Gifts to help One Water school

A perfect Christmas gift is a tough thing to find, but the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association is trying to help you find the perfect match.

The association is accepting gifts earmarked for the new One Water school to be built by Wimberley Independent School District with the intent of making the project even more environmentally friendly.

“We want to be able to increase the rainwater storage capacity, increase the amount of permeable pavers installed and increase the amount of rain gardens on the property,” Ashley Waymouth, Managing Director of the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association, said. “The school has a set budget, and they are incorporating a lot of these things, but we want to raise money to help them go above and beyond.”

Waymouth said the goal is to raise $100,000 in donations to give “more flexibility and help us make more of a difference in terms of capacity.”

The WISD Board of Trustees recently voted to build the new primary school with a “One Water” approach, which supports sustainable management practices for developments.

“We at the watershed association believe this is important because its exemplifies valuing water at every stage of the water cycle and shows there is a more sustainable and regenerative way for us to develop moving forward in the future,” Waymouth said. “By utilizing rainwater to flush our toilets and using rainwater for landscaping, it highlights that we do have alternate sources of water available to us, and we have the technology and the means to incorporate these alternative sources of water to minimize the impacts of pumping the aquifer. If we can be innovate with these solutions today, it helps us tomorrow.”

To make a donation, visit www.wimberleywatershed.org. Click on “Give the Gift of Green Infrastructure & Donate to WISD’s One Water School!” and any donation made will be earmarked specifically for the projects at the school.