The little town of Menard, Texas (population 1,600) sits on the eastern edge of the Trans Pecos desert, which is itself part of the great Chihuahuan Desert.
The area receives about 22 inches of precipitation per year - less than half that of Vancouver, British Columbia, which receives 46 inches per year and Houston, Texas, which gets 49 inches.
But this isolated little community in west-central Texas has developed some unique and modern desert gardening, water-harvesting and conservation techniques that boggle the mind.
It has enough water for lush vegetable and flower gardens, xeriscaped and water-wise gardens, water to shower, wash clothes, and flush toilets. And even water for gardeners to create beautiful landscapes with gurgling man-made brooks spreading through them.
The local elementary school has rain collection tanks that water a large vegetable garden maintained by the children and a marvelous, tree-shaded walking garden, replete with native flowers, a grapevine-covered gazebo, and a fish pond.
A few blocks away, rainfall collected from the roof of the newly-constructed county library waters a large native plant garden. Other rainfall from the roof is routed to a massive French drain, spreading the water out into a colorful xeric garden.
Over at the town’s new municipal center, other large tanks provide rainwater to flush toilets and water outside gardens.
Even homeowners have gotten into the act, setting up massive rainwater-collection systems and harvesting hundreds of thousands of gallons of rainwater. Most of the systems are set up so the tanks are filled (and emptied) by gravity flow.
Rainwater that is directed back into homes for showers and toilets is first run through filtering and treatment systems to remove any bacteria and small bits of material that may have washed into the tanks. When rain first falls on a roof, it will wash down into gutters dust and other foreign material. The Menard systems have mechanisms that allow that first runoff to be directed away from the collection tanks.
The people of the area also create wildlife watering stations fed by harvested rainwater. They stations are especially popular to birds. A plethora of avian species abound in the area because of this, and Menard is quickly becoming known to birdwatchers.
Perhaps the largest legacy the people of this tiny town are giving to the world is the active conservationist views they are imparting to their children. Scores of young, elementary-age kids are Junior Master Gardeners, a concept which originated in Texas, and are extraordinarily knowledgeable about water harvesting, conservation, gardening and wildlife care.
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