SIERRA VISTA — Cochise College is in the midst of completing a multi-phase water harvesting and conservation project on its Sierra Vista Campus, funded primarily through grants provided by the Cochise Water Project.
Last Friday, April 10, contractors finished installing two 10,000-gallon tanks on the north end of campus, behind the Student Union and library, that will collect rainwater from the roof of each building to be used for irrigation and landscaping. The system is scheduled to be up and running in just a few weeks, ready and waiting for the next rainstorms to fill up the tanks.
A rainwater harvesting tank situated behind the Sierra Vista Campus Student Union.
“The project aims to maximize available water resources while minimizing the college’s impact on groundwater,” said Cochise College president J.D. Rottweiler. “We have other environmentally-friendly efforts in place across the district, such as our use of solar energy on the Douglas Campus. These projects help the college continue to be a good neighbor in the communities it serves.”
To complete this phase of rainwater harvesting at the college, the Cochise Water Project supplied the grant to fund the cost of the tank materials and the labor to install them, while the college provided labor and some parts for the interior work required to get the water from the roof to the tanks. Once finished, each time the campus drip system is scheduled to water trees and plants around the Student Union and library, it will pull from the tanks first and use the domestic water system as a last resort.
“You’ve got so much roof space over there,” said Tim Cervantes, the Cochise Water Project’s administrative director. “You catch so much water, and right now, it just comes off and floods down the wash. We’re not stopping the flow; we’re detaining it and using it at a later time. The plants like it, it’s there, we get tons of it, so why let it run down the street? Let’s use it the right way.”
The Cochise Water Project receives funds from a variety of sources — mostly private, but some from the federal government. Cervantes said each tank is outfitted with a meter that will indicate how much rainwater is supplementing the domestic supply, and he hopes more tanks will be added to other locations on campus in the coming years.
“Our campuses have large square footage, and capturing the water is just a piece of the puzzle,” said Frank Dykstra, the college’s executive director of facilities and planning. “The rest is proper xeriscaping, directing the water, and using drip systems as necessary. It’s a whole package.”
A rainwater harvesting tank behind the Andrea Cracchiolo Library on the Sierra Vista Campus.
Recently, the college’s Facilities and Maintenance Department has escalated its xeriscaping efforts on both the Douglas and Sierra Vista campuses. Last year, the Watershed Management Group designed a rain garden on the east side of Sierra Vista’s Student Union, which leads rainwater to native plants in the area down a contoured path in the landscape. On the nearly-flat Douglas Campus, the college is reducing its grass acreage from 55 to about 10 and working to reshape the landscape in a way that will better utilize rainwater, rather than simply diverting it from campus to avoid flooding and standing water.
“Our maintenance staff has used the skills learned from both the Watershed Management Group and Cochise Water Project to retrofit existing landscaped areas along Colombo Avenue and the Science Building,” said Jim Barrows, who directs maintenance and operations on the Sierra Vista Campus. “The goal is to slow down water flow, thereby reducing erosion and allowing water to penetrate into the soil. A properly designed and constructed xeriscape provides a more natural appearance and is easier to maintain.”
Rainwater harvesting has been in place at the college since two 660-gallon tanks were installed in 2013 to collect water from the roof of the Career and Technical Education Building. That project was funded by a conservation grant from the upper San Pedro Partnership and installed through the combined efforts of the Water Wise Program’s water resources coordinator, Cado Daily, and students in Alma Hunt’s Building Construction Technology class.
“April is Water Awareness Month, and it’s a time we make special efforts to be better stewards of our water resources,” Daily said. “Whether it’s something seemingly insignificant like fixing a leak, or something as eye catching as a rain water tank, it makes a difference. It’s all important.”
Plans are in place to continue rainwater harvesting and other sustainability efforts at the college’s locations in Cochise County. Cervantes is also working with Barrows and the college’s dean of math, science and health sciences, Beth Krueger, to install a weather station with a moisture sensor and controller to help reduce the amount of water used to irrigate the Sierra Vista Campus lawn.
“Being a learning institution, up-and-coming generations are going there and can see how easy it is, how it works,” Cervantes said. “It can become a normal part of the campus lifestyle, show that in the end, it’s not complex. What comes out of the college is where we’re headed. … We put those water harvesting tanks in a spot where they’d be visible, because we’re trying to make it so that’s what life in the desert looks like, that’s normal. If you’re doing that, you’re part of the community.”