The newest elementary school in Wimberley will be the most water-efficient school in the state, conservation groups and planners hope.
The school, funded through 2018 bond money, will gather rainwater and air conditioning condensate to flush toilets; that wastewater will then be treated on-site and used to irrigate fields.
Planners say the system will cut water use at the school by 90% and save the district as much as $1 million over the next 30 years.
Students will see the system up close, too: Clear pipes running through the library will showcase how the water flows from the roof into the collection tanks.
“It’s a really incredible thing for those kids to see at a very young age,” said Nick Dornak, director of watershed services at the Meadows Center at Texas State University. Dornak and his team first approached Wimberley ISD with the conservation idea last fall, and together with the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association (WVWA), they put the plans in place.
Read more from Chris Davis with KXAN here