Stop Losing Water, Start Keeping It: A Guide to Landscape Rehydration

Many of our landscapes have degraded to the point that they can no longer manage water as they used to. Coupled with changing weather patterns, we’re faced with a growing list of consequences:

The numbers are sobering. But here's what connects them all: water.

Not the lack of it — the loss of it.

Research shows healthy ecosystems can absorb and retain most of the rain that falls on them. Meanwhile, degraded land? It's shedding water like a tin roof. We call the rain that actually soaks in and stays available to plants "effective rainfall" — and we're losing it fast.

A global analysis of 89 field studies found that soils under perennial cover capture 60-70% of each storm, while intensively tilled soils capture barely 40%⁴. Ranch studies across five US states show the same pattern: identical rainfall, yet well-managed paddocks absorb up to 55% more water than their neighbours⁵

Think about that. Same rain, completely different outcomes.

Our rainfall hasn’t vanished – our landscapes have simply lost the ability to retain it where plants need it. Every consequence we’ve listed above? They all trace back to water moving too quickly through our landscapes, taking our soil, nutrients, and our future with it.

So, how do we slow it down? How do we make our rainfall effective again?

Before we talk solutions, we need to understand what we’re trying to restore. Because for millions of years, landscapes had already been managing water brilliantly.

Plants were the primary water managers. Multi-layered canopies intercepted rain at every height. Diverse root systems held moisture at every depth. Continuous growth and decay built up organic matter that acted as a living sponge. Complete cover, not a single species, made the difference.

Every green, growing plant powered the small water cycle. Managing heat from the sun daily, and stabilising local climates through evapotranspiration and condensation daily.

Forests operated the biotic pump. Large forests drew ocean moisture thousands of kilometres inland. Massive transpiration created low-pressure systems that drew humid air from the coast. Without them, continental interiors would be deserts.

Natural engineers shaped the landscape. Beavers built dams that created wetlands, slowed water movement and spread flow across floodplains. In Australia and other parts of the world, without our little beaver builders, plants were building wetlands. These weren't problems to remove - they were hydrological infrastructure creating habitat, filtering water, and recharging groundwater.

Coastal systems protected and filtered. Mangroves and salt marshes trapped sediment, filtered nutrients, and buffered storm surges.

Everything was interconnected. Water wasn't just moving downhill — it was cycling, from soil to plants to atmosphere and back. From uplands to lowlands through natural filtration systems.

The patterns were there. The water was managed. Droughts happened, but the landscape could buffer them. Floods happened, but wetlands absorbed them. The system had resilience built in.

Then we started "improving" things...

We drained wetlands to create farmland. We straightened creeks to "manage" flooding. We cleared vegetation to expand grazing. We tilled the soil to grow crops. We installed drainage systems to remove "excess" water faster.

Every intervention made sense at the time, but collectively, they broke the system.

This is where landscape rehydration comes in, but it’s not what most people think.

Landscape rehydration is about restoring those natural water patterns we’ve just described. It’s about working with how water wants to move through your landscape, following the ancient patterns nature has established - not imposing our own.

But here's what makes it challenging...

When people hear "landscape rehydration," they think: build dams, dig channels, capture everything.

If it were that simple, every farmer with irrigation would have fixed their landscape by now.

The key is understanding that different parts of your landscape have different roles. Your landscape shows patterns indicating where water naturally infiltrates and where it emerges. Understanding these patterns is fundamental to successful landscape rehydration.

Steps are where water naturally pauses. Look at any healthy landscape, and you'll see it moves water down through a series of natural steps — flat areas where water slows, spreads and soaks before dropping to the next level. These steps are where nature once built wetlands, where reeds, sedges and other grasses grew, where water had time to infiltrate. They're also where we focus our interventions.

Recharge areas are typically found at the spots where water soaks into the ground more readily. These areas will have different sedimentary bases and often different plant types. Look for willows, reeds, or seasonally wet areas.

Discharge areas are found below the steps where stored water is pushed back to the surface under natural pressure. You’ll find different plants here – grasses, she-oaks, and many native species that thrive with consistent moisture from below.

Reading these patterns tells you where water wants to slow down (build here) and where it naturally emerges.

Now that you understand how water wants to move through your landscape, let's talk about working with those patterns. But first, let's be clear about something.

There's no silver bullet.

Successful landscape rehydration isn't about picking one intervention and expecting miracles. It's about creating a whole-system approach where each element supports the others. Think of it like a symphony — every instrument has its part to play.

When Peter Andrews observed nature managing water, he noticed it wasn't using concrete and steel. Nature uses what's available: earth, rocks, logs, and vegetation. We call this "soft engineering" — structures designed to kickstart natural processes, then fade into the background as plants take over management.

Every structure shares the same goals:

Here's your core toolkit:

Contours — Linear Wetlands Across the Landscape

Level channels built on steps in the landscape spread water across slopes. They’re often the single most influential intervention you can make, connecting wet areas with dry and allowing water to sit perched above the landscape below, slowly infiltrating.

Leaky Weirs — Speed Bumps for Water

Small, permeable structures are placed across flow lines where water is now disconnected from the floodplain. Built from rocks, logs, or even hay bales, they slow water down, create ponding, and allow the natural chain-of-ponds pattern to re-establish.

Gully Ponds — Healing Erosion Scars

Where gullies have formed, these earthen structures create permanent water storage while managing energy and reconnecting water with the surrounding landscape. They turn erosion problems into productive wetlands.

Hill Ponds — Wetlands Where You Least Expect Them

Built into contour spillways, these recreate perched wetlands high in the landscape. During wet periods, they hold water, supporting wetland plants that filter nutrients and slowly release fertility to areas below.

As Stuart Andrews says: “Engineering should only be the trigger to assist the plants.” If it’s anything other than that, you’ve failed.

This is where three crucial management practices come in:

Time-Controlled Grazing

Remember that research showing AMP grazing can improve effective rainfall by 53%? That comes from managing animals according to your landscape's needs, not the calendar. Time your grazing to match plant recovery periods. Move animals based on what the landscape is telling you — the growth stage of plants, the soil moisture, the season. Short, intense grazing followed by long recovery periods that allow plants to fully recover and deepen their root systems.

Ground Cover Maintenance — Bare Soil Is Enemy Number One

Every square metre of bare soil represents a lost opportunity for infiltration. It’s where erosion begins, where water runs off instead of soaking in, and where heat is reflected instead of being absorbed. Whether through grazing management, mulching, or strategic planting, keep your soil covered.

Pushing Plant Succession Forward

Nature wants to move from bare soil to forest, but it often gets stuck along the way. Your job is to push that succession forward - managing for the plants you want rather than fighting the ones you don't. Know where your landscape wants to go and help it get there faster.

The magic happens when these elements work as a system:

Together, they create a positive feedback loop

Your contour might catch the water, but it's the perennial grasses with their deep roots that create lasting infiltration. Your leaky weir might slow the flow, but it’s the reeds, sedges and rushes that stabilise the system. Your grazing management might seem separate from your earthworks, but it's what ensures there's vegetation to protect and enhance what you've built.

None of these works in isolation. They're all part of restoring those natural patterns we discussed earlier.

Here’s what gets us excited about landscape rehydration: when you get the water right, everything else starts to come good.

Soil biology wakes up. Plant diversity increases. Erosion ceases. Pastures become more productive. Drought resilience improves. Your landscape starts working with you instead of against you.

And when your neighbour sees it working? When your local catchment group start sharing knowledge? That’s when whole-of-landscape scale change really starts to happen.

This isn't about perfection. It's about progress. It's about reading your landscape, understanding how water wants to move, and working with those patterns instead of fighting them.

So here's our question for you: What's one area of your landscape that's telling you it needs more water?

Start there. Observe it. Ask questions. And remember – you're not doing this alone. The landscapes we're working to restore took generations to degrade. They'll take time to heal. But every intervention that slows water down, spreads it out, and gives it time to soak in is a step in the right direction.

Want to dive deeper into Natural Sequence Farming and learn how to read your landscape? Join us in our upcoming Learning Landscapes course, where we break down all 5 Pillars and give you the practical tools to start rehydrating your landscape – whether you've got a backyard or a thousand acres.