Water & Self-organization | Water Calendar - a journey into the Mysteries of Water

The branching river

Branch in river Rönne — Branching in the river Rönne, Sweden. To the left a small island has formed in the river. Photo: Lasse Johansson

Under the trees, the river flows silently. Meandering in the shade, the water looks dark and cool. As the eyes get used to the dim light, the dense undergrowth can be discerned at the banks. Slowly, the canoe drifts along, the banks of the river come to meet, and then fall away behind.

Now a small overgrown bank appears, dividing the river for a moment, quickly followed by another. The branches of the grey alder trees reach down to the river surface, almost touching it. After a turn, the river broadens somewhat, and a small archipelago opens up. The sun glimmers at the centre of the stream. A branch divides to the right, flowing for some 50 meters, then joining the main body of water again. After a while the river seems to narrow again, making a left turn, now flowing as a whole again.

What causes the branching of the river? Continue reading The branching river

The natural flowform

Natural flowforms in the river Sjoa — Natural flowforms in a small side stream beside the main current of river Sjoa. Over time, water has carved the rounded forms, aided by the occasional boulder. Here they express a rhythm of their own, with water dancing from pond to pond. Sjoa, Norway. Photo: Dag Birkeland

Powerful, the mass of water is rushing past me, a white blueish foaming torrent. Confined between the towering stone walls in the gorge, the river here has acquired a relentless quality, thrusting forward unstoppable.

Making sure that I stand on firm ground, I observe it. Falling into the deep river here, one would be lost, immediately being taken into the depths by the strong fraying currents. Here a man’s power matters little. Continue reading The natural flowform

Water and climate

Clouds drifting off the coast at dawn. View from Orust island, at the west coast of Sweden. Photo: Lasse Johansson

Surrounded by mist, the tree covered ridges sleep across the water. Almost completely wrapped in clouds, the coast is waiting for the day to come. Slowly, slowly, the sun rises in the north-east, tinting the low-hanging clouds pink. Pale and yellow, gazing through the haze, it rises, starting to heat up the air, its heat being almost indiscernible. Continue reading Water and climate

Flow shaping with water plants

Stream water-crowfoot — Egg-shaped patch of Stream Water-crowfoot Ranunculus penicillatus in the Biała Lądecka stream, a submountainous river in Sudety Mountains, distr. Kłodzko, Poland. Photo: Wojciech Puchalski.

The Austrian forester and natural philosopher Viktor Schauberger (1885-1958) perceived many ways of altering a river’s flow, not by trying to steer water into a particular course, but by creating conditions for water to self-organize into a new flow pattern.

By altering the conditions, the river’s flow would effortlessly change into a new pattern. The flow would have a new structurally stable attractor, ever changing yet recognizable as the same. Continue reading Flow shaping with water plants

Water’s pulse

“Malmö” model flowforms in Warmonderhof, the Netherlands. Photo: Hans van Sluis

Swish, swoosh, swish, swoosh, in a rhythmic pattern, the water swings to and fro in the vessel, a “flowform”, originally conceived by the British anthroposophist John Wilkes (1930-2011) in 1970 and since then developed into many shapes.

The incoming water flow, and the curved heart-shaped walls create the right conditions for a rhythmic flow to spontaneously emerge, to self-organize – a cooperative behaviour, which springs out naturally, effortlessly, from the conditions. The water molecules dance together. From vessel to vessel the dance continues, until the water reaches the pond below. Standing by the stair of flowforms, listening to the pulsating sound, it is as if it radiates tranquillity – a wild brook carved in stone. Continue reading Water’s pulse

Floating timber in brooks

The Taschbach stream in the Freinbach area — Part of the Taschlbach stream as it looks today, in the Freinbach area, Steiermark, Austria. Photo: Olof Alexandersson

“The logs will not float even 50 meters”, was the official position of the Austrian timber commission. The experts had even brought a signed written testimony to the futility of the project. It was a timber floating system, conceived by the forester Viktor Schauberger, who was presently being employed as a timber transport consultant by the Austrian Government.

The first section of the system had recently been completed in the Taschlbach stream, a wild and unruly river, not much larger than a brook. Continue reading Floating timber in brooks

Self-organization

Self-organizing sand-water rolls — Sand-water rolls self-organizing in the receding
stream. Agadir, Morocco. Photo: Lasse Johansson

Self-organizing, seemingly out of nothing, the sand-water rolls appear. Where did they come from? The moment before, when the incoming stream reached its highest level and turned, there was only a flat surface of murky water.

Self-organization means the spontaneous formation of a macroscopic structure, an order for free, as it were, emerging when the effects of the individuals, e.g. the movement of water molecules, start to interlock and add up, forming a new complexity. When the conditions are right, self-organization occurs, spontaneously, like a vortex forming in a bath tub. Continue reading Self-organization