A levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to the Portugese island of Madeira. They were created from the sixteenth century to carry water across the island from the mountainous west and northwest of the island to the drier southeast, which is more conducive to habitation and agriculture
The total levadas network extends over 2150 km in this island 57 km long, 23km wide in the widest point.
Lying just outside the Amazon Basin, the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in northeastern Brazil is subject to a regular rain season during the beginning of the year. The fresh water collects in the valleys between sand dunes creating lagoons for half of the year and almost completely disappear during the dry season.
Submerged Churches.
These churches from all over the world are not victims of natural disaster, they all sit in the valley of a reservoir. Many reservoirs were created in valleys with small towns or villages nestled in them, the benefit of having reservoirs always outweighed the cost in relocating a small population. In many of these settlements the religious buildings were the tallest and once the valleys were flooded they could still be seen poking out of the water in a surreal post apocalyptic manner. Lots of them still survive, making more of an appearance every time the water level drops.
Among these examples are Ladybower, Graun, Panta de Sau, Tehri and Potosi
(via hideback)
In the early decades of the 20th Century, the New York Board of Water Supply issued songbooks full of water supply-themed songs, set to the tune of popular hymns and songs of the day. The 1913 book was specifically meant to be sung at the Celebration of the Beginning of Storage of Catskill Water.
From NYC Water
Comparative Form and Extent of the Inland Seas and Lakes of the Globe, by Johnston, A. Keith, 1852
High-speed photographs of ink mixing with water by Alberto Seveso
To test both structural and aesthetic concerns for their new structures in the early 20th Century , the Board of Water Supply used scale models.
From NYC Water
Meltwater flows on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Photography by James Balog
Using a Low Temperature Scanning Electron Microscope (LT-SEM), hydrologists in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Maryland, study snow crystals in an effort to determine the water content of the winter snow pack. This information is critical to the determination of the nation’s water supply as well as protection from flooding.
From here
This visual blog presents images and projects related to the WATERSHED+ art program.
WATERSHED+ is a public art program hosted by City of Calgary's department of Utilities and Environment Protection.
WATERSHED+ aims to develop awareness and pleasure in the environment, not by changing water management practice, nor developing a uniform visual language, but rather by creating a climate of opportunity for water initiatives to build an emotional connection between people and the watershed.
WATERSHED+ presents a unique approach to public art by embedding artists and artistic practices within UEP core activities, participating as members on infrastructure design teams, contributing to project design, development of events, community education, etc.
You can visit us at:
watershedplus.ca
This program was devised by Sans façon (Charles Blanc & Tristan Surtees) with a team composed of Matt Baker, Emlyn Firth, Yan Olivares of Yes Architectes, Eric Laurier and Bert van Duin.
