the Small Water Cycle

1/7/2023 So appropriate as atmospheric river after atmospheric river flows overhead. Ten-day weather forecast has rain every single day and who knows how much more lies beyond that.

Joan Maloof, PhD, founder of Old-Growth Forest Network, (www.oldgrowthforest.net), sent me “Water for the Recovery of the Climate – A New Water Paradigm” (freely downloadable at http://www.waterparadigm.org/indexen.php?web=./home/homeen.html). All five authors are from eastern Europe and draw many of their examples from there which broadens one’s perspective. Their publication complements much of the material at the Water Stories site (https://community.waterstories.com/) that I had joined several months ago. A concept central to both sources is the “small water cycle”.

In Shifting/Seeing Nature, I described how 11” of precipitation per year (on average) comes from the ocean to fall on the land and yet, on average, the land receives 27”. The other 16” comes from evapotranspiration, an almost double recycling of the ocean moisture, thanks mostly to plants absorbing soil moisture and “breathing” it back into the sky to fall again. This recycling forms an upward feedback spiral in that the plants have increased the amount of moisture falling on the land which has allowed more plants to grow which can recycle more of the moisture which allows more plant material to grow which can feed more living things and on and on.

The two sources introduced in the first paragraph focus on another important aspect of this recycling. Since it is central to their discussion, someone has created a phrase to help focus attention on this part of the water cycle, “the small water cycle”, because this recycling portion of the water cycle moves water vapor a small distance before it condenses again. However, this part of the water cycle recycles large amounts of water so I think a better name should be used for it. “Small” might prevent people from realizing how potent this part of the water cycle is. However, I find that having a term for this part of the water cycle helps bring it into attention and makes it easier to talk about previously overlooked but important aspects of water.

Water has a very high specific heat capacity and heat of vaporization. Therefore, an enormous amount of solar heat is absorbed by fresh water in the process of warming and/or evaporating. This absorbed “latent heat” is no longer available as “sensible heat” for heating the air or ground. An abundant small water cycle can absorb huge amounts of heat without raising the temperature of the land or air significantly. On the other hand, a depleted small water cycle can not absorb as much heat so the sensible heat raises the area’s air and ground temperature instead, stressing life. In addition, the hotter air mass can develop in stronger ways that create more extreme weather.

Because our culture does not recognize the cooling power of water within the small water cycle, we have become focused on reducing CO2 emissions as the main focus for reducing climate change. Advocates for the small water cycle hypothesize that a greater power for reducing climate change lies in the small water cycle.

Those talking about the small water cycle have expanded my understanding of the power within it. They say that fundamental to understanding and healing climate change is understanding the extent and implications of our “draining” the small water cycle. An extreme example of this draining is covering the land with impermeable surfaces (buildings, parking lots and streets) that speed rainfall to storm drains that dump it into the sewers that sluice it to a river or the sea with none of it soaking in. Clearing the ground cover through deforestation or conversion to agriculture can also cause more of the rain to erosively run off rather than soak in. Overpumping and drawing down aquifers dries up springs and streams that water the roots of transpiring plants. As we reduce the amount of water recycling within the small water cycle, more of the sun’s heat remains as sensible heat that stress both the climate and living things. Therefore, these advocates stress rainwater retention. Like me, they seek to alter the balance between how much rain soaks in and how much flows away. We both seek to hold as much of the rain as possible close to where it first touched the ground.

So I recommend reading “Water for the Recovery of the Climate – A New Water Paradigm”. It’s only about 70 pages of text with more than 20 pages of diagrams and illustrations. Dr. Maloof sent it to me because she correctly thought I would appreciate Chapter 6: The Old and the New Water Paradigm. But I learned from the other chapters also. One of my delights was learning how their approach led them to strategies similar to ones that my experiences led me – but from a different perspective that added heft and nuance to the strategies.

Here’s an example from the book: “The principle of subsidiarity as defined in the Middle Ages and applied in the EU, in this case means that that which can be done better by a lower level of public administration should be left to be handled on this level. This principle points to the need for effective decentralization of activities which can be better, faster and more cheaply handled by local or regional self-government.” p.80

This connects with my “go high in the drainage” and “the invisible power”. It also fits precisely with my Chrysalis experiences with educational hierarchies: give as much autonomy as possible to teachers to respond to what is happening at that moment with their particular students. In fact, many of the characteristics of Chrysalis came from working with rain and its runoff. As I make contact with others, I sense that working to restore the small water cycle breeds a self-perpetuating focus and joy that uplifts the spirits of those who are doing it. It affirms that upward is possible.

Here are the first three paragraphs of the document’s closing summary:

“The circulation of water in nature takes place through the large and small water cycles. Humanity, through its activities and systematic transformation of natural land into cultured land, accelerates the runoff of rainwater from land. Limiting evaporation and the infiltration of water into the soil decreases the supply of water to the small water cycle. The equilibrium of the water balance in the small water cycle is thus disturbed and it gradually starts to break down over land.
“If there is insufficient water in the soil, on its surface and in plants,immense flows of solar energy cannot be transformed into the latent heat of water evaporation but are instead changed into sensible heat. The surface of the ground soon overheats, and as a result, a breakdown in the supply of water from the large water cycle arises over the affected land.Local processes over huge areas inhabited and exploited by human beings are changed into global processes and with processes that occur without the assistance of human beings; together they create the phenomenon known as global climate change. The part of global climate change caused by human activities then is largely based on the drainage of water from the land, the consequent rise in temperature differences triggering off mechanisms which cause a rise in climatic extremes. The disruption of the small water cycle is accompanied by growing extremes in the weather, a gradual drop in groundwater reserves, more frequent flooding, longer periods of drought and an increase in the water shortage in the region.
“The part of climatic change which is the result of human activities(draining of a region), can be reversed through systematic human activity (the watering of a region). The watering of land can be achieved through saturation of the small water cycle over land by ensuring comprehensive conservation of rainwater and enabling its infiltration and evaporation. This can help achieve the renewal of the small water cycle over a region and fundamentally change the trend of changing climatic conditions: it can—to reverse the trend of regional warming—temper extreme weather events and ensure a growth in water reserves in the territory.”

In closing, here are two links to other water stories that help develop the sense of how people possess the power to enhance or degrade the water cycle. The first is from work started by those high in a drainage many centuries ago.

The Guardian, April 11, 2022
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/11/ancient-water-system-restore-spain-sierra-nevada-aoe

The second is from work done in our modern times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea#Irrigation_canals

And I added this one about paleo valleys that I just read today: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/opinion/california-flood-atmospheric-river-drought.html