Posts Tagged ‘water conservation’
Are Water Agencies About to Drown in Positive Polling?
A recent survey conducted by the Municipal Water District of Orange County found that 93 percent of the 500 respondents feel Orange County’s water supply is somewhat reliable or very reliable. That’s big news to us in the business of influencing public behavior, because a similar question asked in the agency’s 2008 survey found that only 27 percent felt OC had a reliable supply.
So can us communicators take credit for the nearly four-fold jump in public perception? After all, our water supply is just as reliable today (or unreliable depending how you look at it) than it was three years ago. We humbly say, “not so fast.”
“Turn Off the Water When You Brush” Just Ain’t Enough
All around California, updated Urban Water Management Plans (UWMPs) are appearing, as required by state law. Here’s the lead of a news story that ‘s typical of many we’ve seen in the last few weeks:
LAKEWOOD – The city is reminding residents to stop watering sidewalks and conserve water for outdoor irrigation in an effort to meet the state’s 2020 goal of 20percent water reduction.
Conservation was part of the message at Tuesday night’s City Council’s meeting, where the council approved the Urban Water Management Plan Update 2010.
The updated plan is required every five years by the state and includes plans for water supply, water shortage contingencies and achieving the state’s goal of 20percent reduction in water use by 2020.
Of necessity, the “20 by 2020″ water conservation goal (and its companion “15 by 2015″ goal) from 2009′s epochal water legislation is at the core of all new UWMPs, and it seems the plans’ authors have rounded up the usual suspects when discussing how they’ll achieve those goals: Incentives, seeking funding for new conservation-oriented programs, education and outreach.
To which we say, great, nice start, and good luck with that. You’re going to need it.
It’s not that those sorts of efforts haven’t proven effective. They have. We know because we’ve helped many districts communicate programs like that. It’s just that more will be needed. As the headline says, alluding to the most famous of the old way of promoting conservation, “Turn of the water when you brush” just ain’t enough. Not enough people will listen, fewer still will change their habits, and even if they did, not enough water will be saved.
Let’s get more aggressive
We’ve been thinking about new ways to attain the sorts of water savings that will have to be achieved to keep water providers out of the penalty box when 2015 and 2020 roll around. They include:
- Re-think the water bill - We’re most excited about the missed communication opportunities on water bills, especially ebills. Bills are the one document customers read regularly, but they’re a confusing mess and a messaging nightmare. We’re developing some great new ideas – let’s set up a meeting with your billing service.
- Coalesce and conquer - Ever heard of an advertising coop? It’s when a bunch of businesses, like the individual car dealers in an auto mall, join forces to buy more ads than they could ever buy on their own. We have developed ideas and themes that a “communication coop” of several water providers in a region could mutually hit a home run with. Who’s going to step up to the plate?
- Water budget based rates – Yes, this is a really big idea and you’d have to start now to get them in place in time to get some years under your belt before the deadlines hit. So get started – and let us help you manage a successful Prop 218 campaign, as we’ve done for many water providers. In district after district, the penalty rates for excessive water use have educated customers more about what constitutes an efficient level of water use than a blizzard of statement-stuffers ever could.
- Expanded programs - The new money that comes from those penalty rates can fund an unprecedented level of conservation outreach, including rebates, audits, consults and new communications tools … like the new bills we want to help you develop.
Unlike much of what comes out of Sacramento, California actually needs the 20 by 2020 goals the Legislature set for us. Of course, the Legislature didn’t give you the tools or money to go along with the mandate, so it’s going to take a real commitment and really creative thinking to meet the goals. Let’s talk.
Water Weekly 3: Delta Plan and Generations Spanned
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Duh, Duh, Duh, Yikes
The Delta Stewardship Council released the first of four drafts of the Draft Delta Plan that, when all are published, will lay out the entire concept for environmental review. The first draft’s four points were three duhs and a yikes: California’s water is oversubscribed (duh), it’s an increasingly volatile issue (duh), there’s no emergency response plan for the Delta (duh) and even with our best efforts, some Delta species will go extinct (yikes, because that’s an opening for endless litigation to postpone solutions). Subsequent elements will be published March 17, April 21 and May 19.
Read the explanatory cover letter
Water Weekly 3: Up, Up and Up Again
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Election Round-Up
On Election Day as voters across the country re-defined the American political mainstream, Californians defiantly went up a different creek – whether they did so with or without a paddle remains to be seen. In any case, the election was big news for water wonks.
- At the local level, most water district incumbents did well.
- At the state level, the Brown administration will be gray – the governor-elect has signaled he’ll surround himself with advisors from his first two terms, including water wonk Jerry Merrill. One important water legislator, Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), went under. Prop 23′s defeat will likely raise energy and compliance costs, and therefore rates.
- Nationally, Jim Costa, the pro-water Democrat, lost to his Republican challenger, but all other prominent water folks were re-elected, including George “Fish before Farmers” Miller. Of course, Carly Fiorina, who campaigned hard for water fixes (using messaging prepared by Laer Pearce & Associates) fell to Barbara Boxer, who has never seen a water infrastructure project she likes.
Read Jerry Brown’s water supply plan here
Why the Old Ways of Talking Water No Longer Work
Amidst a recent hectic afternoon, one of our clients called to pick our brain about what LP&A sees as the latest trends in water agency communications. Although it admittedly caught us off guard, 
it’s a great question that couldn’t have been posed at a better time, given the uncertainty of California’s water future and the swirling dynamics of public sentiment. We share our answer below, but the bottom line is that the old ways of doing business no longer work in today’s changing environment. Here’s why:
1. Water is no longer an issue that flies under the radar. These days water providers are asking a lot from their customers: Use less, pay more, vote for this (within the advocacy laws), don’t mind that sinkhole or pipe break. Agencies that foster trusting relationships with their customers through proactive communications will reap the most benefits.
Which is the better conservation messaging strategy: raising fears or relying on trust?
The San Diego County Water Authority’s “Save it or Lose it” campaign takes an aggressive approach to promoting water conservation, as you can see.
The campaign’s dry sand and sun-bleached skull are certainly attention-getters, and that’s a good thing. Commanding attention is a considerable challenge in this era of information overload.
