Mayor Challenges Residents to Join Water Conservation Effort

Mayor John Valdivia is urging San Bernardino residents to join in a friendly, nation-wide competition between cities for water conservation through the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.

The annual challenge, held throughout the month of April, is a nonprofit community service campaign that encourages residents to make a series of simple pledges to use water more efficiently, reduce pollution and save energy.  In 2020, over 2,000 cities from throughout the United States participated in the conservation program.

“The reliability of local water supplies is essential to the advancement and well-being of our beautiful city,” said Mayor Valdivia.  “I invite our residents to join by making a water conservation pledge to secure a thriving community for generations to come.”

In return for participation in the challenge, residents are entered for a chance to win $3,000 toward home utility payments, water saving fixtures, as well as hundreds of other prizes. Residents can also nominate a local charity to win a 2021 Toyota Highlander Hybrid to serve the community.

Last year, participants pledged to reduce their water consumption by over 1 billion gallons, reduce waste sent to landfills by 29 million pounds, and prevent hundreds of thousands of pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds.

2021 may be an excellent time to ramp up participation as California faces another potential dry year, making conservation ever more important.  Measurements from California Department of Water Resource’s electronic snow survey stations indicate that statewide the snowpack’s Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) is 16.5 inches, or 59 percent of average for the date. April 1 is typically when California’s snowpack is the deepest and has the highest SWE.

“We are at the close of our second consecutive dry winter and the San Bernardino region is trending back into drought levels,” continued Mayor Valdivia.  “It is key that we work together to continue conserving this precious resource.”

To participate, residents can visit www.mywaterpledge.com through April 30th and make their online conservation pledges.  Residents are also encouraged to check the “City Standings” for their city and show their support by urging others to join.