MONTCLAIRThe new water conservation education center couldn’t have come at a better time.
As California officials spread the message of water conservation in a time of drought, local water agencies hope the center may further drive the message home.
The new Water Conservation Campus, at Chino Basin Water Conservation District headquarters in Montclair, held its grand opening last weekend. Officials hope the new center, 4594 San Bernardino St., will be a place for people, local leaders and business to learn about new landscaping techniques and water conservation.
“We did a strategic plan, that concluded in 2008, and at the conclusion of the strategic plan, we said that if we were really going to promote true water conservation and change people’s habits, we’re going to have to put our money where our mouth is and show people what can be done and not just demonstrate it,” said Eunice Ulloa, general manager of the Chino Basin Water Conservation District.
The San Bernardino County special district has been delivering water collected in catch basins back into the Chino Basin underground aquifer for more than 60 years. The new $8 million campus expands upon a district office facility built in 1991 and includes a new education center for children, a maintenance building, a landscape demonstration garden.
“For the first 40 years, we spent most of our time focused on basins, and then we needed to get a bigger office, so this is the second generation office,” said Geoffrey Vanden Huevel, a district board member. “We began to say we need to begin to educate the public to have a different water ethic because the way we have been doing things is not sustainable.”
Vanden Huevel said California is in constant drought, “we’ve got to recognize we’re in a different environment.”
“We started with a demonstration garden to demonstrate to people how to save water and the idea is that over time, most of the water bill for homeowners is spent on landscaping,” he said. “That’s where the savings could come from.”
District officials said the main campus building is 40 percent more energy-efficient than state requirements. The building includes an exhibit space where people can learn how to save water.
The site is irrigated with recycled water, uses permeable asphalt and concrete designed for 100 percent water retention and percolation, and has a 42 kilowatt voltaic solar array that provides power to the much of the facility.
The district operates through the use of county property taxes. Money from the sale of unused catch basin property 10 years ago was used to pay for the construction of the new facility.
Ulloa has invited schools to bring their students to the center to learn about water conservation, with children being good ambassadors of the knowledge back to their parents. She’s also invited local businesses, such as the Lewis Group of Companies to hold their company meetings at the center.
“We realize we can’t keep doing business the way we’ve done in our past,” said Randall Lewis, principal of the Lewis Group of Companies, a major developer in the region. “If we don’t change the way we run our businesses and plan for apartments and shopping centers, we’re going to run out of water.”
Lewis, speaking at the grand opening of the center on Saturday, encouraged other business owners to hold their executive meetings at the center.
“Have your group meetings here,” Lewis told a large crowd, that included business owners and state and local elected officials. “It would be the best way to share the (water conservation) ideas with your organizations.”
Information: call 909-626-2711, or visit www.cbwcd.org
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