Enter Lo—TEK Water: A Fieldguide for TEKnologists, a visionary exploration of ancestral water wisdom seamlessly interwoven with contemporary innovation to create regenerative water systems that nurture both human and ecological communities. This volume charts a TEKnological Renaissance — where Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and modern design converge to redefine water as a living intelligence shaping resilient urbanism and landscape stewardship.
 
In an era often dubbed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Age of AI, or the Anthropocene Tech Epoch, Lo—TEK Water offers a vital alternative paradigm: one that dissolves the divide between technology and ecology, and between ancestral wisdom and digital innovation. It reveals how Indigenous water infrastructures—such as floating agricultural islands, tidal fish weirs, and aquifer recharge systems—have sustained civilizations for millennia by working in harmony with nature’s rhythms. These technologies are not relics, but dynamic, adaptable solutions essential for confronting today’s intensifying climate crises.
 
A TEKnologist is a practitioner pioneering this paradigm shift—applying Indigenous hydrological knowledge to transform extractive, industrial water systems into regenerative networks that sustain life across generations. This field guide documents Indigenous water technologies across diverse ecosystems—from salty coastal reefs to freshwater wetlands—and highlights contemporary architectural and ecological projects inspired by TEK, demonstrating that nature-based water design is fundamental to climate adaptation and urban resilience.
 
Structured to bridge past and future, the book is co-authored with Indigenous knowledge keepers to honor cultural integrity and ecological specificity. It situates ancestral aquatic infrastructures within key global climate frameworks, such as the FAO’s water–energy–food nexus, the IPCC’s sea level rise adaptation strategies, and the World Bank’s nature-based solutions. These connections underline how Indigenous water wisdom can inform international policy and planning to foster truly sustainable, biocultural resilience.
 
From the chinampas of Mexico and the sangjiyutang dike-ponds of China, to the baira floating farms of Bangladesh and tidal fish traps of Micronesia, the book showcases diverse aquatic systems that harness natural cycles to regenerate landscapes, support biodiversity, and secure food and water sovereignty. The second half shifts focus to 22 cutting-edge design projects that incorporate TEK principles—ranging from reed insulation in Peruvian housing to floating treatment wetlands in the United States—illustrating how ancestral knowledge continues to inspire transformative water design worldwide.
 
Lo—TEK Water calls for a radical reimagining of water infrastructure—not as rigid, industrial controls but as living, adaptive systems coevolving with ecological processes. The book concludes with extended frameworks including the Lo—TEK City Model, and the Smart Oath of Understanding (SOU), offering scalable, ethical tools to embed TEK in global urbanism and environmental stewardship.
 
With a foreword by Dr. Lyla June Johnson (Diné/Tsétsėhéstȧhese), this volume invites architects, planners, policymakers, and communities to embrace water as a co-creator and to cultivate cities and landscapes that thrive through ancestral resilience. Lo—TEK Water is not just a field guide—it is a call to listen, learn, and design with the elemental intelligence of water that has sustained life for thousands of years.