Water Smart
Excessive outdoor water use and the problems it causes for small utilities - that was the issue for Water Smart 2000, a partnership of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and the Texas Water Development Board working with statewide associations. Water Smart 2000 was developed and managed by Fernandez Group, Inc., predecessor to WaterPR.
Our goal: to help utilities raise awareness among their customers about the stresses and strains excessive outdoor water use places on drinking water systems. Smaller systems are unlikely to have resources - both human and financial - to develop and implement public education efforts to get the message out.
So we did it for them. We took what we had accomplished in previous Water Smart efforts and developed a full complement of educational materials: a toolkit of resources for water systems to use. Because we were emphasizing the importance of efficient outdoor water use, we built the toolkit around a new slogan: "Don't be Water Less. Water Less. Water Smart."
We kicked off the campaign with a June 1 press conference at the Capitol hosted by Sen. Buster Brown and TNRCC Commissioner John Baker. Also on hand were representatives of Texas Rural Water Association, Texas Water Utilities Association, Texas Section - American Water Works Association, Texas Water Conservation Association, Independent Water & Sewer Companies of Texas, and Texas Municipal League. These associations issued a statement supporting Water Smart and stressing their "substantial concern" about the ability of their members to meet the needs of their customers over the summer months.
Gov. Bush issued a proclamation drafted by WaterPR declaring June 2000 as Water Smart month.
The toolkit contained copies of radio and TV spots designed to support the efforts of individual systems. Since a sizeable potion of the population in Texas speaks Spanish, we also produced a Spanish-language version of that spot.
Working with the Texas Association of Broadcasters, we ran the spots statewide June 1-Sept. 30. Our $80,000 investment realized more than $425,000 in TV and radio air time.
We distributed about 1,400 of these toolkits with the help of the Texas Rural Water Association, whose circuit riders personally made deliveries to systems that had requested a kit. Other associations teamed up with us to publicize the Water Smart resources, and the industry groups also made space and time available for Water Smart at their meetings and educational seminars.
The new Water Smart web site, hosted by TWDB, received almost 4,000 hits during its first month of operation. And mass quantities of the material we developed is available through TWDB.
WaterPR and the TNRCC were awarded the 2000 Water Conservation and Reuse Award by the Texas Section – American Water Work Association for Water Smart 2000.
