Despite a healthy amount of rain and snow in the state, Arizona remains in a near 25-year drought.
A free event in the Valley that focuses on conservation methods for the region’s most important natural resource happens Saturday.
It’s called Water Awareness Day and is designed to educate families how to be water wise, according to Glendale Environmental Program manager, Joanne Toms.
She said one big aspect of conservation is transforming lawns to create spaces more conducive to living in the desert—a process called xeriscaping which requires low water use.
“There’s this myth that xeriscape is this boring, gravel landscape and just cactus. Really, a xeriscape is full of different layers. You’ve got trees. You’ve got shrubs. You’ve got groundcover. You have very interesting low water plants," she said.
Glendale has a robust xeriscape grant program to incentivize water conservation, according to Toms, because, “Grass is a very water intensive plant. It uses about the same amount of water as a pool—about the same square footage which is really surprising to a lot of people.”
The event takes place at the Glendale Main Library from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
