[Pil-pc-oceania] Writers wanted - Permaculture water book

[RussGrayson]

BACKGROUND
At the APC9 session on water, the decision was made to gather some of the
ideas presented and developed it into a book that would be put online as a
downloadable pdf file. I found that I had been volunteered to edit this
volume.

The notes made by particpants at the conference have proven useful although
partial, and the need for additional material is obvious.

The technologies and ideas canvassed in the sessions include the tried and
proven, such as home rainwater tanks, to the rural, such as the Keyline
system of farm water management and irrigation. Although these are known and
no longer new, some even receiving government financial incentives to
install, they have a rightful place in any volume on water in permaculture.

WHAT'S NEEDED NOW
What we need now is material specifically on the permaculture management of
water. This would include ideas, technoligies and associated things, as well
as how these relate to whatever the permaculture attitude to the use of
water might be.

Specifically, we need volunteers (this is a zero budget work) to write
credible, factual material on the following:

1. Permaculture and water in humid landscapes.

Humid landscapes can be regarded as those in which water readily flows and
collects in water bodies (streams, lakes etc). That is,
climates/landcapes/geographies in which water is plentiful and, usually, in
excess of human needs.

2. Permaculture and semi-arid/arid landscapes.

These are landforms in which water is usually in deficit and there is little
excess to collect in permanent waterways and lakes.

3. The Keyline system of farm water management.

This would answer questions such as:
- What is the Keyline system?
- Why it is superior to other water harvesting/ storage/irrigaton systems
(assuming that it is)?
- How does it work? Ie. How is the decision made as to where to site farm
dams and diversion channels? How is water reticulated to crops? On what
types of landscapes does it work?
Is is applicable elsewhere than farms?
Other relevant points about Keyline.

A practitioner or someone who has carefully studied the system would perhaps
be the most approariate to produce material on it.

3. Other approaches to farm water management.

POINTS 1 & 2
Regarding points 1 & 2 above, what would prove useful to readers is how and
why permaculture might take a different approach to water management in
these landscapes than other water users.

Does permaculture have something unique to its approach to water harvesting,
storage and use, and why?

NEEDS
All of the information produced needs to comply with a number of criteria.
This is because what appears in print will reflect on permaculture and how
readers regard the design system.

Thus:
1. Information produced by volunteer writers must be credible, not fanciful
or magical thinking.

2. There must be acceptable scientific/technical knowledge underlaying what
is written. Ie. It must be verifiable in some way.

3. It must be written in ordinary, simple English so that it is
understandable to nontechnical readers. Formula of mathematicaal information
might be included provided there is also an explanation understandable to
the nontechnically-trained accompanying it.

INTERESTED?
Don't be put off if you do not see yourself as a writer. I will edit copy
and return it to writers for their approval. It may be changed slightly
(though not the meaning) to comply with the book's style.

Timeline is within a couple months.

If you have other ideas on what such a book might include, let's know.

I think this will be a useful permaculture product and it is a way for those
of us with some knowledge of how the design system deals with water can make
a useful contribution, not only to the public but to the design system
itself.

How about it?


...Russ Grayson 

PIL Board of Directors
info at pacific-edge.info
www.pacific-edge.info
0414 065 203