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The Water-Use It Wisely Regional Partners made a huge splash last weekend (March 18-20th) as part of the Southwest Build-It-Green (B.I.G.) Expo & Conference at the Phoenix Convention Center. The expo showcased a wide variety of sustainable products and services that impact every area of our lives. Many visitors stopped by the WUIW booth for expert information on landscape maintenance, xeriscaping, low-water use plants and other outdoor water-saving tips. In addition to the free advice, a lot of swag was given out as well, including pens, jar openers and fortune cookies that offered water saving tips inside. Best of all, every visitor received a free ticket to enter a drawing for one of several home water-saving items. For more information on simple ways to save water outdoors and indoors, visit www.wateruseitwisely.com/arizona

Water – Use It Wisely Regional Campaign Partners include the cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Glendale, Tempe, Avondale, El Mirage, Fountain Hills, Peoria, Surprise, and Queen Creek. Additional partners include the Arizona American Water Company, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, Global Water Resources, Liberty Water Company, and Salt River Project.

Today marks “World Water Day,” and National Geographic is offering a free download of its extraordinary water issue. The pictures are nothing short of phenomenal.

Drink up.

The Water – Use It Wisely Regional Partners are excited to be exhibiting at the Southwest Build-It Green Expo & Conference, March 18, 19 and 20 at Phoenix Convention Center. Whether you’re a savvy homeowner looking to create a more sustainable home, or a business owner looking to create a greener space for employees — the Expo & Conference has something for everyone. The expo showcases sustainable products and services impacting every area of life. Those attending the conference will hear from prominent industry voices on both a local and national level, who will share their insight and knowledge of an environmental-friendly future. Topics covered will include green awareness, solar power, water efficiency, sustainability, LEED Certification, and existing building retrofits.

Connie Speelman-Harris from Queen Creek who is one of the newest Water – Use It Wisely regional campaign partners, is excited about participating in the Expo. “It just makes sense,” Speelman-Harris commented, “water conservation can save water, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Be sure to visit the Water – Use It Wisely booth as it will feature how to save water outdoors where it has been found that up to 70% of water is used. Even more exciting, partners at the booth will be offering tickets for a prize drawing for items that help save water. An irrigation controller that programs itself will be offered ($300 value) as well as a WaterBroom ($200 value) and more. In fact, these same items and others are featured on the Water – Use It Wisely water-saving products page.

The conference sessions are free, though registration is required, and free admission passes can be downloaded from the Build-It-Green website. To register, and for more information, go to www.builditgreenexpo.com.

Water – Use It Wisely Regional Campaign Partners include the cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Glendale, Tempe, Avondale, El Mirage, Fountain Hills, Peoria, Surprise, and Queen Creek. Additional partners include the Arizona American Water Company, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, Global Water Resources, Liberty Water Company, and Salt River Project.

Water – Use It Wisely founder, Park Howell was named the 2010 “Ad Person of the Year” at the 25th Annual ADDY Awards held this past weekend in Phoenix. The ADDY’s are an extension of the American Advertising Federation and are held each year to recognize the top advertising campaigns and individuals in the state.

It was great to see Park recognized by his peers for his contributions to the industry over the last 25 years. But the most gratifying part of Park’s win is being recognized for the difference he’s made in the community and his passion for causes, including Water – Use It Wisely.

Park’s been instrumental in growing Water – Use It Wisely from its humble beginnings in Arizona to one of the world’s largest water conservation campaigns. It’s Park’s drive that’s given rise to Water – Use Wisely and it’s what ultimately won him the “Ad Person of the Year” too. Knowing Park he’s likely to deflect any praise to those who’ve worked with him throughout the years but we’d like to take the time to recognize him for his victory and all of his accomplishments. Congratulations Park! You deserve it. Check out the official press release here.

Making your own compost at home provides two great benefits. It’s a great way to recycle your yard clippings and kitchen scraps, and the end result of the process provides free mulch for your plants. Our Arizona summer is just around the corner, and placing compost or other organic mulches on the surface of plant roots is one great way to get your landscape through this long, hot, dry season.

A two to four inch layer of organic mulch will help keep roots cooler, retain soil moisture, reduce weed growth, improve soil structure, and increase nutrient holding abilities of the soil. Compost or other organic mulches can reduce plant water needs by as much as 30%, and best of all, if you are composting, you are diverting waste from the landfill that would produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

When installing new plants, place compost or mulch on the surface of the root zone after planting and then top with rock or granite. Because mulch breaks down very quickly here due to the heat, it is a good idea to replenish organic mulches around existing plants once or twice each year.

Here are our favorite tips to share for successful composting in the desert:

• Check with your City/Town and see if they offer recycled trash barrels as composting containers.
• Place your composter near a water source so you can occasionally wet it down to speed up decomposition.
• Add some helpful ingredients to your compost pile like coffee grounds (check with your local coffee-house) or horse manure (check with local stables).
• Keep mulches about three to four inches from the trunk or stem, since too much moisture against the bark can cause damage.

Composters, hard at work: Cities may offer recycled trash barrels as compost containers. Photo by Pam Perry

If you’re unsure how to get started, then you can’t miss Mesa’s March Living Green Workshop titled Composting as Easy as One-Two, March 13th at 1:30 p.m. at the Dobson Branch Library, 2425 S. Dobson Road in Mesa. Or you can learn easy steps to turn green waste into mulch from the City of Mesa’s March $ustainability $avings Tip (PDF).

Carol turning compost: Turning the material to aerate aids the decomposition process. Photo by Pam Perry

Mesa is one of seventeen Water – Use It Wisely regional partners, many of whom offer water-wise workshops. Check out all of the partner programs from the Water – Use It Wisely calendar on our home page. You can also check out all of our landscape plants and Xeriscape links, including rebates available on our Water – Use It Wisely local resources page.

Compost: Turn your kitchen scraps into rich mulch. Photo by Donna DiFrancesco

Does what we say matter? Do people listen? If the hear us are they acting on it? A new study by the Water Research Foundation provided some insights into these questions and more.

The project, “Water Conservation: Customer Behavior and Effective Communications investigates the effect of communication tools and strategies on residential water use and water conservation behavior of residential customers…” Basically, that’s a fancy way of asking if the stuff organizations like Water – Use It Wisely so passionately promotes resonates with its audience.

We invite you to take a look at the entire study for a comprehensive look at the results but a peak into a few insights are certainly encouraging. Below are a few results pulled from the Phoenix portion of the study (Water – Use it Wisely’s hope base):

• “There are a number of ways to save water and they all start with you” message was seen or heard by 75% of survey respondents.
• “Water your plants deeply, but less frequently to create healthier and stronger landscapes” message was seen or heard by 69% of survey respondents.
• “Use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway or sidewalk and save 80 gallons of water every time” message was seen or heard by 61% of respondents.
• Customers that reported that “air pollution” is an environmental concern in the community were associated with lower water use.
• Customers that found sales associates at hardware stores “rarely credible” or “not credible” were associated with lower water use.

It’s encouraging to see that our message is being heard and we’re truly grateful to those passing that message along. It’s because of you that we’re making a difference so let’s turn it up a notch. Help us spread our message even farther in 2010.