Tag Archives: National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation

Bremerton wanes in water challenge; Seattle, Tacoma near top spots

Bremerton has fallen behind this year in a nationwide competition among cities to get the most people to take a pledge for water conservation.

Since the beginning of the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation six years ago, Bremerton has always ended among the top three cities in its population group. This year, the city stands in 31st place, which isn’t too bad considering that there are 4,800 cities participating in the competition.

Top-ranking cities in Washington state include Tacoma, currently in fourth place, and Seattle, which is in fifth, based on the percentage of their populations taking the water pledge.

Olympia stands at 42, Federal Way at 48 and Bellingham at 90. In Kitsap County, Port Orchard is ranked at 128th in the list of smaller towns, while Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island are not even in the game.

Bremerton has always done well in the competition, perhaps because of former Mayor Patty Lent’s enthusiastic promotion of the contest and water conservation in general, along with special efforts by Kathleen Cahall, the city’s water resources manager.

This year, Bremerton has chosen to take a break from promoting the contest, Kathleen told me, citing a number of other water-related activities in April. Mayor Lent is out of office now, but everyone who participated in past contests should have received an email notice from the Wyland Foundation, which sponsors the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.

The goal of the contest — which includes hundreds of prizes for contest winners and other participants — is to get people to think about ways they can save water and to put those ideas into action. Individuals may join the competition until the end of April by going to the My Water Pledge website.

So far in this year’s contest, the city of Tacoma is leading this state in the water challenge. Promotional materials include a Facebook video from Mayor Victoria Woodards, as shown on this page.

The non-profit campaign is supported by WaterSense, a program of the Environmental Protection Agency; the Toro Company; National League of Cities; Conserva Irrigation; and Earth Friendly Products.

Kathleen, a leader in Bremerton’s longtime efforts to maintain an abundant and clean water supply, will retire at the end of June after 27 years with the city. In all, she has worked in the water business for 38 years.

I’ve always found Kathleen to be responsive to the needs of water customers as she goes about making sure that the city’s water supply will last well into the future. She has been a key figure in many stories about drinking water that I have written.

The field of water resources is “Infinitely interesting,” Kathleen told me in an email.

“It has been a joy for me to have worked a whole career for my local community, ensuring safe drinking water and protecting water resources,” she said. “There is much I will miss. I learn something new every day! I look forward to staying involved in the Bremerton area.”

Some of the events that Bremerton will focus on this month, which has been designated as Earth Month:

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Bremerton takes third place in national water-conservation challenge

UPDATE, June 11, 2015

Bremerton has another winner in the Wyland Foundation’s National Mayor’s Challenge. Teacher Bobbi Busch and her seventh and eighth grades classes at Mountain View Middle School were declared the Northwest regional winner in the Classroom Edition of the challenge.

The 100 or so students in Busch’s three seventh-grade and two eighth-grade classes joined the competition simply by going online, taking the water pledge and listing their teacher.

Busch said she heard about the contest from Bremerton’s Kathleen Cahall during a meeting of science and math teachers. One winner was chosen at random from each region of the country. Thanks to the effort, Busch will receive a $250 gift card for purchasing supplies for her classroom, and the school principal will receive an identical $250 card to buy something for the school.
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Bremerton came in third this year in the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, a contest that encourages people to take a pledge to save water.

Bremerton 3

Third place is a very good showing, but not as good as the past two years, when Bremerton took the first-place spot in the nation. In 2012 — the first year of the contest — Bremerton came in third as well. That makes Bremerton the only city to place among the top three for its size in all four years of the contest, noted Kathleen Cahall, Bremerton’s water resources manager.

The two cities that exceeded Bremerton’s efforts this year were Ponway, Calif., in first place, and Hot Springs, Ark., in second. Each had more people, by percentage, who took the pledge than those lower on the list. Olympia, which is in the same population category as Bremerton (30,000 to 100,000), came in ninth, not a bad showing at all.

Seattle came in eighth among cities with populations of 600,000 and more. No other cities in Washington state made the list of the top cities.

If Bremerton area residents carry through on their pledges, they will save enough water to fill 24 Olympic-size swimming pools each year, according to a news release from the Wyland Foundation (PDF 360 kb), which sponsors the competition. That’s 15.6 million gallons.

Beyond the water savings, Bremerton area residents agreed to reduce their use of disposable water bottles by 46,424 bottles, according to the report. Other proposed actions could save 495,000 pounds of trash going to the landfills, 138,000 gallons of oil and 75 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

In all, residents from more than 3,900 cities signed more than 391,000 online pledges to save water. As in last year’s contest, residents from the winning cities will be entered into a drawing for more than $50,000 in prizes.

Kathleen Cahall and city employees Lisa Campbell, Teresa Sjostrom and Kelsie Donleycott did a good job getting the word out about this year’s challenge, and many local businesses provided information to their customers. As always, Mayor Patty Lent’s personal involvement and interest in water resources helped generate support for Bremerton’s high standing in the contest.

On a somewhat related topic, state and local water-quality officials have been spreading the word this month about using commercial car washes to recycle washwater from vehicles. The goal is to save water and prevent pollution from going into storm drains that flush into streams and bays.

The 3 million cars in the Central Puget Sound region can contribute nearly 10,000 gallons of gasoline, diesel and motor oil to waterways each year, along with 19,000 pounds of phosphorus and nitrogen, 2,900 pounds of ammonia and 1.4 million pounds of solid waste, according to a news release from the Puget Sound Car Wash Association.

School and other nonprofit groups can sell tickets to car washes — an alternative to holding car washes in parking lots that lack adequate controls for pollution. In Kitsap County, check out the Fundraiser Car Wash Program. One can also contact local car wash operators directly, or view a list of operators in the Puget Sound region that have joined the PSCWA program.

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Bremerton leads in national water challenge

In the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, Bremerton is leading all U.S. cities with populations between 30,000 and 100,000.

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The water challenge, sponsored by the Wyland Foundation, asks people to take a pledge to work for water conservation. Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent has embraced the national competition by talking about it often when she meets with community groups.

To take the pledge and boost your own city’s ranking in the competition, go to www.mywaterpledge.com and fill out a brief form.

Last year, Bremerton came in first among medium-sized cities in Washington state and third among those in the West.

“Water is Bremerton’s remarkable resource,” the mayor said in a news release. “I encourage all Bremerton residents to pledge to learn more about their water and energy use at home. This challenge, which runs through April, is an exciting opportunity to learn about water wise habits as we engage in a friendly competition with other cities across the nation to create a more sustainable environment.”

Kathleen Cahall, Bremerton’s water resources manager, noted that this year’s competition pits all like-sized cities in the country against each other. Last year, the first competition was regional. Now, there are five nationwide population categories instead of three for each region.

Bremerton has not done as much personal outreach on the project as last year, Kathleen told me, but the city has placed messages on city utility bills and in electronic news letters; on BKAT, the community access television station; and with flyers for students to take home at schools within Bremerton’s water service area.

“It really takes no effort for us to be involved,” Kathleen said, “and it is easy for our residents to learn about water-wise habits and pollution-prevention.”

A federal water-quality permit requires the city to do public education, and people can learn from the water challenge, she said.

As an added incentive, the contest awards prizes to random people who take the pledge.

The only other Washington cities currently in the top 10 are Seattle, which is eighth among cities with more than 600,000 people, and Sequim, which is tenth among cities with populations from 5,000 to 30,000.

Port Orchard is 14th among the 5,000-30,000 cities. Poulsbo is 119th and Bainbridge Island is 291st in that same population category.

Cities in Washington that ranked within the top 100 in their own population categories include Lacey, 15th; Bellevue, 19th; Tacoma, 42nd; Spokane, 48th; North Bend, 50th; Vancouver, 53rd; and Bellingham, 62nd.

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Take the ‘water pledge’ to boost your ‘city’

UPDATE, May 4

The “Mayor’s Challenge” is over, and Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent says she is pleased that Bremerton placed first in Washington state and third out of more than 100 medium-sized cities in the West.

Read the news release issued by the mayor.
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