October 2007

What's New

Fifth Graders Speak Out for Water

About a dozen fifth graders at the Dallas Sai Center in Plano, Texas spent several weeks focusing on the topics of surface water pollution and water conservation, and what they can do to draw attention to both. With help from the Water – Use It Wisely website, tips and materials, they talked about not only water-friendly habits and how they could conserve themselves, but also how to share what they’ve learned with others. And share they did.

The very next week the students reported that they had applied the Water – Use It Wisely static clings to their bathroom mirrors and talked to their family about conserving water at home. A few students even reported implementing some of the Water – Use It Wisely tips like taking shorter showers and turning the tap off when brushing their teeth. But that wasn’t enough for these kids. They wanted to take their message to a larger audience. So they presented the Water – Use It Wisely conservation message to a group of over 100 people made up of students and their parents. These fifth graders talked about the importance of water as a resource and the need to conserve it, while also calling attention to the issue of water pollution. To get the audience really thinking about water, they asked questions, awarding people a Water – Use It Wisely static cling and tips bookmark if they answered the question correctly. Great job kids!

How to

Durham’s Water Conservation Campaign

A campaign partner for several years, this North Carolina city used their existing Water – Use It Wisely customized television and theater spots as well as promotional materials already in their library to build their summer outreach campaign. Coupled with other fun traditions such as an annual poster contest, and Wayne attending the Durham Bulls mascot birthday party, they demonstrate how to leverage an investment to its fullest. For more information about how your small outreach budget can last year after year, visit wateruseitwisely.com.

Regional Activity

Finalist for 3CMA’s Savvy Awards

The Water – Use It Wisely program was selected as a finalist for 3CMA’s 19th Annual Savvy Awards. The program recognizes exceptional and innovative public communications and marketing projects. The awards go to those programs that best demonstrate extraordinary achievements that enhance citizen-government relationships. Water – Use It Wisely was presented on behalf of the Cities of Mesa, Scottsdale and Phoenix in the Marketing and Tools, Community Issues category. Winners will be announced at 3CMA’s Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday, October 24th.

Scottsdale Gets Creative with Wayne Drop

Seen more often in standard attire and sitting on desks, Scottsdale decided to jazz up their conservation mascot with a scene from where most of us would REALLY like to be Monday through Friday, on the beach! This is a great eye-catcher for customers and just one more way of calling attention to conservation in a fun way. If you have pictures of Wayne Drop, Wayne or other fun ways of talking “conservation” e-mail them to us.