Mayo Clinic Phoenix cuts landscaping water use 55%, saves about 11 million gallons a year

Mayo Clinic Phoenix staff said the campus reduced its landscaping water use by about 55%, saving roughly 11,000,000 gallons a year after irrigation audits, repairs and upgrades implemented over a five-year effort.

The changes came after the campus experienced widespread plant stress and storm damage. "1 year we actually lost close to a hundred trees on our campus, and that was really for us the turning point that helped us to recognize that there was something wrong on this campus," a staff member said, describing what prompted the review and subsequent work.

Staff said the hospital began measuring water use and hired landscape and irrigation experts to audit the system and train employees on care for drought-tolerant trees and plants. "We really wanted to understand our utilities and understand the growth of our water usage, as part of this project. So 5 years ago, we really made an effort to measure our water," another staff member said. Auditors found parts of the system overwatering while other areas received no water; teams checked and repaired irrigation lines and upgraded the facility's software to provide real-time monitoring.

"They checked every tree, every plant, every bell, making the necessary repairs, even updating the facility's software system, giving staff real time results," one presenter said. Staff said the upgrades let maintenance crews detect line breaks immediately and respond, reducing water loss: "We can see every time, a line gets bridal, we can see it immediately, and we're out there. We're able to fix it so we're not losing water."

Officials tied the technical fixes to measurable conservation. "At the start of this journey, Mayo Clinic found it used about 20,000,000 gallons of water for landscaping a year. By making changes to the irrigation system, Mayo Clinic lowered its water use by 55%," a staff member said. The presentation quantified the savings as about 11,000,000 gallons annually and credited low-flow systems and calibrated watering for healthier trees and reduced pest problems.

Speakers framed the work as both environmental stewardship and operational improvement in a desert setting. "We're glad that we're able to use a lot less water than we predicted 5 years ago, which allows us to be to be good stewards to our neighbors and to the city and and their use of water," a speaker said. They also reported landscape benefits: fewer pests, stronger trees less vulnerable to storm damage and lower maintenance needs.

The presentation focused on the campus effort to measure and correct irrigation system problems and did not include details on costs, specific contractors, or funding sources. No formal actions, votes or policy changes were announced during the remarks.