Hollywood wins Broward Water Partnership Community Engagement Challenge

In April and May, residents in participating Broward Water Partnership communities worked hard to save water and tell others how they did it. The Neighborhood Water Challenge got people focused on water conservation in its many forms including reuse, retrofitting and replacement of old, inefficient appliances. The Challenge had two categories. One where participants could save the most water and the other where they would create an outreach program and document the results.

Another aspect of the challenge was to see which of the Broward Water Partners could get the most residents in their community to participate. When all entries were tallied, the City of Hollywood inched ahead of the City of Fort Lauderdale by two entries with the most participants.

On Wednesday, September 7, 2016, the City Commission of Hollywood received the “Most Community Engagement” award from the Broward Water Partnership, a glass trophy in the shape of a water drop, and, of course, bragging rights.

“Our partner communities were very engaged in this contest,” pointed out Jennifer Jurado, Director and Chief Resiliency Officer of the Environmental Planning & Community Resilience Division, Broward County. “Everyone worked very hard and that is reflected in the location of our winners, which crossed the entire County. With traditional and social media, in face-to-face engagement and through elected officials, our partners reached out to residents and the residents responded with great enthusiasm and results. Residents love the toilet rebate program, but with the Neighborhood Water Challenge, we have really demonstrated that Conservation Pays.”

The first place winner for the conservation category lives in the City of Margate and also received $1,000. The second place winners are customers of the City of Sunrise and received a state-of-the-art WaterOptimizer irrigation system controller and a soil moisture sensor-valued at $900. The first place outreach winners are from Cooper City. Customers of the Broward County Water and Wastewater Services received $1000. While the City of Hollywood did not have any of the winners, they did have the most engagement, which shows how important saving water is to their residents. In addition to being a part of the Broward Water Partnership, the City of Hollywood manages their own toilet rebate program as well as promote other water conservation initiatives.

About Environmental Planning and Community Resilience
Broward County’s Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division protects, restores and enhances the quality, abundance and diversity of the County’s natural resources through coordinated management efforts in five areas: water resource policy and planning, urban and natural lands management, beach and marine resources, energy and sustainability, and environmental monitoring. For more information call 954-519-1270, visit our website or follow us on social media on Facebook or Twitter.

About the Broward Water Partnership
The Broward Water Partnership is a collaboration of Broward County and 18 utilities and local governments. In addition to the Neighborhood Water Challenge, some members of the Partnership offer toilet rebates (for WaterSense® low flow devices) and other conservation devices like aerators and low-flow showerheads. Since 2012, Broward residents, nonprofits and businesses have saved over 1.2 billion gallons of water through the Conservation Paysprogram from the Broward Water Partnership.

Author: Amanda Jones
Author: Amanda Jones

Amanda Jones specializes in social media marketing. She holds a Master's degree in Social Media Management from the University of Florida and a Social Media Professional Certificate from the University of Miami.

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