San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation Demonstration Garden facts for kids

The San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation Demonstration Garden is a special outdoor classroom located at California State University, San Bernardino. It's a little over an acre in size, filled with plants and displays that teach people about saving water. Even though it's on the university campus in San Bernardino, California, it wasn't built with state money. Instead, it was created thanks to big donations from local groups like the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (now called the West Valley Water District), the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, and the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District. Many other smaller donors and volunteers also helped by giving time, supplies, and their skills.

History of the Garden

This amazing garden took about two years to plan and build. It's a team effort between the university, its Water Resources Institute (WRI), and several community groups. Their main goal was to teach people living in the San Bernardino Valley how to use less water outdoors, especially in their gardens. It also provides a place for the WRI to do important research.

Around 2009, a rule was made in California to encourage cities to reduce how much water each person uses by 20% by the year 2020. One great way to do this is by replacing thirsty grass lawns with plants that don't need as much water. However, many people didn't know how to plan or take care of these water-saving landscapes. There was also a common idea that saving water meant you could only plant cacti! But that's not true at all. The San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation Demonstration Garden shows just how many beautiful and colorful plants you can use while still saving water.