Otay and Helix Water Districts
First envisioned in 1991 by the East San Diego County Water Conservation Committee, The Garden was proposed as an important conservation tool in a metropolitan area that sees only 10 inches of annual rainfall and imports 90 percent of its tap water. Living literally at the end of the pipeline, San Diegans must develop alternative water supplies through every possible means, including conservation. An initial meeting with the client produced a 3-page wish list. From this initial list DPA, Inc. began programming the water conservation garden – conceptualizing and organizing the necessary rage of teaching topics; laying out the spaces, the exhibits, the paths; choosing and placing more that 600 plant species; and creating a complete package of signage, including directional and species identification signs, as well as 38 different interpretive messages.
