To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Mark Marlowe, Director of Castle Rock Water
Sandi Aguilar, Customer Relations Program Manager
Title
Proclamation: My Water Pledge, Mayor's Challenge
Body
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Executive Summary
My Water Pledge is a friendly competition between cities across the United States to see who can be the most “water-wise.” Mayors, nationwide, will challenge their residents to conserve water, energy and other natural resources on behalf of their city through a series of informative, easy-to-use pledges online at MyWaterPledge.com. The online pledge asks a series of questions regarding individual conservation behavior and requires less than two minutes. The non-profit campaign is presented nationally by Toyota and the Wyland Foundation, in association with National League of Cities, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water, U.S. Forest Service, and others. Participants are eligible for 1,000 prizes worth a total of $50,000 and include cash for utility payments, water efficiency products and a car for a chosen charity.
The online pledges received provide a national ranking for participation, and are grouped according to population. For three years in a row, Castle Rock has reached the top ten in participation. Other than increasing the chances of winning prizes, there is only bragging rights for our ranking. In 2018, a middle-school art contest was added to the local program with the Mayor choosing the winning entry. The posters were used to spread the message about conservation throughout the year.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
1. March 28 Proclamation for April as Water Efficiency Awareness month with the
water challenge from the Mayor.
2. March 29 Press release on Mayor’s pledge and challenge
3. April 6 Town Talk with challenge from the Mayor
4. April Periodic Facebook posts reminding residents to 1) take the pledge, 2) fix
leaks, 3) install low-flow devices, 4) slow the flow, 5) wash full loads,
6) examine sprinklers and ColoradoScape design, 7) attend a Water Wiser
class and 8) drink tap water.
5. April Middle-school art contest for conservation. Winning entries presented at
Council in late April.
Attachments
Attachment A: Proclamation