Wrapping up the 2026 Waterwise Landscapes Tour

April 8, 2026  | By Shoal Creek Conservancy

Shoal Creek Conservancy hosted its second Waterwise Landscapes Tour on Saturday, March 21, and it was a huge success! Like last year, the tour featured a mix of locations, including four private homes and one of the SCC-maintained rain gardens.

Attendees spent the day visiting the five locations and learning from homeowners and volunteers about the unique ways each property implemented features that conserve water and enhance water quality.

Below is a quick look at the properties that were featured on the tour and the waterwise projects that were showcased!

Stillwood Lane Home

This home features a rainwater catchment system consisting of four rain tanks that capture water off the main roof and hold a combined 1,000 gallons. The water is used to water the homeowners’ vegetable and herb gardens and native plantings.

Bonus features:

  • These neighbors took advantage of the City of Austin’s Rainwater Harvesting rebate to reduce the cost of installing their system
  • Small DIY greenhouse
  • Owl box

Strass Drive Home

This home is directly on Shoal Creek, and features a brand new DIY rainwater catchment system with hand-dug in-ground water storage, established and abundant native plants filling the front yard, and raised wicking beds for vegetables and herbs in the backyard. The owners have ongoingly undertaken sustainable landscaping projects that conserve City water and capture rainwater. The backyard of the home is right on the banks of Shoal Creek, so the combination of proximity to the creek and diversity of native plantings means that the owners see a good deal of native wildlife, like red shouldered hawks and hummingbirds.

Bonus features:

  • The owners also keep chickens in the backyard!

Stardust Drive Home (returning property)

This property sits near the 100-year floodplain and has historically struggled with flooding and rainwater ponding, with water even making its way inside through the front door! The current family, who purchased the home in 1995, made flood mitigation their main priority.

Key Features added to capture or redirect rainwater:

  • Two 360-gallon rain tanks in the front yard
  • Four 450-gallon rain tanks in the backyard
  • French drains in the front yard to collect and direct water away from the house
  • Bonus: The homeowners now use rainwater from the backyard tanks to keep their recently installed pool topped up!

Kromer Street Home

This home features a large modular DIY rainwater collection system set up entirely by the owners, who wanted to be able to demonstrate that anyone can do this, no experience required! The captured rainwater is used to water extensive vegetable gardens and native plant beds in the backyard. The front yard has recently been sheet-mulched for future native plantings. The owners moved into this home in January of 2020, and began installing the rain catchment system and vegetable gardens in the fall of 2022.

Key Features:

  • There are 18 total rain barrels on the property
  • Collectively, the entire system holds approximately 1,000 gallons of water!
  • The owners have selected some native plants to help with infiltration. This area functions a bit like a rain garden, but without the bowl shape for extra holding space.

Rain Garden on Twin Oaks Drive

This property features a large, infiltration-type flow-through rain garden engineered and installed by the City of Austin’s Transportation and Public Works Department in 2024. The Twin Oaks Rain Garden is very close to Shoal Creek. It has an inlet on the northeast side, where stormwater runoff from Shoal Creek Blvd enters, and an outlet on the southwest side for any overflow to escape. Water flows in via the inlet and is held by the bowl-shaped rain garden to facilitate its infiltration into the soil. A very heavy rainfall would be needed to produce enough water to activate the “flow-through” feature, allowing it to exit via the outlet and run directly into the creek.

This rain garden was adopted by Shoal Creek Conservancy when construction was completed and, with the help of volunteers, has been planted with deep-rooted native plant species that hold the soil in place, improve stormwater infiltration, and provide pollinator habitat.

SCC’s Rain Garden Adoption Program:

  • Volunteers can adopt and care for City-built rain gardens in the Shoal Creek watershed. 
  • All four of our adoptable rain gardens are located along Shoal Creek Boulevard. We need long-term adopters in all of them!
  • Come out to one of our public Rain Garden workdays to learn more about rain garden functions and get your hands dirty!

Getting Ready for the Next Waterwise Landscapes Tour

Keep an eye out for SCC’s next Waterwise Landscapes Tour in 2027! If you’re excited to share any Green Stormwater Infrastructure or water conserving features on your own property, or if you’d like to refer a friend’s yard, please reach out to Shoal Creek Conservancy at info@shoalcreekconservancy.org

Thank You & Resources

A big thank you to those who shared their property, to our volunteers, and to our event partner, Austin Water, during the 2026 Waterwise Landscapes Tour.

If you are curious about ways you can conserve water and positively impact nearby waterways like Shoal Creek, please explore the resources below, and join us at the 2027 Tour!

To hone your skills alongside SCC, please join us at a riparian restoration or rain garden workday!

Thank you to our 2026 Waterwise Landscapes Tour Sponsors!