By Lance Winslow
Planning a water conservation public relations program to encourage voluntary reduction in water consumption is not easy. For too long humans in our civilization have taken water for granted, it’s time to wake-up and conserve.
When presenting a plan to a municipality you need a good mission statement, but also important are the introductory comments that clearly define the problems and challenges to water usage. Below is a sample of the introductory comments of a plan we devised for the City of Coachella, CA:
Introductory Comments
Voluntary water conservation is extremely important as it can often stave off Level II Drought restrictions by slowing the water usage however no voluntary water conservation program can be truly viable unless there is “buy-in” by the water users themselves. This is why it is imperative to talk with water users and households directly and in person. The same is true with small business owners. There are so many things that water users can do to cut their water use if they really make a concerted effort.
Most voluntary only water conservation programs only yield 10-15% at first, even with a robust public relations campaign, which includes education conservation tips in the water bills, cable TV reminders, and newspaper ads. One cannot knock a 10-15% reduction in water, which is an excellent return on such awareness programs. Yet, at the City of Coachella, we have higher goals and realize that it will take our best efforts, and a carefully chosen strategy.
Thus, we have devised a plan to solve this challenge and achieve our ambitious goals of a 33% reduction in households, government and non-agricultural businesses.
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Read the Whole Water PR Plan Here:
http://www.worldthinktank.net/pdfs/Water-Conservation-PR-Plan-City-of-Coachella.pdf
*You may borrow pieces of this plan, copy it, distribute or modify it in anyway that helps your local jurisdication conserve water. – Thank you.
By Lance Winslow
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Thanks for the post Lance. Seems like you are on the right track. I personally am a fan of EPA Radon YouTube contest where people submitted ideas about why radon was important. I feel it is always better to get information from people like you instead of from official spokespeople.
Good stuff, Lance. Passing it around.