Epsilon Eta Eco Garden

The University of Arizona’s Epsilon Eta fraternity creates a collaborative and networking environment that empowers members to pursue their postgraduate plans in environmental fields while fostering an awareness of the intrinsic relationship between people and their environment through academics, professional development, service, and community. This student-led project will create a rainwater garden on the west side of the Civil Engineering building to capture and filter rainwater runoff from Tucson storms, reducing local flooding while recharging groundwater. Additionally, it will help prevent pollutants from contaminating the watershed, reduce flooding in the adjacent parking lot, and promote biodiversity within the garden. In the garden, native edible and medicinal plants will be planted with the advice of Martha Burgess, an adjunct professor at Tohono O’odham Community College.  

Epsilon Eta will be collaborating with Tucson Clean and Beautiful and interacting with Watershed Management group’s rainwater harvesting workshops as well to ensure the project’s success. Two student leaders will lead the project with opportunities for Epsilon Eta members to volunteer to help complete the garden. QR code plaques will be placed around the garden to link to the Epsilon Eta website where users can find a list of plants in the garden, learn about how the plants were traditionally used along with recipes, see interviews from native voices, and report wildlife sightings in the garden.