JOURNEY INTO REGENERATIVE DESIGN
WATER
About The Petal
The intent of the Water Petal is to realign how people value water; to address the energy and chemicals involved in transporting, purifying and pumping water; and to redefine “wastewater” as a precious nutrient and resource.
The scarcity of water is a serious issue, as many countries around the world face severe shortages and compromised water quality due to global climate change. Even regions that have avoided the majority of these problems to date due to a historical presence of abundant fresh water are at risk: the impacts of climate change, highly unsustainable water use patterns, and the continued drawdown of major aquifers suggest significant problems ahead. Closed loop systems based on the resources available, with localized treatment, can help mitigate these issues and create a more resilient water future.
Closed Loop System
Currently, 100% of our water comes from a groundwater well located on site and all wastewater is treated on site in a septic system; Therefore, we already comply with one requirement called "Net Positive Water" which wants to see a closed loop system.
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Responsible Water Usage
Our household water use is limited to 26 gallons per person daily. We started to monitor the water that we use inside the house and the water that we use for irrigation (see picture of our water monitor). This way we are learning about our current water usage and we can find out how much we will need to reduce it.
We have installed an electric vacuum flush toilet from a Norwegian company called Jets. These toilets, typically used in marine vessels worldwide, use only one pint (1/8th of a gallon) of water per flush, a 90% reduction compared with the traditional low-flush, 1.28 GPF (gallons per flush) toilet. The EPA estimates that approximately 24% of household water is used to flush toilets in the United States. Broader adoption of technology like vacuum flush toilets could bring about a dramatic reduction in household water consumption.
In the future, we would like to add a second vacuum flush toilet and connect them to a compost tank system (see photo and diagram). We are planning to keep one of the three household toilets as a traditional flush toilet for redundancy. However, we replaced this outdated fixture, which used more than 3 GPF, with a low-flush, PVC-free toilet (1.28 GPF). During the renovation we will replace all faucets and showerheads with low-flow fixtures.
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Irrigation
We are allowed to use groundwater for irrigation, but we have to meter the water usage. Currently, most of our irrigation is directed toward establishing and growing a permaculture food forest, as described under the place petal. Much of the topsoil in the food forest will be mulched heavily with compost or horse manure, cardboard and wood chips, which will act as natural water storage near the surface and will reduce our irrigation needs. Manure can hold up to 900% of its weight in water. (See The Humanure Handbook.) Also, the understory beneath the fruit trees will be composed of primarily perennial shrubs and plants, including many drought-tolerant species native to California. Perennials often need less irrigation compared to annuals because their roots penetrate deep into the soil toward the water table over many years.
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We will further reduce our irrigation needs through a greywater system: The water from the bathrooms sinks, showers and the washing machine will be used to water plants on the west side of the house.
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Stormwater
We will construct vegetated swales on contour lines to capture, spread and sink all stormwater on site, so there will be no stormwater runoff.
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