Water Conservation Award

DALLAS – The City of Dallas took top honors among cities with a population exceeding 600,000 in the third annual Wyland Foundation National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. Representatives from the Wyland Foundation, Toyota and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gathered at City Hall today to present Mayor Rawlings with the recognition.

The challenge is a friendly competition among cities nationwide to see which can be the most “water-wise.” Mayors challenge their residents to take a series of informative, easy-to-use online pledges about conserving water energy and other natural resources on behalf of their city. Winning cities are determined as those with the highest percentage of residents to make the pledge.

“Dallas residents and businesses have been instrumental in saving more than 200 billion gallons of water in the past decade,” said Mayor Mike Rawlings. “We applaud the Wyland Foundation, Toyota and the EPA for their commitment to heightening public awareness on the need to conserve our water resources.”

Dallas’ approach to water conservation has become a standout model for other cities to implement. For example, in 2012, Dallas was the first city in North Texas to permanently limit outdoor watering to twice a week. Additionally, the City has an award-winning “Save Dallas Water” campaign to educate residents and businesses on water conservation.

“Water conservation plays a pivotal role in our long-range water supply strategy,” said Rawlings. “We’re proud to once again be in a position of leadership by winning this challenge, especially during a period of extreme drought in our region.”

In April 2014, 23,259 people from more than 3,600 cities across the nation agreed to take 277,742 specific actions over the next year to change the way they use water in the home, yard and the community. By sticking to their commitments, the collective efforts of these residents will reduce national water waste by 1.4 billion gallons, reduce waste sent to landfills by 2.4 million pounds, eliminate more than 12 thousand pounds of hazardous waste from entering our watersheds and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 367 million pounds.

The third National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation is presented by the Wyland Foundation and Toyota, with support from the U.S. EPA, National League of Cities, U.S. Forest Service, The Toro Company, Wondergrove Kids, Bytelaunch, and WaterSmart Software. For a complete list of pledges and pledge calculations, visit mywaterpledge.com.