Water Stewardship

Outdoor water use accounts for more than half of Denver’s water consumption. The Gardens is committed to showcasing beautiful gardens appropriate for a semi-arid climate while advancing water-efficient gardening and agriculture principles through educational programs and partnerships with likeminded organizations.

Collaborations and Initiatives

• The One World One Water (OWOW) Center – MSU Denver and the Gardens share leadership and management of OWOW. This strengthens both institutions' ability to impact varied water issues and benefits multiple audiences: MSU Denver students pursuing an interdisciplinary Water Studies degree; Gardens' visitors and members; and our surrounding communities.
• OWOW is a partner organization in the United Nations FAO's Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture. This expands opportunities for collaboration on research and symposia on water-efficient agriculture.
• OWOW is partnering with the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) to advance best practices in water-efficient soil management. Chatfield farms serves as an incubator/test site for the Colorado Collaborative for Health soils, an initiative driven by CDA, among others.
• The Gardens installed four solar-powered atmospheric water harvesters – one at York Street and three at Chatfield Farms. Using the power of the sun, these SOURCE units accelerate the condensation process to convert water vapor into water.
• Denver Botanic Gardens’ Center for Global Initiatives and the One World One Water Center (OWOW) are part of a binational effort to spur more collaborative management of the Colorado River for social, economic and environmental benefit on both sides of the border. The Gardens is a signatory to a memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed March 22, 2018 between the City of Denver and the city of San Luis Río Colorado (Sonora, Mexico) that lays out several cross-border collaborations. 
• Plant Select® — The Gardens co-founded this program with CSU to seek out, identify and distribute the best plants for our region.
• PlantTalk Colorado — Another CSU collaboration, PlantTalk offers many water-smart gardening tips, like this how-to video on building your own rain barrel.
• Denver Water — Support from Denver Water as well as the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society has helped fund sub metering in the Rock Alpine Garden to better monitor water usage there. After a season of monitoring, we now know that the typical water usage in that garden is approximately six gallons per square foot during the growing season. By comparison, a typical square foot of turfgrass needs 18 gallons per square foot per season to sustain it.
• Watershed Summit — In partnership with several Colorado organizations, the Gardens hosts the tenth annual Watershed Summit on Friday, June 20, 2025, convening 250+ water professionals to discuss technology and innovation, sustainable development and agriculture.
• Alliance for Water Efficiency — In 2011, we became the first public garden member of this national organization promoting the efficient and sustainable use of water.
• Colorado Nursery and Greenhouse Association — CNGA works with the nursery and greenhouse industry of Colorado to implement industry best-management practices.
• Sterling Ranch — This sustainability-minded residential development worked with the Gardens to create a low-water demonstration garden.
• Urban Drainage and Flood Control District — The Gardens works with the UDFCD to help monitor and determine stormwater benefits associated with the Mordecai Children’s Garden green roof.
• Colorado Water Conservation Board video — Enjoy the video about "Doing More With Less: The Challenge and Opportunity of Water Efficiency."