Kids workshop in water conservation & rain water harvesting at St Elmo Village

We learned the definition of a Watershed and its boundaries (starting from the tops of mountains at the ridge, through hills and valleys, flatlands, then to the ocean).

We learned about earthworks and the different types (the muffin tin example)like concave earthworks(swales) and convex earthworks(berms) and where we can expect to find the best absorption of and retention of water. We learned about a typical urban lot and compared water catchment capacities of a rainbarrel (or cistern) versus soil.

We talked about how water flows through an urban site and identified sources for water and water catchment (roof, greywater, rainbarrels, artifacts in the garden, evaporator cooling drip, surface areas).

And finally we also learned through building and designing our sites, some of the ways to design for water catchment. We learned that our site can be a mini watershed. In the models, the kids used glue to adhere some of the elements that came off the models during the rain demontration. This can be represented as toxins mixing with water. Yuck!(The glue was non-toxic however, whew!)

This workshop was incollaboration with the Architecture + Design Museum which has a great example of a greywater system. http://aplusd.org/

A great resource for rainwater harvesting is Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster

Stay tuned for the next workshop in May centered around the importance of Trees & storytelling in our communities. Date will be announced sometime in April.