Bartlesville Mayor Dale Copeland is joining mayors across the country who are asking residents to make a long-term commitment to reduce pollution and manage water resources more wisely.
In return, residents can win more than $50,000 in eco-friendly prizes, including $3,000 toward their home utility payments, water saving fixtures, and hundreds of other prizes. Plus, this year students from thousands of schools across the country can make water conservation commitments that directly support their city’s standings.
The annual non-profit national community service campaign encourages leaders to inspire their residents, between April 1-30, to commit to making small changes at mywaterpledge.com to use water more efficiently, reduce pollution, and save energy. The program was started 10 years ago by a handful of mayors who were looking for alternative ways to engage their residents more deeply about the coming water challenges in the United States.
“The Mayor’s Water Challenge is a worthy campaign any time during any year, but it hits especially close to home this year due to our current water situation,” Copeland said. “Each week, we continue to see our overall water levels decline, which has now pushed us into Phase 2 of our Drought Contingency Plan. It is imperative that we conserve this precious resource, and the time to do so is now. I strongly encourage everyone to join this challenge and take the pledge at mywaterpledge.com.”
Last year, residents from more than 2,000 cities in all 50 states pledged to reduce their annual consumption of freshwater by more than 1 billion gallons, reduce waste sent to landfills by 35 million pounds, and prevent nearly one hundred thousand of pounds of hazardous waste from entering our watersheds.
The Challenge goes beyond short term issues and looks at the ways our water use will affect the future of our communities — from how we manage our coasts, lakes, and rivers to reducing polluted runoff. To participate, residents go to mywaterpledge.com, and then make a series of online pledges to conserve water on behalf of the City of Bartlesville.
Cities compete in the following population categories:
- 5,000-29,999 residents
- 30,000-99,999 residents
- 100,000-299,999 residents
- 300,000-599,999 residents
- 600,000+ residents
Cities with the highest percentage of residents who take the challenge in their population category a chance to win $3,000 toward their Home Utility Bills, and hundreds more eco-friendly prizes including Toro Irrigation Smart Controllers, Gift cards for Hobie Surf Shops, and more. In addition, one school from each winning city will receive 100 pairs of Zenni Remakes™ eyeglasses that help reduce damage to eyes from prolonged exposure to blue light. Each pair is made from the recycled plastics equal to three discarded single use plastic water bottles.
Participating residents are also encouraged to use a custom created digital tool called MyVolunteer Water Project, in support of the program, that gives residents a unique way to do hands-on home, community, and workplace projects year-round in support of their city’s sustainability efforts. The more projects residents do throughout the year, the better chance a city wins the mayor’s challenge in April.
The National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation is presented by the Wyland Foundation, with support from the U.S EPA WaterSense, The Toro Company, Zenni Optical, and National League of Cities.
Note: Most of the information in this story was provided by the Wyland Foundation.