Santa Maria asking residents to take part in national water conservation contest

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- The City of Santa Maria is encouraging its residents to take part in a national water conservation contest that will reward winning cities and participants with valuable prizes.

The 2022 National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation will run throughout the month of May and is being joined by Santa Maria Alice Patino.

Patino is challenging Santa Maria residents to make a long-term commitment to managing water resources and take the pledge to conserve water.

"Nationwide we challenge each other and we also challenge the residents of our community to conserve water and energy and other natural resources," said Patino. "Water is so important to all of us. It's such a great resource and we just really need to conserve."

According to the its website, My Water Pledge is a friendly competition between cities across the United States to see who can be the most “water-wise.”

"Water is a valuable resource, but certainly with the drought, we want to take every opportunity we can to conserve that precious resource and this is a great opportunity as a friendly competition between us and other cities, were people can log on and make the pledge, said Shad Springer, Santa Maria Utilities Director. "There's also opportunities for people to win prizes by doing so."

Mayors will challenge their residents to conserve water, energy and other natural resources on behalf of their city through a series of informative, easy-to-use pledges online. Cities with the highest percentage of resident who take the challenge win. 

As of Tuesday, participants nationwide have pledged to save more than 325 million gallons of water.

Individual participants in the winning cities will be eligible to win a number of prizes, including $3,000 cash award that may be used to pay utility bills.

Several other prizes will be drawn daily throughout the month, including water-saving equipment, merchandise, clothing and gift cards.

Last year, the challenge awarded more than $50,000 in prizes to nearly 300 residents across the country.

In addition, there is a community grand prize that will award a new 2022 Toyota Highlander Hybrid to a non-profit organization.

For Santa Maria residents who take part, they will be able to receive free promotional items from the Utilities Department.

This year marks the 11th National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.

This program was created to reward residents for positive conservation behavior, provide immediate feedback with real-time city by city results that can be measured against their neighboring cities, set goals to promote positive changes in consumer behavior, and put a spotlight on public role models to encourage behavioral change.

To sign up, visit www.mywaterpledge.com.

To learn about simple and effective ways to conserve water, visit www.cityofsantamaria.org/conserve.