Planting Water

Transforming How We Understand the Mountain Headwaters of the Rio Grande

What is Planting Water?

Using indigenous practices shared by knowledge keepers, Planting Water aims to repair the mountain headwaters of the Rio Grande by slowing the flow of water and redirecting it into the earth.

Planting Water nourishes the earth by slowing the flow of water and directing it back into the earth to feed the aquifers and turn water, that would otherwise evaporate, into life.

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Taos, NM — Ancient land management practices have been recovered in northern New Mexico and hold the key to recharging depleted aquifers across the Southwest.

“Planting water” uses catchments and other earthen structures to slow down and sink runoff — replenishing deep groundwater stores and creating the resurgence of surface streams and rivers in a region currently facing the worst drought in 1,200 years. The practice also serves as catastrophic fire, flood, and erosion prevention.

Study shows that the ancient planting water systems rely on consistent land and water stewardship methods, while adapting them to meet unique ecological needs and topographic features found in each local area. The interconnected systems then work together to catch and circulate millions of acre-feet of water, including deeply resaturating the land across miles of mountainous terrain where rivers start.

Coming at the same time the United Nations has declared an era of irreversible “global water bankruptcy,” these findings are pivotal. Water is the greatest catalyst for change, and the discovery represents a watershed moment for life across the Southwest region — and, likely, even the world.

People in a field in the mountains with flowers and trees

Mountainside with trees and pools of water

Man in blue jeans and a red bandana laying on the ground leaning into a pool of water

Planting Water supports greater biodiversity and it reduces desertification by mitigating wash outs and increasing soil health. The catchments don’t only catch water, they also store plant material and keep it wet longer providing nurseries for native mycelium. We have seen mycelium in catchments in an area that is otherwise desertfied.

Planting Water is based on working with the natural contours and materials of the land using what the earth provides in abundance: rock, wood and dirt. We use a system of strategically placed catchments to sink water and direct overflows back up the watershed.

Sacred Water Mountain Society

Planting water has its roots in ancient Indigenous land management and Indigenous hydrologic engineering practices that help ecosystems flourish at-scale. Today, the Indigenous-led Sacred Water Mountain Society uses many kinds of research, including LiDAR sensing technology, to chart the extensive size, scope, and structures of ancient water systems they find throughout the Southwest.

The Sacred Water Mountain Society brings together repair crews to protect and restore ancient planting water systems that have been damaged by roads and other developments. They also work to replicate the advanced systems in areas facing unprecedented aridification and degradation.

“Our Mother is thirsty. Planting water offers a direct, large-scale solution to the violence of climate destruction by intentionally tending to her need. We’re seeing the water return.”

Dustin Freyta, a leading voice at the Sacred Water Mountain Society.

SWMS at San Luis Valley Seed Exchange

Meet Our Board

Dr. Doreen Bird - Director of Education
Dustin Freyta - Director of Land Management
Dr. Tommy Rock - Environmental Scientist
Sophia Honahni - Assistant Director
John Freyta - Trust Director