Brad Lancaster has been harvesting rainwater on his one-eighth-acre lot in downtown Tucson since the 1990s, collecting 100,000 gallons a year from land that receives just 12 inches of rainfall. Volume 1 of his three-book series is the place to start: it covers the principles behind why water harvesting works, how to read your site, and how to make decisions that apply whether you have a backyard rain barrel or an acre of land you're trying to make self-sustaining.
The title says "drylands" but the lessons apply everywhere. More than 290 full-color illustrations carry the weight of concepts that are hard to explain in words alone — how water moves across a site, where to slow it down, where to let it go, how to connect a gutter to a garden bed that actually uses the water rather than drowning it. The third edition adds updated appendices on the water-energy-carbon connection and state-by-state regulations.
We recommend it for any household working through our Water guides, particularly if you're interested in rainwater collection, reducing outdoor water use, or building longer-term water independence. It pairs naturally with the Land section if you're thinking about how your property's relationship to water shapes what you can do with it.
