Primavera School Earns 1st Water Smart™ Designation For Garden Project
Students Cultivate Garden and Protect Water as
Vital Resource
Under the leadership of 3rd Grade Teacher Ashley Fine, 4th Grade
Teacher Dan Jannone, and Principal Carol Darrow, the students of Primavera School, their parents, and volunteers from the
community transformed a small plot of unused campus space into a community garden. The garden project includes
a rainwater tank, gutters to capture water from the roof a nearby building, a water pump delivery system, metering, and fencing.
Students grow a variety of edible and flowering plants, which they harvest and sell each week in the school parking
lot.
Through
the garden students learn about life cycles, natural resources, water conservation and resource management, climate, ecology,
agriculture, nutrition, economics, and history. Each week the students count the money they have earned and keep
written records of the profits and garden-related expenses. Students also track daily precipitation and
temperatures and estimate the gallons of water that are in the rainwater tank. The tank and new gutters
to harvest the rainwater were purchased last year with grant money provided by the Upper Verde River Watershed Protection
Coalition. This year the school received additional grant money from the Coalition to purchase and install
a pump that increases the efficiency of the water delivery from the rainwater tank. Soon the system will
be fully automated for times of the year when the students and teachers are not at school every day. They
have also installed a meter that allows students to monitor the amount of city water they use on the garden at times of the
year when the tank is empty.
The Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition designated the Primavera School Garden Project as a Water Smart™
project. The Coalition honored the school for their water conservation efforts at a school assembly on
Thursday, November 4th, 2010. City of Prescott Councilmember Mary Ann Suttles presented the
award on behalf of the Coalition and its member entities. Supervisor Carol Springer also commended the students, teachers,
and other adults involved with the project for their excellence in water conservation.
Application process:
The Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition (UVRWPC) was
formed by the City of Prescott, the Town of Prescott Valley, the Town of Chino Valley, Yavapai County, and the Yavapai-Prescott
Indian Tribe in order to work together to protect the Upper Verde River. The Coalition is committed to
balancing the reasonable water needs of the residents of the Upper Verde River Watershed Area with protection of the base
flow of the Upper Verde River to the maximum possible extent, and achieving safe-yield within the Prescott Active Management
Area (AMA).
Acknowledging that water users throughout the Upper Verde River Watershed
Area have impacts upon surface and groundwater systems of this area, the Coalition recognizes that water users should be responsible
for their impacts. Therefore, the Coalition supports the creation of best management practices (BMPs) that balance the
reasonable water needs of the residents of the Upper Verde River Watershed Area with the need to preserve the vitality, health,
and future flows of the Upper Verde River, good stewardship of the water resources, and equal access to unbiased scientific
information upon which BMPs are to be based.
To this end,
the UVRWPC wishes to recognize projects and/or facilities that strive to be Water Smart™, particularly those projects/facilities
that promote the conservation of water or reuse of water. The Coalition also wants to promote Water Smart™
as a way of life. Please complete this application regarding your project/facility to achieve the Water
Smart™ designation for your project/facility. The application will be evaluated by the UVRWPC Technical
Advisory Committee, forwarded to the UVRWPC Board members for their evaluation, and possibly involve a site visit and/or a
meeting, which would be coordinated with the applicant. Upon final approval and designation as a Water
Smart™, the facility or project will be publicly awarded with a placard to recognize the contribution being made toward
the Coalition’s goals.
Questions: dana.biscan@burgessniple.com
To learn more about water conservation, please visit the links below.
