Contact:

Basia Irland, 277-9128 Beverly Singer, 277-3027 Michael Padilla, 277-1816

February 27, 2002

UNM TO CREATE RAINWATER HARVESTING DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS

The University of New Mexico has received a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Grant to construct two rainwater harvesting demonstration projects. Funding for this project is underwritten by the Rockefeller Foundation and was one of only seven awarded nationally.

Basia Irland, professor in the Department of Art and Art History, and Beverly Singer, director of the UNM Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies, will lead the $10,000 project which will be constructed at the Student Union Building reconstruction site on the UNM campus and at the Pueblo of Isleta.

The major objective of the program is to create a project which physically demonstrates the importance of water and the need to conserve.

Irland said that there are simple methods which can be used to catch rainwater on rooftops and divert it to xeriscape gardens. These rainwater harvesting techniques are not new, but these methods have largely been forgotten.

“By designing and implementing two demonstration projects we can raise the level of consciousness about water conservation and educate the public about how they might create similar low-tech solutions,” Irland said.

The cultural and social significance of this project will focus on the diversity of ethnic groups using the perspective of creating a traditional-use garden grown by the Native American communities of the Southwest. Irland said this will reinforce the values and attitudes toward water conservation which have been eroded through development within the urban landscape.

Concentration on the interdisciplinary aspects of this project will involve traditional healers, community members, physicians, anthropologists, hydrologists, architects, filmmakers, artists and community and regional planners.

The permanently installed project at the SUB will have rainwater runoffs to a garden with low water-use plants of the Southwest which have been traditionally used by Native American and Hispanic elders. Innovative signage will be placed on the site as one way to educate the public and campus community about water and the plants. The signs will also include the Linnean classification for the plants growing. Irland will design and research the water feature and plants. She will contact various interdisciplinary specialists who will assist with the planning and construction of the rooftop water runoff system and the garden.

Singer will organize the community effort at Isleta Pueblo and work collaboratively within the University and with outside specialists to organize colloquial meetings about the project. An elementary school at the Pueblo of Isleta will be involved as a way to help mentor younger students to learn ways about educating their community about water issues from a cultural perspective.

“By teaching water conservation techniques to the younger generations, hopefully this will help raise awareness of important issues and they can then take leadership roles later in their life,” Irland said.

The documentation of the two projects will consist of a video and photo archiving of each stage of the process and response commentary of the participants and audiences. An educational handbook with water facts and information about each xeriscape plant will also be published.

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The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
Hodgin Hall, 2nd floor
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0011
Telephone: (505) 277-5813
Fax: (505) 277-1981