Attendees came from as far away as Santa Fe and Tucson. Many of those attending work for the City. Also represented were Doña Ana County, NMSU, UTEP, and NMDOT. Tucked in among the dozens of engineers, planners, architects, designers, and developers were also a few regular folks like me.
Most two-day workshops fail to deliver: the breaks are too short, the presentations too long, and the significance becomes lost in the shadows. Not so in this case, thanks to the folks who put this event together. Engaging and informative presentations by Claire Catlett and Van Clothier with SD, and by Kieran Sikdar with WMG, were interspersed with walking tours of potential water harvesting sites and discussion in the fresh air and sunshine of the Branigan Library garden and amphitheater.
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Attendees were reminded that there’s no need to reinvent the water wheel. Our neighbors in Silver City and Tucson have been unpaving the way for many monsoons and are more than willing to share what they’ve learned. A variety of information is available on both www.watershedmg.org and www.streamdynamics.us, including a free how-to manual for greening up your neighborhood, available in English and Spanish. WMG also offers a 7-day Water Harvesting Design Certification course that would surely be worth bringing to Las Cruces, if we’re serious about putting our money where our mouths are.
Workshop encourages ideas to flow toward a more sustainable future