On April 22 I reported that Tucson was ranked # 1 in the 2013 National Mayor’s Challenge on Water Conservation (click here) for our city size. The deadline to take the pledge online was April 30. Tucson was competing with other cities in the 300,000 to 600,000 population size. Well, Tucson won, along with Denver (CO), West Palm Beach (FL), Bremerton (WA) and Laguna Beach (CA)!

National Press release from Wyland Foundation below. They say on their website that “Together we pledged to save 742,175,738 gallons of water this year”. See information about Tucson specifically below the press release.

TORRANCE, Calif., May 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Five U.S. cities were honored today for residents’ commitment to water-saving choices as part of the second annual National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. Separated into five population categories, the winning cities are Denver; Tucson, Ariz.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Bremerton, Wash. and Laguna Beach, Calif. Residents in all 50 states made more than 44,000 online pledges to save water, use less energy and reduce pollution in four categories – home, yard, community and life – with potential cost savings of more than $30.6 million.

Presented nationally by Wyland Foundation and Toyota, the National Mayor’s Challenge had participation from 70 mayors across the U.S., including Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock; D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray; Columbus, Ohio Mayor Michael B. Coleman; Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn; Tucson, Ariz. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Santa Fe, N.M. Mayor David Coss. City leaders encouraged their residents to participate in the online challenge, which also provided access to regional water and energy resources along with cost-saving tips.

“This year’s challenge gathered the support of an impressive list of cities, mayors, corporations and nonprofits, all of whom shared our enthusiasm for working toward a more sustainable future,” said environmental artist Wyland, founder of the Wyland Foundation. “Congratulations to the winning cities. The environmental education and pledges will have an impact in bringing the conversation about conserving resources closer to home.”

At a May 10 event in Denver, Hancock will draw the grand prize winner of a new Prius c from the pool of winning cities’ participants, who are also eligible to win hundreds of water-saving fixtures and gift certificates to Lowe’s stores. A $1,000 Lowe’s Shopping Spree will also be chosen from among the entire pool of U.S. participants. The National League of Cities, CH2M Hill WaterMatch, Rain Bird Corporation, Lowe’s home improvement stores, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WaterSense, and the U.S. Forest Service supported the challenge too. The additional support from well-known comedians through Comics for Conservation, a series of public service announcements, expanded this year’s environmental message. Pete Dominick, longtime SiriusXM host, stand-up comic and CNN contributor, was the official spokesperson.

Toyota’s partnership with the Wyland Foundation and the Mayor’s Challenge included a new element this year – an eight-state U.S. environmental educational tour to schools and communities, reaching 4,000 students. The mobile, 1,000-square foot Wyland Clean Water Mobile Learning Experience featured interactive exhibits to demonstrate the relationships between humans and water.

“Toyota has a deep commitment to environmental sustainability across our operations, making our work with the Wyland Foundation a natural and rewarding fit,” said Michael Rouse, vice president of diversity, philanthropy, and community affairs for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “By helping expand the reach of the National Mayor’s Challenge this year, we hoped to encourage more people to learn and participate in conserving natural resources.”

In addition to making water-saving pledges, challenge participants pledged to reduce their use of single-use plastic water bottles by more than 5.4 million bottles and eliminate 69.9 million pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds. By altering daily lifestyle choices, pledges also resulted in potentially 18.3 million fewer pounds in landfills and 2.2 million fewer pounds of fertilizer in the waste stream. Potential savings of 67.8 million gallons of oil and 2.7 billion pounds of carbon dioxide rounded out the final pledge results.

To learn more about the National Mayor’s Challenge, visit www.mywaterpledge.com. For tips on how to save water every day and to learn about water-efficient products for the home, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.

About the Wyland Foundation
Founded in 1993 by environmental artist Wyland (best known for his series of 100 monumental marine life murals), the Wyland Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization, is actively engaged in teaching millions of students around the county about our ocean, rivers, lakes streams, and wetlands. The foundation’s latest project, FOCUS (Forests, Oceans, Climate – and us) brings together the U.S. Forest Service, NOAA, and numerous non-profits to teach young people about the future of our water supplies, climate, and global health. www.wylandfoundation.org.

Additional news re: City of Tucson from Wyland Foundation media contact Steve Creech, steve.creech@wylandfoundation.org:

Water Saved
38,829,430 gals

Dollars Saved
$1,620,719.71

Less In Landfill
959,198 lbs

Fertilizer Not in Waste Stream
112,110 lbs

Water Bottles Saved
275,230

Hazardous Waste Avoided
3,550,640 lbs

Oil Saved
3,444,114 gals

CO2 Emissions Reduced
139518770 lbs

“It was clear that Tucson was motivated to win. Even during our visits to the community with our clean water mobile learning center, we noticed the people in Tucson – right down to the kids – seemed generally well informed about the importance of water to the future of the city. The effort of Tucson to become sustainable is a powerful model for the rest of the country. While people enjoy the competition and the prizes, the challenge is really aimed at broadening the dialogue about conservation. Tucson got people talking. And we find —that when conservation becomes top of mind, people start making changes. And that’s what this is all about.”
—Wyland, environmental artist and founder of the Wyland Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE

Tucson Currently Ranked #1 in 2013 National Mayor’s Challenge
for Water Conservation

With less than two weeks remaining, residents of Tucson have kept the city in the top ten ranking in the 2013 National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. Tucson was ranked #1 among cities with a population between 300,000 – 600,000 as of Friday, April 19.

The challenge, April 1-30, is a friendly non-profit competition that challenges U.S. city leaders to see who can best inspire their residents to reduce water and energy usage through a series of informative, online pledges at
www.mywaterpledge.com.

City standings are listed in real time throughout the month. A participating mayor is not a requisite to win the challenge.

Residents from cities with the highest percentage of participants in their population category (5,000-30,000, 30,000-100,000, 100,000-300,000, and 600,000+) are entered in drawings for $50,000 in environmentally-friendly prizes, including a Toyota Prius c, water-saving fixtures, and shopping sprees at Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores.

The challenge is presented nationally by Wyland Foundation and Toyota, with support from National League of Cities, CH2M Hill WaterMatch, Rain Bird Corporation, Lowe’s Home Improvement stores, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program, and the U.S. Forest Service.

Last year, residents from 1,000 cities in all 50 states pledged to save over a billion gallons of water, reduce their use of single use plastic water bottles, and eliminate 60,000 pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds.

To see city standings in real time, visit mywaterpledge.com and scroll to “City
Rankings” at the bottom of the home page.

About the Wyland Foundation
Founded in 1993, the Wyland Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization, is actively engaged in teaching millions of students around the county about our ocean, rivers, lakes streams, and wetlands. The foundation’s latest project, FOCUS (Forests,
Oceans, Climate – and us) brings together the U.S. Forest Service, NOAA, and numerous non-profits to teach young people about the future of our water supplies, climate, and global health.

www.wylandfoundation.org
Media Contact:
Steve Creech
(949) 436-2489
steve.creech@wylandfoundation.org

I heard about this water pledge at the 2013 Water Festival at Reid Park, and now that Tucson is currently in first place, it’s time to urge our readers to take the online pledge to keep Tucson in first place & become the winner for 2013. Tucson placed #6 in 2012. You can also pledge via Tucson city website: www.tucsonaz.gov/water/take-the-pledge, which I just did. It’s free and simple to do.

Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild is participating in this challenge, and is asking for your pledge. He spoke yesterday at the 2013 Earth Day/Water Festival at Reid Park.

Take the pledge, to help conserve water.

City of Tucson Environmental Services (ES) is offering a tour of the Los Reales Landfill and the ReCommunity, Inc. Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Participants will get a ‘behind the scenes’ view and learn how ES operates the landfill and how recyclables collected in the blue barrel are sorted and marketed.

The first stop will be the ReCommunity recycling facility which opened in July 2012. The new facility has allowed ES to accept an expanded list of materials for recycling due to the state-of-the art equipment used for sorting materials. At the Los Reales Landfill, participants see how ES handles household hazardous waste and hear how construction of the landfill cells protects groundwater. Those on the tour also will see landfill operations and learn how methane gas generated at the landfill is used as a renewable energy source.

Tour participants will meet in the upper level parking lot at 4004 S. Park Avenue on Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. The tour will be complete by 12:15 p.m. Those who join the tour should wear long pants, closed-toe shoes, hats and sunscreen. Drinking water will be provided. The tour is not for children younger than age 14.

The tour is available on a first come basis. Show your love by booking your honey and yourself for a tour of the landfill. To reserve a seat, call ES at 791-3175 by Tuesday, February 12, 2013.

Contact:
Cristina Polsgrove
Environmental Services Department
520-837-3715
Cristina.Polsgrove@tucsonaz.gov

I can’t think of a better thing to do on Valentine’s Day except to eat a bunch of chocolate. I’ve toured the Los Reales Landfill (soon maybe Landfull?) and it is an eye-opening tour about what people consider waste.