California Water Awareness Campaign Kicks Off Water Awareness Month

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- (As posted on AOL BUSINESS WIRE 4-24-08) -- The California Water Awareness Campaign (CWAC) is launching a new public education program to kick off Water Awareness Month (May) using the slogan, Nice Save! The new theme focuses on the many ways Californians can use water wisely and personally congratulates consumers for their Nice Save!

Initial components of the Nice Save! program include print ads, transit ads and utility bill inserts which illustrate five ways to conserve water both inside and outside the home: using a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and patios, using a hose shut-off nozzle, turning water off when brushing teeth, installing low-flow toilets, and kids doubling up in the tub.

Mike Wade, CWAC's president and executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, says the Nice Save! program was developed to educate Californians about direct ways in which they can help with the critical water challenges now facing our state. "Many consumers need to be reminded of the important steps they can take to conserve water at home and how everyone's effort to use water wisely can really add up to considerable savings," says Wade.

Last month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger outlined a comprehensive plan for sustaining the Delta that called for a 20% per capita reduction in urban water use statewide by 2020. Public education programs, such as Nice Save!, can serve to increase the public's awareness of California's water problems and inform them of programs which are trying to solve many of those problems. Congratulating water conservation efforts with a "Nice Save!" directly involves the consumer in helping to solve our state's water problems.

The California Water Awareness Campaign, a non-profit organization, was formed in 1987 to educate consumers about water conservation in response to the continuing drought at that time. The mission of the CWAC is to educate all Californians about using water wisely. For more information about the CWAC, visit its Web site at www.wateraware.org.