Watershed Management Group - Tucson, Arizona

Dan S.

The WMG Living Lab can inspire and educate you in ways to reduce your water use... Something that's kind of important here in the desert. There are classes to help you save money by qualifying for the Tucson Water greywater and rainwater harvesting rebates...that are free! You can also learn how to test your soil, grow locally adapted plants, prune trees, or plan your water budget. Or, you can just come rest in the shade of the food forest, watch the chickens playing in the run, and enjoy the beauty of our desert home. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic. Come take one of the free monthly tours or just drop by to talk!

Max W.

Trying to learn how to harvest rainwater in Tucson? Interested in building your own sustainable garden? Determined to help preserve the environment and protect the ecosystem?

Heck yeah you are.

The team at WMG offer opportunities to learn, grow, and connect with the community in Tucson, as well as the Sonoran Desert at large. Events, classes, volunteer opportunities, and more.

They even asked me to make Rainwater Mocktails for their anniversary party. And I gotta tell you -- I would do it again.

Andrew W.

blocked the sidewalk at 6th and chicon for what I would conservatively measure as an eternity

Steve S.

I just finished the Rain Water Harvesting class and the course, instruction, and materials were excellent.

Lisa R.

If you are thinking of working with Watershed Management Group on a project, think again.

I'll try to make this brief, but give you an overview of what happened. I attended 2 workshops and 2 installations at WMG. My boyfriend Sam and I volunteered 16 hours to earn hours to host our own co-op installation workshop. In the workshops we were told that the Tucson Water Rebate may take care of the whole cost of installation, we were excited about this opportunity. Next step was a consultation that cost $285. Where the designer came out and came up with a rainwater harvesting design for $5,800. Even though I had explained to her my budget of $2-3,000. Hoping the $2,000. Rainwater rebate would cover most of it. I asked her to rework it to fit my budget and she said it would be $50/ hour. I said no thanks but now I've spent $285 and don't want to spend more money to rework her plan. I wrote her to explain my dilemma and got ghosted for 3 months. Frustrated, I wrote the director and was not contacted at all for 1 month. So I went to the Watershed Management lab in person and spoke with someone and the director called me the next day, he didn't give a refund and recommended I get the planned reworked with a new designer. I decided to give it another try. I then got an email saying it was too costly to put me with a new designer and put me back with original designer. I wrote and said this wasn't ideal and no joke, this director called me 'hostile' in an email saying maybe they shouldn't work with me. Then called me and I asked him why he called me hostile in the email and he said my 'font size got larger' which I didn't see on my end at all! So I'm out $285 y'all and apparently I'm hostile! I never yelled, cussed or was rude during any interaction and I just don't get it. I told them my experience calmly and directly. Sigh I really don't like confrontations but they are too disorganized, unprofessional and all over the place to give an affordable rainwater harvesting plan. Highly recommend you don't go with then for rainwater harvesting needs.

Update: Since writing this review, I was contacted by Watershed Management Group, they listened to my concerns and were able to address them and we came to a resolution.

Mirrors S. B.

WMG has a brilliant funding model: Use people's free labor and tell them they're in a "co-op." I volunteered a total of 23 hours in their Tucson Residential Co-op until I realized I would need to pay them a significant amount of money.

An employee of WMG came out to my house to draw up a plan. I was excited about the project until I received the bill for the consultation. It was higher than the stated cost. I asked him why he had charged me more, and he explained that it was because two things had taken up more of his time than expected: 1) an irregularity in my yard and 2) answering my questions over the phone. Now, my yard was a typical Tucson yard. And answering questions? Seriously?!? Imagine if the rest of us billed extra for doing our jobs. So I paid the bill and decided to cut my losses and quit. Going ahead with the project would have resulted in another bill, next time much bigger.

To be fair, the Watershed Management Group does a lot of good work. I'm grateful for what I learned about water conservation from them.

The problem, however, is the false advertising. They're misusing the word "co-op." In a true cooperative, decisions are made collectively. A more accurate name for this scheme would be "horticulture consultations and landscape installation that are cheaper than the competition because you're donating your Saturdays and Sundays to us."

Jennifer M.

I just signed up for a workshop at my new home. Nichole did a terrific job of helping me envision the new space and come up with an incredible site design plan. I can’t wait to get started. I love this organization!

seattlekev

Really good people trying to make a difference. Lots of collective expertise that they willingly give out for the good of all at no charge. Great experience!