The Watershed Management Group holds several educational sessions throughout the year to help citizens of their community to be smart about their water usage.

"Almost every weekend we’re running a workshop for two that’s free and open to the public to come and sit in," said Catlow Shipek, co-founder and senior program manager with WMG. "It’s basically other homeowners who are hosting that workshop and we provide a workshop instructor that helps with the design any preparations and the implementation of utilizing volunteers."

On May 16, WMG will be holding a Tucson Water Rainwater Rebate Educational Session. For this particular session, the goal is to help citizens of the Tucson community in applying for a rebate if they use a system that captures rainwater to water their plants or conserve drinking water.

"It’s also meant to help people if they do it themselves, or if they hire a contractor, they become a more knowledgeable, informed customer so that way we can ensure that rainwater in our state systems is being implemented equally as practiced," said Shipek.

The three hour workshop will involve a site tour, an introduction to rainwater harvesting, information about the rebates and a design process.

Anyone who wishes to attend is encouraged to bring a map and/or drawings of their site with measurements included, or any other information they can that would be helpful when applying for the rebate.

According to the City of Tucson website, "Tucson Water will rebate qualifying residential rainwater harvesting system costs under two levels of funding: Level 1 - 100% of the costs of labor and materials up to $300; Level 2 - 50% of the costs of labor and materials up to $2,000. Applicants can decide which level to apply for based on the amount of rainwater they aim to capture onsite and the type of practices they want to implement."

"What I think is highly successful are two things," said Shipek. "One that people learn about the systems in a hands on fashion. So they really learn the nuts and bolts and the best practices. The second thing is just kind of building community. They’re doing it with others from the community so they get to know each other and often build better community bonds and relationships."

The workshop will be held at the City of Tucson Ward 3 Council Office, 1510 E. Grant Rd. on May 16 from 2 to 5 p.m. To sign up for the session, click here.