK’S DOCUSERIES “THINKING LIKE WATER”
https://thinkinglikewater.com/

STORMWATER & STREET RUNOFF HARVESTING
https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/water-harvesting/harvests-of-different-waters/stormwater-street-runoff-harvesting/