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It’s a Party for the Planet! On Saturday, April 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. be sure to celebrate Earth Day, conservation and nature at the Phoenix Zoo.

Water – Use It Wisely will be joining in on the fun once again with our fun-in-the-sun duck float trivia contest. Children young and old can test their water know-how, then take home one of our “oh-so-cute” ducks to float in the pool or bathtub to help remind them to use water wisely every day of the year – not just on Earth Day.

Visit us at the Harmony Farm section of the Zoo. Don’t worry; we have a lot of cool stuff for the “big” kids, too. See you there!

Did you know Water Awareness Month is coming up? For the month of April, stay tuned to this interactive calendar at waterawarenessmonth.com for ways to save water and plenty of links and resources!

Our very own Donna DiFrancesco, Conservation Specialist from the City of Mesa, was featured in April’s Phoenix Home and Garden magazine giving some information about what people can do for Water Awareness Month! Check it out!

Did you know that an American home can waste, on average, more than 10,000 gallons of water every year due to running toilets, dripping faucets, and other household leaks?

Fix a Leak Week will be celebrated across the nation March 12-18, but you can join the chase at our kickoff event here in Arizona by registering for “One for Water” 4-Miler on Saturday March 10.

This fun local race was created to raise awareness for fixing leaks and encouraging water efficiency in our homes, landscapes and businesses. Leaky “Loo” McFlapper, the event’s life-sized running toilet mascot, is a 6′ tall reminder that running toilets are only funny when they are mascots. Race organizers, sponsors and volunteers do take fixing leaks seriously and hope that you will join them at this truly one-of-a-kind event.

The “One for Water” 4-Miler takes off at the City of Peoria’s Rio Vista Community Park on March 10^th at 8 a.m. Registration opens at 7 a.m. The park is located at 8866 West Thunderbird Road, Peoria, AZ. We will have great prizes for the race medalists, thanks to our generous sponsors. Also available are prize drawings for people who pledge to find and fix leaks, so you don’t even have to be a runner to have the chance to win.

Last year, the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA) was selected as the national spotlight for the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense Fix a Leak Week for the race and other activities.

AMWUA is one of fifteen Water – Use It Wisely regional partners that offer water-wise programs and opportunities. Check out all of the partner programs at the Water – Use It Wisely calendar on our home page.

What does saving water have to do with GPS and high-tech treasure hunts? That’s what we’re trying to figure out – but we’re thrilled that a recent visit to a geocache location in Los Algodones in Baja California, Mexico revealed an addition of a Water – Use It Wisely magnet.

The exciting discovery was made by a relative of one of the Water – Use It Wisely Arizona regional partners. We don’t want to tell you the exact location of the magnet lest we’ll ruin the adventure for the next geocacher, but you can tell by the photo, it’s a good place to rest with a tasty beverage.

Since the rules of geocaching allow you to put something in and take something out, it may not still be at this exact location, but we’ll still be getting our message out there… There are a number of ways to save water and they all start with you. Water – Use It Wisely.

Managing a scarce resource like water is serious business.  But come on, educating on how to use water wisely can and should be fun, especially if you want your message to resonate with kids.

Here are a few examples from the Water – Use It Wisely campaign, and other great programs around the world.  We invite you to play along and share these wonderful online games and activities freely.  And if you know of a fun, interactive way to learn about water, please send us a comment and link to this blog.

“Tip Tank” Water Conservation Concentration Game Can you match the water-saving devices before the water runs out on our happy little gold fish?  Try to beat all three levels.  Highly recommended by Fast Company magazine.

H20house Water Saver Home Tour the California Urban Water Conservation Council’s interactive H20House and see where you can save along the way.

Bert & Phil’s Water Busters Play along as Bert the Salmon helps Phil Dumpster save water in his home in this interactive game brought to you by Seattle Public Utilities.

Project WET’s Water Festival One of the country’s premier water education organizations, Project WET launched its new interactive water festival.  It’s tremendous fun as kids learn about the water cycle and conservation.  It takes the program a bit to load, but while you wait you can try to catch water drops in a bucket.  Frustratingly fun!

The Water Family Game Now let’s go overseas to the United Kingdom, where you get to build your own family and learn how to save water around the home.  This is kind of a goofy, but informative game with simple and colorful clip-art-like animation.

Finally, we’ll go down under to the remarkable Mission H20 game produce by the amazing students at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.  The storytelling, animation, music, and Aussie wit is found throughout this terrific online conservation game.  You can even win an iPod nano if you “choose to accept the mission.”

Got a game?  Lets us know in the comment section below.