Aqueous Solutions Pt.3: Restoration

We complete this aqueous journey (don't you love when something simple turns into something wonderful?) and we end with some brutal reality and some hope as to our ability to turn the tide of our technological wrong-doing. I would posit that perhaps the most compelling reading of the year so far in landscape architecture were the two posts from Pruned in late-February 2008: 'Treating Cancer with Landscape Architecture' (Feb. 19) and 'Treating Acid Mine Drainage in Vintondale' (Feb 22). Together, in at least in the expansive realm of landscape architecture, the combined tale of these projects and the ability for landscape architecture, ecology, and design to actively provide not just sustainable design, but restorative design - definitely was a moment of reinvigoration into the profession.


:: Walk on Water - image via Atelier A+D

To avoid confusion, I will give an overview of each project and sum up at the end some thoughts. I'll keep the overviews brief, as Pruned as always does a wonderful job of giving quite comprehensive information on both. First, the proposed Phytoremediation of Silver Lake proposed by Cal-Poly Pomona Landscape Architecture Department offers a comprehensive view of the potential of landscape plantings to restore and reclaim a blighted landscape. In this case Silver Lake and nearby Elysian lake, reservoirs that supply drinking water to greater Los Angeles, which both have high levels of bromate, a known carcinogen.


:: Silver Lake - image via Pruned

In a nutshell, the proposal goes as such (a more complete overview can be had via Pruned) Terraces or 'modular biopods' provide remediation for the pollutants found in the waterways. Once cleansed, this water is stored in a subsurface tank prior to use. The water levels are raised to create more aesthetic park-like activities - which are infused with opportunities throughout to provide education on water pollution, use, and phytoremediation.

:: images via Pruned

As Pruned sums up: "It's landscape turned into a therapeutic and preventive medicine, applying natural processes into an artificial apparatus." In this regard, the functional/artificial processes are linked closely to nature's ability to provide cleansing via plants. Thus, there is a link to perhaps one of the best links for phytoremediation by John W. Cross - which is pretty accessible. I remember stumbling upon this site a few years ago when researching toxic removal with vegetation and it's pretty comprehensive. Pruned also mentions some good bibliography of phytoremediation as well.

The second project, the AMD & Art Park is a great project with a story of. I read about this recently as well in a great article in Orion that showcased the work of T. Allan Comp. AMD stands for Acid Mine Drainage, which is of course just what one thinks of when considering art and open space. The proposal is amazing in simplicity, ecology, and design. Comp brought together a multi-disciplinary team including Robert Deason, a hydrogeologist; Stacy Levy, a sculptor; and landscape architect Julie Bargmann, of L+U favorite D.I.R.T. Studio.




:: image via Pruned

An overview, via the Green Museum: "Polluted water flows along the colorful plantings of a "Litmus Garden" into a series of large gravity-fed water treatment ponds lined with crushed limestone to neutralize the pH and remove toxic metals. The water continues through bioremediation ponds and into an educational History Wetlands area which further purifies the water before it joins a nearby river."

The 'litmus garden' is not just a name, but an evocative feature playing on pH using a range of native plant species to display these (via Pruned) "Small groves or bands of thirteen native tree species were chosen for their autumn foliage colors. In the fall, the Litmus Garden trees will turn deep red around Pond 1 and grade through orange and yellow to blue-green at the end of the treatment system in Pond 6, creating a visual reflection of enhanced water quality — and a great reason for a Vintondale community fall celebration."

:: image via Pruned

Via Pruned: "The treatment zone is easily distinguished by a series of 7 keystone-shaped treatment ponds. No cutting edge nanotechnology or the latest transgenic organism or even heavy machinery is used. Turning the highly toxic water into one that you can swim in is done with elementary physics, chemistry and biology. Regular limestone, for instance, is applied instead to lower the water's acidity. Plants simply dying off and decaying in the winter and then returning in the spring also helps to change its pH level. Even gravity is utilized to help suspended metals settle out of the AMD."


:: image via Pruned

The park has been evolving for over 15 years, and has become a vital park to the community of Vintondale - offering ballfields and usable open space. The lesson is not the technology or design, but the end-goal, as Eric Reese in Orion stated: "...one of the most important elements of Vintondale may not be its water-treatment system or its sculptural installations, but rather its function as a potential model for many other such projects across the country."

And they brings us to the end of this journey along the many flowing courses that water takes us in design, planning, and daily life. Concluding this 3-part series on Aqueous Solutions, I'm struck by the wide range of scales and strategies necessary to both mitigate and solve some of these problems with water - either supply, usage, or toxicity. It dawns on me that all of these are linked in many ways - the smallest intervention or use (read: misuse) can have cumulative impacts that leave us with shortages or pollution - or both. On a larger scale, our grand technological 'fixes' seldom come without collateral impacts of some sort - to social systems or micro-scales that cannot be accomodated in macro-scale planning.

Water is often pressured to do so much for humanity that it is quite surprising that we haven't messed it up to an even greater degree. We drink it, consume it for industry, revel in it, celebrate it, recreate in it, store it, pump it, worship it, capture it, distribute it, budget it, circulate it, use and abuse it - all while bemoaning it's loss and contamination. Much like a number of sustainable strategies this isn't just a question of use - it's a question of cumulative actions resulting in a large-scale impact to a vital ecological system.

Our hydrology (and hydrological cycle) cannot be circumvented for our uses without consequences. Our ecology cannot be abstracted and packaged without some viscious backlash typical of nature misunderstood. Our chemistry can destroy water supplies with minimal inputs - and all of our ingenuity can't recapture what is lost. But there is definitely hope. By reducing our impacts, increasing our efficiency, and understanding the nature of how ecological systems function, and are innately resilient - we find the ability to repair, restore, and truly provide regenerative design strategies.

These projects should not be the special exceptions to make us feel good about the profession and our role in it. This must be the rule, the consistent truth of landscape architecture. If we continue to disregard our role in creating a better world (both as detrimental actors and as potential problem solvers) we will continue to marginalize ourselves and our true potential. Apply this theory beyond water to any issue... the real idea isn't the material - but the message: solutions.

Backtrack:

Part 1: Use/Reuse
Part 2: Provision

Aqueous Solutions Pt. 2: Provision

Picking up on a previous thread about Water - we deal with a bit more applicable material to large- and landscape-scale interventions and systems. A few of my favorite blogs - BLDGBLOG, Pruned, and Treehugger offered a variety of recent material regarding water - its provision and perhaps with some more time and luck, (and the topic of Part 3) it's probably restoration. Plus it's an idea that goes back to some of the threads from previously - that technology alone is not the answer. It requires using new science and knowledge in old ways - within the bounds of natural systems - to allow nature to heal. Or thinking of new ways of consuming and reusing - even as simple as taking a cue from the dog and lapping up the toilet water. Thought provoking stuff - as we can't all survive on self-watering planters if we are to make some really change in the world.


:: Walk on Water - via Atelier A+D

Starting off slow (or fast, depending on the time-scale you adhere to) with BLDGBLOG, and a short post, via the NY Times, on the release of water into the Colorado River from the Glen Canyon Dam. The goal was to provide water levels for Grand Canyon fish species. Via NYT: "The water poured out of the dam as if pumped through a gigantic fire hose, at the rate of 41,500 cubic feet per second – enough to fill the Empire State Building in 20 minutes. This release, which engineers call “high flow,” was meant to scour the river bottom and deposit silt and sediment to rebuild and extend sandbars and create new, calm backwater areas where the fish can spawn."


:: image via BLDGBLOG


:: Fill'er Up - image via NY Times

The metaphorical idea of filling the Empire State Building in 20 minutes was interesting - although still difficult to visualize. Either way, it's a lot of water coming very fast... and BLDGBLOG makes the observation that could be applied to a majority of rivers throughout the world: "So while it may be obvious to this point out, the implication is that the whole river is a machine now – and what appears to be a "river" is really a kind of liquid chart, graph, or diagram from which we can read the electrical needs of contemporary U.S. urbanism. The river, then, is a sign – it is information-bearing. It is textual, graphic, communicative. The controlled river, with its unnatural floods and valved reservoirs, indicates." (emphases per BLDGBLOG)


:: Historical Mississippi River Courses - image via Pruned

This acknowledgement of the water flows and the impacts on fish are not new, but the willingness for dam operators to allow 'high flow' is controversial, due to the fact that these releases impact power generation - which is one of the primary reasons for the dam in the first place. The talk of dam removal - a more permanent solution to restoring aquatic habitat and hydrology, has also gained momentum, with a number of decommissioning projects throughout the west either completed, underway or planned - which is good news for the fish, and perhaps us all.

Treehugger follows with a story of attempting to capture the potential of river flows in a more dissipated than large dams - using a series of microturbines along the stretch of the Mississippi River. "Swing by the Mississippi River a few years from now, and you may be surprised to see hundreds of thousands of miniature electric turbines dotting the fast moving river's bed. All the electricity generated by this massive "in stream" hydrokinetic project - around 1,600-MW - would be enough to power up to 1.5 million homes..."


:: Micro-turbine array - image via Free Flow Power

While not a perfect solution, this attempts to mitigate the monumental impacts of large-scale dam building on waterways - including impacts fish passage and boat navigation, according to the the Massachusetts-based company behind the plan Free Flow Power. Although the Army Corps of Engineers and other regulatory groups are concerned about the impacts to riverways (ironic, in a way) FFP insists that the methodology is strong, and it sounds like a viable alternative to large-scale dam power generation: "To minimize disruption to marine life, Free Flow Turbine Generators have an open center, a low rotation speed, and no exposed blade tips. Because the turbine does not use conventional bearings, there are no lubricants that can leak into the environment. By using existing infrastructure such as bridge abutments and by relying on a single piling to mount multiple Free Flow Turbine Generators, we will do everything possible to minimize disruption to river beds."

The remaining items essentially summarize a couple of posts from Pruned. These posts deal with water in similar ways - mostly related to the lack thereof and the lengths we are stretching to meet demands - in Spain and India respectively. First, via Pruned, outlines how water shortages in Spain continue to escalate, a number of options to provide for the shortfall have been considered, most significant (and seemingly the option of choice) is shipping, via boat, water from France. As quoted from New Scientist: "Barcelona and the surrounding region are suffering the worst drought in decades. There are several possible solutions, including diverting a river, and desalinating water. But the city looks like it will ship water from the French port of Marseilles."


:: image via Pruned

The infinitesimal amount of water makes the scheme somewhat ludicrous - but desperate times require somewhat desperate measures. No more true is this in a previous Pruned post on 'The New Hydrological Temples of Modern India' which is definitely required reading. The scheme, as a reaction to water shortages country-wide, involves linking: "... the majority of its major river basins through a vast network of canals, diverting billions of litres from the country's more water-rich river basins to those that are water-deprived.”


:: image via Pruned

There are some definite needs that are likely to be addressed in a monumental project like this - including the afforementioned water supply, nearly doubling the amount of arable land. There are also likely positive results of flood control, As Pruned reports, there are some definite issues with the size and scale - and calls to deal with the problems in less grandiose ways: "The solution lies in better management of existing water resources, rather than importing water for irrigation. A simple way to do this is by using large tanks to collect rainwater, which is later supplied to fields during dry periods. Indian irrigation practices could also be made more efficient. A lot of water is lost in evaporation or through drainage from unsealed irrigation canals, and the common practice of flood irrigation is wasteful compared with drip irrigation, which supplies water directly to the plant's roots. But the water used for irrigation is free, so Indian farmers have little incentive to adopt more economical methods."


:: image via Pruned

There are cultural implications of this as well - as dams are considered 'the temples of India' and Pruned speculates on the implications of these canals, dams, and hydrological infrastructure as perhaps the seeds of an expanded theology: "... one wonders what new deities will spring forth from these concrete rivers and what new rituals will be created to celebrate the wonders of moving water against topography, against gravity."

Part 1: Use/Reuse

Part 3: Restoration...

Aqueous Solutions Pt. 1: Use/Reuse

Water is obviously something we rely on for a number of things beyond mere existence. At the root of water, however, is it's ability to sustain us both physically and spiritually. It's disheartening then to see how much we take this for granted, or exploit and destroy this seemingly ubiquitous (yet actually very precious) resource. In this not, a couple of posts - one highlighting water and it's use. The second following up with some more active and grandiose interventions that explain a lot about we misuse, and inevitably are forced to be creative in curing these ailments.

:: Walk on Water - image via Atelier A+D

First off, a number of technologies - spanning the brilliant, the utilitarian, and the just plain silly - are the topic of this Sunday post, part one... showing the many ways in which water plays a vital roles in our lives and livelihoods. We start with the very smart Rainpod, which has been covered everywhere in the last week. Similar to the concept of flipping the umbrella upside-down this not-new, but newly reimagined technology provides site scale capture and reuse of rainwater.

:: image via MoCo Loco

Via MoCo Loco, "...David L'HÔTE's Rainpod is an attractive standalone rain collector that uses small local tree trunks to stand up. The tree trunks makes each Rainpod unique and saves transport costs for the unit. Says David, "many people want to switch to rainwater [from tapwater] but won't buy water collectors that look like big garbage cans". Rainpod is a prototype looking for a manufacturer." Somehow I don't think that finding a manufacturer will be much of a problem now. A number of options of sizes and shapes fit urban yards, rooftops, or other available space, and the system 'wings' can be folded down during wind or for transportation.

:: image via Moco Loco

Variations on rainwater storage are steadily emerging - providing a lot more flexibility than the agricultural tanks that have often been used out of availability and necessity. First the typical rain-barrel, which provides cheap diversion and capture (although as MyUGDG aptly points out, if you're going to put in a large barrel for all to see, at least take it as an opportunity to do it in STYLE)... perhaps without a spigot wielding guy attached to what looks like a garbage bin...?

:: Water Butt - image via Ecofirst (demonstration dude not included)

If you are leaning towards special spatial needs the Australian Waterhog is a great example that looks like school lockers and provide tall, thin-profile modular systems for storing water. One benefit of a taller system is more water pressure as it is has a concentrated volume... plus these guys could fit anywhere.

:: WaterHOG - image via The Design Addict

Along the same lines, and squarely targeting emerging cultures where water access and quality can mean the difference between life and death - is the 'PlayPump' - and hybrid merri-go round water pump to provide fresh drinking water through kids playing. This is an brilliant idea (first showing up in 2005 - and more likely earlier) - but re-emerged via Treehugger with the proclamation that the technology "...Saves Lives in Africa... Capable of producing up to 1,400 liters of water per hour from a depth of 40 meters, PlayPump, a South African NGO has so far donated and installed 1,000 pumps to communities in South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia." Looks like fun...

:: image via Treehugger

Self-watering planters are not a new idea as well, but have emerged again in a couple of forms that mostly just make me chuckle... the first from Grobal is the 'techno-organic' self-watering pots... via Inhabitat: "...The easily accessible “grow chamber” draws water and nutrients from the reservoir below into the soil in the top chamber. Each Grobal kit comes with a DIY greening system: the Grobal self-watering planter, Grobal soil, 3 - Grobal ‘plant food hydropaks’ and simple, illustrated, full-color instructions. You can easily transplant your favorite house plant, carnivorous plant, succulent or just about any other plant you like into the Grobal planter. Maintenance simply entails adding water through the ‘Nutriport’ into the reservoir when the water level indicator reaches the lower line as well as feeding your plant with the contents of one Grobal plant food hydropak. The groovy Grobal watering system does the rest."

:: images via Inhabitat

Groovy. Um, yeah... that's exactly the word I was thinking. In a similar vein, I was brought back to the agro-evocative rolling lawn-watering-tractor when I saw this 'visionary' new product called Beyflo, by. Is this a machine for efficient watering? Maybe, but perhaps it's a substitute for our laziness... via The Design Blog: "If technology cannot reduce our daily, often loathed, chores into automatic acts of programmed machines, then what’s the fun. ...The designer says that in envisioning this project, he has also taken in the future marketing considerations. People would be so very lazy in future – thanks to all the machines – that this device would be a complete hit, without any doubt."


:: new lazy - image via The Design Blog


:: old lazy - via the HardwareStore

While tapping into our innate and future laziness is one thing, it's time to get squarely into the sublimely silly. 'Local River' is a fixture and/or installation by Mathieu Lahanneur (whose previously featured Bell Aire, bordered on the fringes of silly but was soundly within reason). This pieced showed up many spots on the web, such as Treehugger as it plugged as a "...home storage unit for fish and greens." This storage is handled via a microcosmic ecosystem: "This DIY fish-farm-cum-kitchen-garden is based on the principle of aquaponics coupled with the exchange and interdependence of two living organisms - plants and fish. ...The plants extract nutrients from the nitrate-rich dejecta of the fish. In doing so they act as a natural filter that purifies the water and maintains a vital balance for the eco-system in which the fish live. The same technique is used on large-scale pioneer aquaponics/fish-farms, which raise tilapia (a food fish from the Far East) and lettuce planted in trays floating on the surface of ponds."


:: image via Treehugger

While definitely grounded in realistic terms of aquaculture - there seems missing an economy of scale in this countertop model which seems to be missing a viable opening in the very closed loop system created here that smacks less of ecosystems and more of fish farming. I wonder what John and Nancy Jack Todd thing of these guys?

While I may poke fun as some of the automated technologies - or poke a finger at the ridiculousness of your own personal local river - the use of our water is not a laughing manner. There are definitely technologies that provide better use of water - I use them every day when designing - low-flow drip irrigation, rain and moisture sensors, Evapotranspiration-data linked controllers, and more accurate spray coverage. All of these strategies are aimed at using water when and where it is needed for plant growth - nothing less, nothing more. These systems still need people to specify, install, monitor, and adjust. When technology aims to provide a substitute for our own personal 'eyes on the field', or worse sub for our laziness, it becomes problematic. Things break, need adjustment, and weather may just not cooperate with our finely calibrated equipment.

I like simple solutions over technological ones... perhaps it is my dad's wisdom to always get a car without automatic stuff - because it's just one more thing to break (sorry day, I love the keyless entry and power windows). Don't get me wrong. I have the same gee-whiz reaction to technological marvels that many of us do... but let's think about it. Water is pretty simple. Fall from sky, capture to reuse, purify/treat to drink, release (preferably in the same or better form than you found it) back into hydrologic cycle... gravity does most of the work - we just have to keep our fingers and chemicals out of it along the route. So technology is great - but perhaps rather than another expensive electronic gizmo - it's merely a merry-go-round...?

Part 2: Provision...