42 43 Like soil, like water. «Steep and prone to erosion. Studying my soil, I started to develop a series of techniques to reduce the effect of water». In the actions implemented to reduce erosion and runoff, «it became obvious that I could use that water. In order to reduce its flow velocity, I retained it in the soil, thus utilising it in different ways. What does all this mean? Putting it in the ground. The best place to store water». «It was natural for me, in the end, to come to the fact of fixing and summarising it all in three words: Slow Down, Distribute and Infiltrate». Each soil must have its own water management. This emerges when Lorenzo explains the three actions – Slowing down, Distributing and Infiltrating – chosen to design water management, three approaches that do not say how to do it, but only how to understand soil in relation to water. Slowing down the speed and the flow rate of water, in order to reduce soil erosion. Distributing water by studying the orography of the terrain. Infiltrating the water into the soil, the best place to retain it because this is where it evaporates the least, stimulating microbes and plant life. «When I started to reason on water, it was necessary to take into account its cycle but also, perhaps above all, the concept of hydrographic basin. When it rains, water collects in a hydric body – a river, for example – and all the rain that flows into it draws what is called a hydrographic basin. If I reduce this concept to a company, to a mini-territory, we talk about catchment area». «This led me to think about water starting from where the drop of water comes down, following it from the exact point where it touches the ground. Only then can you understand how it behaves. If I look at a terrain observing the water at the point where it collects, I am already done. If, on the other hand, I look at the water from where it starts its runoff, I find all the points where it is efficient and effective to manage it. The water over my land is that one, no more, no less. If I follow it and distribute it in its movement along my soil, I manage the same amount of litres, but less at a time. This goes into hydrating the soil much more effectively, because I collect and manage it in more places. And it is nontrivial. We often get to think of a reservoir but then, in order to use it, I need to pump it. It has no sense of efficiency. Water, by its very nature, flows downstream; if we get to think effectively and efficiently, I will be able to manage water from the highest point of catchment, taking advantage of gravity». «Channels, infiltration basins eighty centimetres deep, one metre deep at the utmost. We do succeed in collecting water in the quantity that descends on the available land, with specific solutions depending on the area. I started studying water behaviour in 2015 and have been working on it since 2018. Since then, in my 2.5 hectares of land I have infiltrated 6 million 200 thousand litres of rainwater, and today I can count on 19 infiltration basins, with a total capacity of 190 thousand litres and a 250-metre long network of channels. Water that has not flowed out of my land but, on my very land, has been infiltrated».
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