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Award-winning Rainwater Harvesting Expert and Author Brad Lancaster is Coming to Phoenix April 12th

Friday, April 12^th at 6 p.m.

Phoenix City Hall

Assembly Rooms A, B, C

Free to the Public

Free Parking in 305 Garage

Before 6 p.m.

Brad Lancaster, a dynamic teacher, consultant and designer of regenerative systems, will give a talk on general water-harvesting with the added focus of integrated design on April 12^th at Phoenix City Hall.  The presentation is a peek at an all-day workshop Brad will be giving as part of the Valley Permaculture Alliance Design Course: Drylands.  It will provide an overview of generative, degenerative and regenerative investments, how to use the One-Page Place Assessment as a site assessment tool, solar-design, wind–harvesting and how these can be tied into water.

Brad’s award-winning book Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Vol. 1, Second Printing is soon to be released.  A book signing, or pre-orders, maybe available at the presentation.

Space is limited.  Please make a reservation at mary.lu.nunley@phoenix.gov.  If you have questions, please call (602) 534-3950

October 20th is Water – Use It Wisely Day at Arizona Science Center!

Our 16 foot tall pyramid of 136 water jugs is an amazing visual of the typical water use by each person each day here in the Valley. Find it at Water – Use It Wisely Day at Arizona Science Center.

PHOENIX, Ariz. (October 17, 2012) – As part of their crusade to show people how to save water, Water – Use It Wisely is teaming up with Arizona Science Center on October 20th by adding water-related games and activities to the Science Center’s hands-on exhibits and demonstrations.

Water – Use It Wisely partners and supporters invite Science Center visitors to come out and play with water! Special games and demonstrations engage visitors of all ages to test their water knowledge and learn about where our water comes from, easy ways to save it, and how to keep it clean and healthy for everyone!

“For 13 years the Water – Use It Wisely campaign has dedicated itself to not only telling people to save water, but showing them how,” said Mary Lu Nunley, Public Information Specialist with the City of Phoenix. “Partnering with Arizona Science Center is a perfect opportunity for us to engage their curious audience about local water awareness and issues.”

With activities that include The Incredible Journey, Be a Leak Detective, WAM and Win, Wheel of Water, performances by the Great Arizona Puppet Theater and magician Richard Steele, face painting, coloring contests and much more, a day at Arizona Science Center on October 20 promises a perfect day to learn and play.

Water – Use It Wisely Day at Arizona Science Center
Sat., Oct. 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Arizona Science Center, 600 E. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85004
Free with General Admission
Learn more at www.wateruseitwisely.com/Arizona

Some Ghostbusters playing the WAM and Win game at Adults Night, Oct. 5, to promote the upcoming Water - Use It Wisely Day!

About Water – Use It Wisely
The Water – Use It Wisely campaign was launched in 1999 to promote an ongoing water conservation ethic among Arizona’s rapidly growing population. Partners include the cities of Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Peoria, Chandler, Glendale, Avondale, Surprise, Queen Creek, and Fountain Hills. Additional partners include the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, EPCOR Water, Global Water Resources, and Salt River Project. Following Arizona’s lead, more than 300 towns, cities, states, utilities, and private and public organizations have adopted the Water – Use It Wisely campaign and are running the program throughout North America.

As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Fix a Leak Week, the City of Mesa is asking its customers this week to check fixtures around the house for leaks that can waste hundreds of gallons of water per month.

Fix a Leak Week, March 14-20, is meant to encourage water conservation by repairing common types of leaks found in the home include leaking toilet flappers, dripping faucets, shower heads, irrigation systems and other leaking valves. Water leaks can add up to as many as 10,000 gallons of water wasted each year in your home. That is enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.

To lead by example, the City of Mesa has an active leak detection program that uses radio technology for listening to leaks called permaloggers. Approximately 400 permaloggers are in place throughout the water distribution system to listen for leaks in pipelines. The use of these loggers gives the City flexibility to repair a leak during normal business hours in a more controlled environment rather than at night or on weekends during an emergency situation. Leak detection and other system audits help to prevent and detect leaks and ensure that water is being delivered at optimal efficiency.

“Fixing leaks is easy to do, low cost and can save homeowners as much as ten percent or more on their water bills,” Mesa Conservation Specialist Donna DiFrancesco said. “And, because of our desert conditions, fixing leaks can help conserve our water supply for generations to come.”

Mesa water customer, Jacob Lozano checks out what’s inside the free Fix a Leak Week kit.

The City is offering free Fix a Leak Week kits that includes dye tabs to check for toilet leaks; a drip cup to determine how many gallons of water are wasted each day, month and year from a simple dripping faucet; and a measuring device to determine the number of gallons used by your showerhead. Customers can pick up a kit at one of the following locations:

• Mesa Main Library, 64 E. 1st St.
• Red Mountain Branch Library, 635 N. Power Road
• Dobson Ranch Branch Library, 2425 S. Dobson Road
• Municipal Building, 55 N. Center St.
• East Mesa Service Center, 6935 E. Decatur St.

As part of Fix a Leak Week, the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA), whose members include the municipalities of Avondale, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, Peoria, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe (all are also Water –Use It Wisely partners) will host the inaugural “We’re for Water 4-Mile Race” at 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 19 at Rio Vista Community Park in Peoria. Registration is just $25 and includes a snack, t-shirt and reusable water bottle. The event also will feature music, food and hands-on demonstrations for leak repair.

To register or to learn more about Fix a Leak Week visit www.fixaleakweekaz.com.

Water conservation can serve as an integral part of corporate sustainability practices, or the “greening” of a business.

Many often think of “greening” as a technique that focuses on energy savings, but it is important to not forget the importance of saving “blue.” Not only is water a limited natural resource, but there is also a fundamental water-energy connection.

The treatment and delivery of water requires a great deal of energy, but it takes a lot of cooling water for energy production too. The electrical power industry is one of the greatest consumers of water, using more than 200,000 million gallons of water per day, according to the most recent U.S. Geological Survey for water.

Saving Water is Good for Business

Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to businesses, as customers are becoming more environmentally savvy. In fact, as reported in the UN Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study: A New Era of Sustainability, in 2008, 91 percent of consumers said they had bought a product or service from a company they trusted—showing a direct correlation between profits and public image.

Being an active water steward is one more way to enhance a company’s image and improve employee pride and motivation. Besides positive PR, an organization will benefit with cost savings, including lower maintenance and equipment replacement costs, in addition to reductions in energy and water bills.

Ways Businesses Use Water

The ways a business may use water are as varied as the types of businesses that use it. Is the organization a simple office setting or a manufacturer? A food processor, school, hospital or motel? All have different ways of using water, from simple bathroom and kitchen use to cooling towers, landscape irrigation, water purification, scrubbers or rinsing processes. Water use may range from a few thousand gallons a month to millions of gallons.

Ways Businesses Can Save Water

Simple steps can be taken like fixing leaks, installing low-flow showerheads, installing high efficiency toilets, xeriscape landscaping and recycling process water. However, the best savings will occur if a business creates a water management plan.

Three best practices for all organizations:

1. Have a goal to save water
2. Identify and implement water efficiency measures
3. Monitor savings and progress

Donna DiFrancesco is a Conservation Specialist with the City of Mesa, Environmental & Sustainability Division where she educates Mesa, Arizona residents about xeriscape, water conservation, living green and sustainability. She is also a member of the Water – Use It Wisely regional campaign steering committee.

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.

Two recent segments from CBS news are worth highlighting. The first is the “60 Minutes” report on California’s drought and the toll it’s taking on the state and nation.

Second is a recent feature in the CBS News series “Where America Stands,” entitled, “America’s Dwindling Water Supply.” The article details some sobering facts including how the U.S.’s water use stacks up against the rest of the world. According to the article Americans average using 150 gallons of water per day with 30 gallons being used by 9 a.m. Compare that to the 40 gallons of water per day used in the U.K. and 13 gallons per day used in some of the worlds poorest countries and it seems we’ve got a lot of work to do.

The rest of the article points to how we got here and what we can do to make a difference. There’s even a link to the Water – Use It Wisely tips page as a resource for how to get started. While there is certainly an urgency to make a difference now, the good thing is there are plenty of easy ways to make a huge difference. Our job here is to help you understand that. But remember, no tip or resource works without your commitment. It doesn’t take much, just a little time and a little effort and we can turn this thing around in a hurry.

Technically, the nation is using less water in 2005 than it did in 1975 despite a 30 percent population increase over that same time. Good news right? Of course. But, according to the same Geological Survey report, human consumption has also steadily increased over that time.

That can be expected considering the population increase, and Andrew Nusca and Larry Dignan of “Smart Planet” do a great job of breaking down the survey here. The bottom line is the downturn in water-use has stemmed from more effecient technologies in irrigation systems and power plants. This, of course, is great news but we can make it even better by continuing to do our part as consumers. It may not seem like a low flow shower head or reusing water from the dishes makes a difference, but it does. In fact, it makes a big difference.

The last 30 years are obviously a step in the right direction but water is more scarce now than ever and it’s going to take all of our efforts to continue to make a difference. It’s easy. Start here and spread the word.

The following is a guest blog feature courtesy of Conservation Covers…

To Pool Owners,

It always astounds me that the largest WASTES of water and electricity in the home are ignored. And by largest we really mean the largest – your pool.

By simply covering your pool you reduce pump and chemical usage by 75%, instantly reducing water evaporation to ZERO!! The swimming pools in California, Arizona and Texas lose its full volume of water every year through evaporation. A 20,000 gallon pool will evaporate 18,000 gallons throughout the year. Obviously, 18,000 gallons of water is extremely valuable yet its loss is usually ignored when we speak about droughts and water-saving measures.

Also ignored is the eight kilowatts of energy it takes to power the motors that filter a pool. Eight kilowatts a day is almost 3,000 kilowatts a year. By applying a pool cover, this kind of usage can be cut 70-80% because heat and light can’t enter the pool. That means the pool filter only needs to run for two hours a day instead of eight.

Pools are actually only used an average of one to two percent of all the hours in a year which means the potential for conservation is ENORMOUS! In Los Angeles alone, 2.7 billion gallons of water evaporate every year from pools and over a billion kilowatts are used for electricity. All these savings can be reached with a lightweight cover that can be removed in 3-4 minutes for swimming.

This is an important ecological matter that needs to be addressed. Everyone who is being asked to reduce their water usage by 15-20% could easily achieve that by simply covering your pool with a UV protected cover. Spread the word, and cover your pool!

Sincerely,

Conservation Covers

www.conservationcovers.com

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.

Jeans. We all love them. We all have them. In fact, most of us have a lot of them. According to a Cotton Inc. survey, the average American owns 8.3 pairs of jeans. American teens average 11 pairs of jeans. As much as I love jeans I actually come in on the low end of this survey at 5 pairs, 2 of which I haven’t worn in years.

Having this many jeans already seems a bit excessive. But when you factor in that it takes 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make just one pair of jeans, this suddenly seems to go far beyond excess. It’s unreasonable to suggest that we no longer buy jeans or condemn those that do. After all, jeans are as much a part of America as apple pie and angry political debates.

But armed with this statistic it does seem that we should find a use for the jeans we all have soaking up space in our closets. If we’re going to use the water to grow the cotton to make the jeans, let’s put our old jeans back to use.

So in addition to asking you to follow our more traditional water saving tips we’d also like to ask that you donate your old jeans. Make them useful again by donating them to your local Goodwill and we’ll dramatically reduce our water consumption. Not only will our environment thank you but so will the person you just helped get a new pair of jeans.