A solution for increasingly arid lands? Taking advantage of the water cycle process alongside soil regeneration.

Water cycle restoration is key to creating water on parched land. (Photo by Daniel Sinoca, Unsplash)

When scientists talk about solutions for depleted water supplies or drought, they're talking about a lot more than high temperatures or insufficient rainfall. Some scientists are using water cycle actions to reverse desertified land and help communities find water solutions in their dirt.

For decades, journalist Judith D. Schwartz has watched "the climate crisis conversation follow a steady, linear path, the message being that climate change puts added stress on water sources," reports Caroline Tremblay of The Daily Yonder. Schwartz told her: "But if we understand how the earth manages heat, it's mostly through water phase changes. . . . By working with the water cycle, we can enhance climate regulation." Tremblay adds, "That's when she decided her book, Water in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World, would focus on water as a verb, not a noun."

As Schwartz completed research hours at conferences and listened to expert opinions, "She realized so much information about how we can do better is already on the table," Tremblay writes. "But getting people to act — together — remains the biggest challenge. For instance, we've all heard stories of rural and urban communities within proximity vying for water resources while both (had) different needs and obstacles."

Schwartz highlights a workshop she attended in rural New Mexico led by Jeff Goebel, an expert in community consensus building for sustainable solutions. "In a setting she described as 'really the Wild West,' she observed townspeople, ranchers, and the Bureau of Land Management, who had been in a legal tangle over water access," Trembley explains. Schwartz told her: "[The community] went from suspicion, sabotage, and gunfire to committing to work together to restore long-held community relationships and the land. . . . [In places] where people are saying: 'We have no water; there is no hope.' He helped them see where they have agency."

"Schwartz and many others engaged in the climate conversation have become invested in a global movement being led by Savory, an organization facilitating the regeneration of grasslands that are key to this puzzle," Trembley reports. "Schwartz detailed the astounding outcomes of Savory's approach on the ground in ecologically devastated parts of the world, like Zimbabwe. Over 15 years, land there has been revived, wildlife has returned, and erosion has been halted."

Trembley adds, "Schwartz has found similarly noteworthy examples of environmental wins within the United States, from water cycle restoration training to condensation catchment systems." Schwartz told her: "It's time to get real about appreciating that water is at once a force that drives ecological processes and a product of them."