Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Volume 1: Guiding Principles to Welcome Rain into Your Life and Landscape, 2nd Edition Paperback – July 1, 2013

Living in the drylands myself and having a general interest in being more self-sufficient, I thought picking up a book about rainwater harvesting might be a good idea. I’ve been more than impressed with this book. It is well written, well organized, and jammed full of useful information and a myriad of helpful illustrations. The author does something that in my experience is often lacking with many “how-to” books: he delivers on what he promises and then some by providing a mountain of practical and useful knowledge. In addition, it becomes obvious fairly quickly that the author’s vast amount of knowledge on the subject was learned by doing. In other words he practices what he preaches and knows what he’s talking about because he’s done what he’s talking about.After reading this book, you would be hard-pressed not to come away with not only several ideas for rainwater harvesting, but perhaps more importantly an overall understanding of rainwater harvesting, why you should consider doing it, and just how important rain is. The book really gives you a new outlook on rain and water in general.If you want a book that will not only provide a myriad of rainwater harvesting techniques, but provide you with a foundation of knowledge that will allow you to understand what you can do and how you can do it, I highly recommend this book.

Great reference material

i read volume 2 first and was wondering if i should bother reading the 1st. i am really glad i did - there was definitely overlap but he covers a lot of other topics well (wind and solar energy; passive solar and maximizing winter sun; sun direction and movement...) giving a more rounded view of conservation and more ideas for your individual home. he was very detailed yet it was not boring or over the top technical. A great compliment to both books and the book i actually read before any of the rain harvesting books is "Gaia's Garden" by Toby Hemmenway. i feel all three of these books support each other in leading one to a more self reliant, sustainable way of life.

There are some books that are SO good that it is basically impossible to describe how well-written and thorough they are, and thus, there really isn't a need to say much more. Both volumes are THE bible of rainwater harvesting -- period. If you ever wanted to know anything and everything about this subject, here you go. PLEASE buy both volumes! Enough said.

This series is fantastic. I can't wait to start putting these ideas into action. Brad writes very clearly and with a good balance of background/philosophy, anecdotes and examples, and practical, technical information. He has a no-nonsense approach that anyone can easily and cheaply implement. The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is that there's a bit too much overlap between Vol. 1 and Vol 2. You could almost maybe just go straight to Vol. 2 if you already have bought in to the concept. (I have not gotten Vol. 3 yet because I'm not ready to think about cisterns.)

This is an extremely useful, well researched series.I live in the high desert of CA, where drought seems to be the natural state of things.It has a vast array of choices on water harvesting, so no matter what your situation, there is an option for you. You can employ these techniques whether you're building your own home on acreage, or living in the suburbs in a tract home.I wish more municipalities would employ these techniques.We grade land to maximize runoff. However, this breaks the cycle of replenishing the water resources we use. Water comes out of the ground to supply our drinking water, but it never recharges, but rather runs down the drain.This series not only teaches techniques on how to help water soak into the ground, and harvest it in cisterns, but also how to prevent standing water and mosquitoes, and how to create an outlet for overflow.

This book changed my life. He opens with an inspiring account of a farmer who transformed his dusty, unfruitful plot of dry land into a life-sustaining ecosystem. Then Lancaster moves into the details of planning. He provides useful calculating sheets and simply, but powerful illustrations to convey the principles of rainwater harvesting. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to be inspired while taking steps to implementing this type of design. I am using the images and tools In the book to convince my landlord to fund a water-wise landscape in El Paso. It works because the images are easy to understand, regardless of your background expertise and make economic sense. There is a free PDF copy of the book available, but I chose to buy the hard copy because I appreciate the obvious hardwork that Lancaster put into this book which is brimming with research, resources and Precision.

Brad Lancaster is the ultimate "try it, test it, prove it" kind of guy. Everything expressed in his book is proven effective on his own property and home. He lives the life he espouses, and has transformed his neighborhood from dry and dusty to a lush, pleasant oasis. The streets of his neighborhood are safer with calming traffic circles, vegetation and public art. Several locations on the campus of the University of Arizona, Tucson now have water catchment systems and water re-use. In this volume are formulas to calculate runoff from rooftops, piping needed and recommended tank sizes as well as methods to disburse water when needed. It's amazing how much influence one individual's ideas can have on the city. Wherever you live, even in town on a tiny lot, or an apartment with a balcony, you can experience satisfying results.