GGUSD Students Showcase New Water Conservation Initiatives

• Tuesday, October 23, 2018
• Bolsa Grande, Los Amigos, Santiago

Garden Grove Unified School District hosted a student showcase yesterday to highlight new water conservation initiatives that have transformed student learning at Bolsa Grande High School, Los Amigos High School, and Santiago High School. 

The three GGUSD high schools were renovated with drought tolerant landscaping and sustainability features that capture storm water and serve as living laboratories, educating and empowering high school students to play an active role in water conservation.  The renovations were made possible thanks to a $1.99 million grant from the State Water Resources Control Board’s Drought Response Outreach Program for Schools (DROPS). 

“It is exciting that GGUSD is a leader in protecting water quality and that our students are playing an active role in water conservation at their campuses,” said Board of Education President Bob Harden who attended the showcase.  Garden Grove Mayor Steve Jones also attended the event, along with

The student showcase was hosted at Bolsa Grande High School and included remarks from GGUSD Director of Facilities Jerry Hills, Bolsa Grande High School Advanced Placement Environmental Science Teacher Jerid Johnson, and members of the school’s Wilderness Adventure Club including students Ryan Do, Cortney Norasing and Hassan Abdulsalam. 

Representatives from the district’s nonprofit environmental consultants including Seth Jacobson with Climate Resolve and Dyana Pena with Orange County Coastkeeper also shared about their support implementing the new landscaping and providing the educational programs for GGUSD schools.

Students shared about their work with water monitoring of their school’s new natural features that infiltrate storm water to replenish the local aquifer.  Students said that before the new landscaping, storm water would flow to storm drains, carrying water that would contaminate the Bolsa Chica Wetlands.  Today, the rainwater will be captured naturally to replenish the underground aquifer for future use by the people of Orange County and Garden Grove. It is estimated to save 4.5 million gallons of rainwater annually.

The landscapes at all three schools were designed by an Orange County landscape architecture firm called NUVIS. Students and teachers provided input about where the features would be installed to best reduce flooding.  Santiago High School teacher Teri Osborne played a critical role in writing and securing the nearly $2 million grant, which was one of the largest grants awarded statewide from the $25.5 million DROPS program.

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