permaculture

["Joan Huyser-Honig" <joan@hhcreatives.com>]

Lawrence,

What a fascinating read! Thanks for posting it.

All the best,
Joan Huyser-Honig

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture [mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf 
Of Lawrence London
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2015 11:58 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: [permaculture] Pre-Inca canals may solve Lima's water crisis - 
environment - 09 April 2015 - New Scientist

Pre-Inca canals may solve Lima's water crisis - environment - 09 April 2015
- New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27311-preinca-canals-may-solve-limas-water-crisis.html#.VSqSZZPqHIV
Pre-Inca canals may solve Lima's water crisis
12:30 09 April 2015 by *Fred Pearce*
<http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Fred+Pearce>

A revival of pre-Inca water technology in the mountains of the Andes is set 
to keep taps flowing in the drought-affected Peruvian capital, Lima.
Grouting ancient canals, it turns out, is a far cheaper solution to the 
city's water crisis than building a new desalination plant.

Lima is one of the world's largest desert cities and relies for water on 
rivers that flow out of the Andes. But those rivers diminish to a trickle 
during a long dry season, leaving the population of almost 9 million with 
intermittent water supplies.

Now the city's water utility company, Sedapal <http://www.sedapal.com.pe/>, 
has decided to invest in conservation projects in the Andes to keep the 
rivers flowing and taps running. And researchers have discovered that the 
most cost-effective way is to revive a system of ancient stone canals, known 
locally as *amunas*, that were built in the Andes by the Wari culture between 
AD 500 and 1000, centuries before the rise of the Incas.
Forgotten paths

The canals captured water from rivers in the mountains during the rainy 
season and took it to places where it could infiltrate rocks that fed 
year-round springs further down the mountains, so maintaining river flow 
during the dry season.

The *amunas* fell into disrepair long ago and had been largely forgotten.
In most places, their water now quickly returns to the rivers. But 
hydrologists such as Bert De Bièvre of Condesan, a Lima-based 
non-governmental organisation behind the project, say re-grouting the lined 
stretches of the canals with cement would allow them to resume their original 
purpose.

"The idea is to build a timelag into the hydrological system, delaying water 
run-off for weeks or even months until it benefits water supply in the dry 
season," De Bièvre says.

SEDEPAL has now decided to fund the plan by taking 1 per cent from its water 
charges for the next five years. The costs are estimated to be $23 million.
Holding back the flood

Lima has water shortages for seven months of the year but during the other 
five months, the Rimac, Chillon and Lurin rivers, which pass through Lima on 
their way to the Pacific Ocean, regularly cause floods 
<http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-lima-water-service-restricted-due-to-flooding-affecting-rimac-r-105658>
and landslips. Keeping floodwaters back for the dry season makes obvious 
sense.

Research into the hydrology of individual canals is still in progress. "We 
have been injecting ink into the canal water to see where it resurfaces,"
says De Bièvre. But he is confident that the project could revive 50 
*amunas*, mostly in the Chillon catchment.

According to a study by De Bièvre and Gena Gammie, a water specialist at 
Forest Trends, an NGO based in Washington DC that is backing the project, 
that should be enough to increase water supplies <http://bit.ly/1E5H6gl> to 
Lima by 26 million cubic metres, and reduce the city's current water deficit 
in the dry season by as much as 60 per cent.

According to the study, other green investment initiatives that could keep 
water on the mountainsides for longer include reviving forests, wetlands and 
ancient agricultural terraces, and restricting livestock grazing on upland 
pastures. But the study found that reviving *amunas* would be by far the 
cheapest option, costing less than a hundredth as much as water from the 
city's new desalination plant.

<>

http://www.newsweek.com/revival-ancient-pre-inca-canals-may-prevent-peru-droughts-321315
Peru Turns to Ancient Aquaducts to Prevent Droughts By Jack Moore 
<http://www.newsweek.com/authors/jack-moore>  4/10/15 at 1:29 PM

One of the world’s driest cities is attempting to solve its water problems by 
reviving its ancient network of waterways. The Peruvian capital, Lima, is to 
restore pre-Inca aqueducts in the Andes mountains to service its population 
during the seven-month dry season.

The project, as reported by *New Scientist 
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27311-preinca-canals-may-solve-limas-water-crisis.html#.VSfPnvnF9qI>*,
would see a series of disused stone canals, locally referred to as amunas, 
re-grouted with cement to collect surplus rainwater in the rainy season to be 
used for during the dry season when there is a substantial rainwater deficit.

The canals are believed to have been constructed in 508 AD before the Incas 
and their revival is set to cut the city’s water deficit by 25.9 cubic meters 
of water, over half of the current 42 million cubic metre water deficit.

The purpose of the amunas is to prevent the water flowing downhill quickly, 
taking it sideways across the mountains and slowing its descent, allowing for 
it to be preserved and used weeks later. This strategy will allow Peruvians 
access to additional water during the dry season instead of it being lost as 
surplus in the wet season.

Anna Thiel, communications manager at Forest Trends, a U.S.-based NGO 
supporting the initiative, says that the restoration project will be much 
cheaper than alternatives because the infrastructure is already in place.

“The structures are there already, these waterways are there,” she says.
“The infrastructure is existing, all it needs is some improvement to the 
infrastructure. The other thing is the cost-effectiveness, it’s very 
non-disruptive to the environment.”

“It will be pretty significant. They are going to have more water available,” 
she adds. “It just means there is a much more steady supply of water. It is 
not like other places where there is a deficit all year round.”
The canal restoration is to be overseen by Lima’s water company Sedapal and 
is set to cost $23m (£15.7m) “for restoration of the waterways but also the 
grasslands and the wetlands,” Thiel notes.

<>

>From Reddit, excellent commentary and useful links to related resources:
<>

"Interesting parallel in Cambodia - during the Khmer Rouge reign - the Khmer 
Rouge generals, having killed off anyone with an education, set the citizens 
on digging massive canals uphill across the country. The effort killed 
millions of Cambodians. If they had kept any historians alive, they would 
have known that Cambodia already had developed an ingenious irrigation system 
that relied on the natural slow-sloping contours of the land. This medieval 
system was so successful, they could harvest rice twice in each season. 
Instead, the Khmer Rouge dug channels across the ancient irrigation and 
plunged the country into a massive famine."

"What may be even more impactful is adopting the agricultural practices of 
the pre-contact societies. Those systems were complex multicrop plots that 
encouraged positive feedbacks. One example in the past was Three Sisters 
Agriculture. Grow corn, beans, and squash together. The beans fix Nitrogen, 
the squash lay roots, and the maize grows up to provide a structure, all 
often together help retain soil moisture. Eat them together and you have a 
perfect protein. Instead, we have monocropping of rice which is a big drain 
on water supplies, requires other food to complete the protein, and is more 
at risk to pests."

"platypocalypse 8 points 16 hours ago*

This is absolutely correct. Corn beans and squash were more of a North 
American thing (*edit: nope they were South American too*); in Peru they had 
things like quinoa, tomatoes, and potatoes, but your point is spot-on.
The best thing we can do is learn how people did so well in the Americas 
before the European invasion, and apply that knowledge. Are you familiar with 
permaculture?"

/r/permaculture <http://www.reddit.com/r/permaculture>

/r/selfsufficiency <http://www.reddit.com/r/selfsufficiency>

Ecovillages <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecovillage>

Map of ecovillages <http://www.ic.org/directory/map/>

Another map <http://www.permacultureglobal.com/projects>

Yet another map <http://gen.ecovillage.org/en/projects/map>

Global Ecovillage Network <http://gen.ecovillage.org/>

GEN Africa <http://www.gen-africa.org/>, Americas 
<http://genna.ecovillage.org/>, North America 
<http://northamericanpermaculture.org/>, Latin America 
<http://www.casacontinental.org/>, Europe <http://www.gen-europe.org/>, 
Asia/Oceania <http://genoa.ecovillage.org/>

PBS/Nova documentary about how all Earth's systems are already in harmony 
with one another <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38peWm76l-U>

Redesigning Civilization with Permaculture 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_MleU8iNQ>

Ted Talk by Ron Finley: Food Deserts and Gangster Gardening 
<http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html>;
23 more excellent Ted talks
<http://www.reddit.com/r/Permaculture/comments/1eul92/24_great_ted_talks/>

In Thailand <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cr10nOm0xU>

In Vermont <http://vimeo.com/63333459>

2,000 year old food forest in Morocco
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hftgWcD-1Nw>

Sustainable mangrove harvesting in Mexico 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIAJ33yqdbQ>

Snoop Lion's community garden project <http://mindgardens.org/>

Bukowski quote <http://i.imgur.com/0NMbimL.png>

Earthships <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthships>

An Earthship in Haiti <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7jAkwhTq4c>

Earthbag building <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthbag_construction>

More Earthbag building <http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/>

Food foresting <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_forest>

Protecting local bee populations <http://www.reddit.com/r/beekeeping>

Textiles: Making Dog Hair Sweaters
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jHTfshTzpM>

Opportunities <http://www.wwoofinternational.org/how-it-works/>

Xeriscaping <http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/xeriscaping/>

US/Canada community gardens list <http://acga.localharvest.org/>

Jordan Valley: Greening the Desert
<http://permaculturenews.org/2013/11/19/rough-ready-real-november-2013-update-dead-sea-valley-permaculture-project-aka-greening-desert-sequel-site/>

Nomads United - ride horses across continents and help people grow food 
<http://www.nomadsunited.com/>

Nomads United Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/NomadsUnited?sk=wall>

"P. K. Bretting

1990 New Perspectives on the Origin and Evolution of New World Domesticated
Plants: Introduction. *Economic Botany* 44(3):1-2

*For example, isozymatic, genetic, and ethnobotanical data (Rick and Holle
1990) suggest that the Ceja de la Montaña, the eastern foothills of the 
central Andes, does not represent the center of origin for the domesticated 
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum var. esculentum) but rather is a "contact 
zone" where the relatively recently introduced weedy cherry tomato (L. e var. 
cerasiforme) has hybridized with the domesticate in swidden fields.
Rather than a phylogenetic series of tomatoes in various stages of 
transformation from wild through weedy to domesticate, these polymorphic 
tomato populations therefore probably represent a "swarm" of weeds, 
domesticates, and hybrids/introgressants between the latter two forms."*

Who would have though that ancient structures are non-intrusive to the 
environment. I wonder how many more ancient structures are still around that 
could be used to address areas affected by drought. Even copy their 
techniques and apply them in other areas.

Maybe we could have asked the hundreds of indigenous Californian tribes if 
they weren't all brutally massacred.

Did they have aquaducts?

No, but they were damn good at thriving in all parts of California.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_California

"The great thing is that they stood unused for thousands of years without 
being torn down. Now they are useful again".

"When I lived in Peru, back in the '70s, most small farming communities 
maintained, and used, the pre-Inca irrigation ditches. Every spring, the 
whole community would designate a day when all the men would weed and re-rock 
the aquacias and, when done, drink beer and feast. The first sip of beer was 
always poured for pacha mama (Mother Earth). The educated men would laugh 
nervously, but they always did it, saying "Just for luck,"
sheepishly. During Inca times, doing upkeep on the irrigation system and the 
roads was mandated for all citizens, so this "folkways" is at least 600 years 
old."
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