Saturday, March 31, 2012

Mayor Lee Challenges San Franciscans To Pledge To Conserve Water


Mayor Edwin M. Lee today is challenging San Francisco residents and businesses to show the nation how wisely they use water by participating in the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation – an online pledge drive to conserve water, save energy, and reduce pollution. The challenge is a friendly competition between cities across the United States to commit the public to save millions of gallons of water during April Earth Month starting today. 

“Hetch Hetchy tap water is some of the best tasting water in the nation. It is also one of our City’s most precious assets,” said Mayor Lee. “Let’s show the rest of the nation how we in San Francisco already make every drop count. Sign the pledge to conserve water today!”

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), operator of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, is supporting the Mayor’s pledge and starting today will be signing people up and offering free tap water refills from a mobile water tanker at various locations around the City to promote tap water over single-use plastic bottles, water conservation and dialing 3-1-1 for water quality issues. A limited number of free stainless steel water bottles will also be distributed to encourage the use of tap water in reusable water containers versus bottled water. People can find out the location of the SFPUC water tanker by following the SFPUC on Facebook (facebook.com/sfwater) and Twitter (@sfwater). 

Bottled water is 300 times more expensive than tap water and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and waste due to plastic bottle manufacturing and disposal. Hetch Hetchy tap water meets all federal, state and local regulations, is tested and proven safe over 100,000 times per year, and costs less than $0.0003 per gallon.

Participants can sign the Wyland Foundation’s National Mayor’s Challenge online between March 30th and April 30th at www.mywaterpledge.com. Participants receive helpful water saving and pollution prevention tips, and also are enrolled to win thousands of prizes, including a brand new Toyota Prius C Hybrid.

San Franciscans can also take advantage of the SFPUC’s water conservation programs like home water audits, free fixtures, leak-fixing videos, and rebates by going to: www.sfwater.org. To date, conservation efforts in San Francisco have resulted in a use of just 80 gallons per person per day, less than half of California’s statewide average.

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