You will learn about the considerations for creating a Permaculture water retention and reuse landscape in your specific climate. Videos, articles, and exercises will help you understand the diverse applications of Permaculture water management and opportunities to integrate them into home-scale and broad-acre landscapes.
This program is offered in two sections: a Self-Paced and a Practicum section.
The Self-Paced portion takes approximately 70 – 100 hours to complete. Please allow at least 10 weeks to complete it before beginning the practicum.
The Self-Paced section is a prerequisite to enroll in the Practicum and we encourage you to enroll in both at once.
The Practicum is a 20-week course offered in Spring - Summer terms. The Practicum includes 5-8 hours of content per week for a total of 100-160 hours.
This program teaches you about assessment, mapping and site designs for installing water retention landscapes using integrated water management strategies. It also introduces assessment and analysis of rainwater runoff patterns and calculation of runoff quantities and water usage amounts.
You will also cover rainwater harvesting cisterns, water harvesting earthworks, and their integration with greywater treatment, passive solar design, and planning for vegetation.
After completing this self-paced course, you'll be able to:
See the Self-Paced Course Syllabus for more information
Designed by Oregon State University, this expert-led course features the following learning formats:
Note: The Water Management self-study program takes approximately 70 – 100 hours to complete. Please allow at least 10 weeks to complete it before beginning the practicum.
In the Permaculture Water Management Practicum, you will gather what you learned in the self-paced course to practice integrated permaculture site design based on application of design principles, analysis of water flow and quantity through a site, and assessment of overall site condition. The assignments focus on honing the technical skills necessary to design Permaculture water management systems.
While it is not required, we highly encourage participants to use their own site throughout the Practicum, which will result in an initial Integrated Permaculture Water Management Plan for your site. (Note: Alternate site maps are provided if you do not wish to select a site of your own.)
You will investigate maps of different sites and complete design tasks on each map related to the course content. Additionally, you will be guided through the process of creating an Integrated Permaculture Water Management Plan for your own site or another site of your choosing.
The assignments allow you to apply learned skills like reading contour lines and landscape formations, using spreadsheets to perform rainwater math and calculate water runoff volumes, estimating water use and wastewater generation.
Applications include Mapping waterflow through a landscape, conceptualizing wastewater treatment systems, designing passive and active water harvesting systems, and creating Integrated Permaculture Water Management Plans for home-scale and broad-acre sites.
After completing the practicum, you'll be able to:
See the Practicum Course Syllabus for more information.
Designed by Oregon State University, this expert-led course features the following learning formats:
This course requires the following accompanying textbook: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Vol 1, 3rd ed. And Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Vol 2, 2nd ed. By Brad Lancaster. Also Regrarians Handbook Chapters 2. Geography and 3. Water By Darren J. Doherty, Georgi Pavlov, and Andrew Jeeves
This course focuses on completing a permaculture design for an actual site that you will choose. Please review this document that provides guidelines for choosing your design site. It is important to spend some time considering before the start of the course.
This is a fully online course and requires a certain level of basic computer literacy to be successful. Please review this Required Hardware and Software page to make sure the course is feasible for you.
As part of the course, we use free online programs to do site analysis and create design reports. We provide instructions within the course, but familiarity with these programs prior to the course will enhance your experience and prepare you for the work:
We offer a certificate of completion for this course which can be earned by completing all the assignments in the Self Paced course and the Practicum Course. We encourage you to complete the Self Paced course assignments prior to the Practicum course, but we understand that life is unpredictable, so you can also finish the Self Paced assignments after completing the Practicum and still earn a certificate.
A very limited number of scholarships are available. Preference is given to students who live in countries where the economy makes it very difficult to pay US prices, as well as those from disadvantaged communities. Applications are due five weeks before the start of the next course. You will receive notification at least three weeks before the start of the next course.
Please note: you must register for the Self-Paced course before you can enroll in the Practicum. You may apply for a scholarship for the Self-Paced Course and the Practicum at the same time.
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Andrew Millison has been studying, designing, building, and teaching about Permaculture systems since 1996 and is an instructor in the Department of Horticulture at Oregon State University. He instructs Advanced Permaculture Courses in Teaching, and has guest instructed for many Permaculture courses throughout the Western US.
Neil has a passion for enriching bioregions and cultivating ecologies. He holds degrees in Biology and Environmental Science. He is the owner of RT Permaculture, an ecological design and education firm specializing in effective and regenerative landscapes. He has been part of the OSU Permaculture Teaching Team since 2014 and has over a decade of experience in ecological design and watershed restoration, Neil brings a range of skills to his projects including horticulture, irrigation, water harvesting, erosion control, and small scale farm development. Neil’s projects commonly include integrated water harvesting agroforestry systems, homestead production gardens with season extension, medicinal pollinator habitats, and ecological restoration.
