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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.

Every now and then we stumble across something that really puts what we do into perspective. That happened recently when we read the Pacific Institute’s “Water Conflict Chronology” report. This report, which began in 1980 to better understand the connection between water resources, systems, and international security and conflict, details nearly every conflict involving water dating back to 3000 B.C.

The results are staggering. Looking at a study like this underscores how important it is that we value the water we have and work to ensure everyone around the world has access to the same vital resources we do. Something most of us take for granted each day is the same thing that has the potential to cause major conflicts around the world.

As we look at this study we should all be sure to think about the impact the next time we turn on the faucet, shower, or hose and realize how lucky we are and how valuable our water is.

Clean your car with just one glass of H2O - By: Ecolo President, Pierrick Bouquet

According to the International Car Wash Association, washing your car at home or in the driveway uses between 80 and 140 gallons of water. Also, washing your car at home releases contaminated water directly into the environment or into storm drains intended for rainwater causing pollution in rivers, streams and oceans.

Soon, water rationing and restrictions on car washing may come our way. In fact, some municipalities have already banned home car washing with a hose, enforcing the ban with citations and possible imprisonment for violators.

Ecolo Green Car Wash is a response to this problem, providing services and products that use the equivalent of JUST one glass of water to wash a car.

This product works and we certainly hope you use it (find out more at our website - www.ecologreencarwash.com). But this product or any other like it won’t succeed unless we change our behavior first. This isn’t just about saving water washing your car. It’s about preserving the future by changing the way you act in your everyday life.

What’s Happening in Vegas Isn’t Staying in Vegas

If you’re anywhere near Las Vegas Friday morning, and your interested in how to use online social media for water conservation, stop by the Southpoint Hotel and Conference Center for the WaterSmart Innovation Conference. I’m presenting my fishing analogy for deploying social media at 9 am.

The Water - Use It Wisely conservation campaign was one of the first in the water-saving business to have a focused, comprehensive strategy for online social media to share its 100+ ways to save water.

Here’s how we go fishing using social media:

1. We consider the Water - Use It Wisely website as our wharf where we process the fish we catch. In this case, the process is to offer a wealth of conservation information to consumers thirsty for content, including 100+ water-saving tips.
2. To get them to the wharf, we go trolling in the sea of prospects with our blog. We lure in folks with timely information on how they can start saving water and money now.
3. To reach as many people with our blog as possible, we cast the content through a number of social media fishing lines, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. And we make our content easy to share by including links to Digg, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, MySpace and more.

You can review my entire fishing analogy social media presentation on SlideShare.

I am also looking forward to tailoring this presentation for the Texas Regional Water Conference in Fort Worth on Tuesday, November 11. For those of you attending that workshop, feel free to review my landing page, Sustainable Social Media 101, and send me any questions you have prior to the event. That way I can focus my presentation to your needs.

And whether you’re in Vegas or Fort Worth, be sure to stop by a say hello.

If you’ve been considering converting your grass into a colorful low-water-use landscape, a local class will show you the easy step-by-step methods. And, you may even be eligible for a rebate!

The City of Chandler is presenting a free workshop, Basic Yard Makeovers on Tuesday, September 1, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Call 480-782-3580 to register for the program.

Many of the partners in the Arizona Water - Use It Wisely coalition offer FREE workshops or classes with expert speakers willing to share their knowledge. You can learn about designing a colorful water-saving, low maintenance landscape, programming an irrigation controller, attracting wildlife to your yard, selecting low-water-use plants, pruning, watering your landscape, making compost, or herb and vegetable gardening in the low desert.  There are even walking tours of local Xeriscape gardens.

Explore the new on-line calendar on the Water – Use It Wisely home page and find out more about conservation events scheduled in the metropolitan Phoenix area. See for yourself.  Click on the calendar on the left navigation bar ‘Learn about local events & classes’ to see what’s happening in your city or town.

Even though we may not understand all of the words in this Brazilian made water-conservation PSA, we’re pretty sure we get the message.

In important water-conservation news, Water - Use It Wisely spokesperson and noted useless handyman, Ryan La Rosa installed a WaterPik EcoFlow shower head without help or major panic attack. Such was the first endeavor of it’s kind that La Rosa completed, leaving his wife thoroughly impressed and proving just how easy it can be to install a simple water-saving device.

Understanding that few would believe he could achieve this task, La Rosa documented his progress in the photographs below…

Step 1

And so it begins...

Step 2

Here, our hero nearly gives up after spending 15 minutes attempting to open package. Thankfully, he perseveres.

Step 3

La Rosa uses the helpful monocle included in packaging to study directions (come to find out later, the monocle is actually the nut used to attach shower head).

Step 4

Unscrewing original shower head should be easy (unless you're short and surrounded by distracting 1960's bathroom tile).

Step 5

Old shower head proved no match for tool (common term used to describe both wrench and man pictured above).

Step 6

They say it's as easy as screwing new shower head into place. Clearly they've never dealt with a man of such few skills or common sense.

Step 7

Wow! It's true! A brand new shower head in minutes! Next step is to update tile by a decade to 1970's print.

Step 8 - The Ultimate Test

Perfection! Newly installed and instant results. In fact, our hero felt so good about his new water-saving habit he took it a step further and reduced his usual shower performance of Les Miserables from the entire production to only the first act.

Truth be told, installing this new water-saving shower head took all of 10 minutes and seriously I’ve never installed nor fixed anything in my life. And it works great too. Any noticeable difference in the stream (which trust me is nearly none) is made up for in the fact that you’re doing something good and saving water.

So, I insist that you too get your own Water Pik Eco Flow shower head. Interested? Just click here and you’re on your way.

Water - Use It Wisely co-founder Park Howell isn’t just passionate about water conservation. Park is driven to make a difference across environmental boundaries, including, green marketing.

Park was recently featured as a contributor to GenGreenLife.com in their “Green Marketing” section. Check out Park’s contributions and if you’d like to follow his adventures more closely, visit his personal blog - http://parkhowell.com/

We have a lot of passionate followers at Water - Use It Wisely and one of our biggest pleasures is getting to hear directly from them. That’s why we’re so excited about our social networks like Facebook and Twitter that allow us to have conversations with concerned citizens everyday. 

But sometimes we receive something so far beyond anything even the latest technology could provide. Such was the case with a letter that recently came in the mail from “impatient fourth grader,” Mya Oleksiak. Mya says what we’re all thinking in a way that only an incredibly bright fourth grader could. Here’s to hoping we can all be filled with the same passion and drive that Mya is. Thanks Mya, and we’re listening.

The Water - Use It Wisely, “Family Water Audit” quiz is featured in the popular book, “The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth.”

The book, which currently boasts more than 1 million copies sold,  was written by Sophie Javna and a host of contributors from “The Earth Works Group.” “The New 50…” is a sequel to the original title, “The 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth,” originally penned by Sophie Javna’s father, John Javna in 1990.

To pick up either copy you can visit Amazon here and to learn more about the Water - Use It Wisely “Family Water Audit,” click here.