May is water awareness month in California and the majority of people I speak with don’t know about the campaign. The California Water Awareness Campaign is a yearlong effort by organizations in California to heighten public awareness of water. This has been happening since 1989. This year there are over 70 cities and water agencies contributing to the program and approximately 300 water agencies, farm bureaus, and various other organizations throughout California who will participate in this year’s campaign. The program promotes water awareness in schools. The City of Fresno hosts a water-wise plant exchange and Cal Water hosts family-friendly festivals in five of its districts. The next festivals are:
- May 17 – Bayshore District (at Customer Center)
- May 23 – Livermore District (at Customer Center)
These are hip and fun events; customers and their families are invited to learn more about water as they enjoy hot dogs, popcorn, and sno-cones. A face painter will paint children’s faces, and children will enjoy a coloring station. For grown-ups, there will be raffle prizes, orders for free water-saving devices, and information provided by Cal Water’s Water Quality, Engineering, Conservation, Rates, and Environmental Affairs departments. Local radio stations will be on hand at most of the events to give away station prizes, and firefighters from the local fire departments will be there, too.
So with all this effort I’m still not clear why more people are not aware of this campaign. Is it because we just finished with Earth Hour and Earth Day? Is the increasing number of sustainable events diluting our efforts to conserve? Are we just not doing a good job reaching enough people, or are most people in California still apathetic about water use? I’m not really sure, and I am interested in what our readers think. Please let me know your thoughts with a comment to the blog.
ValleyCrest is working to get the word out – Here is how you can help:
Water Awareness Month Giveaways
- 5 lucky fans will receive a Hunter Industries Rain-Clik sensor
- Now through May 31 view and “like” our Facebook page
- Also you can submit your most obscure fact about water on our Facebook page
- Promote your fact—get people to “Like,” comment and share it with their Facebook friends
- Our Water Bloggers will select the 5 lucky winners
- The more “likes,” comments & shares you have, the better your chances
- Winners announced on Facebook on June 1st
- Top five facts (crediting individual fans) will be published on ValleyCresttakeson.com
Thanks for helping out and I look forward to hearing your comments.
Richard Restuccia – Please follow me @H2oTrends on twitter.