City of Plano WaterSense Partner of the Year
The City of Plano earned its second Partner of the Year Award, as it continued to inspire both residents and businesses to save water. The City began a new Water Ambassador Program for several adult volunteers to promote leak detection, leak repair, efficient irrigation, and landscaping principles. The City also has a Green Business Certification Program; six small-to-medium businesses were certified in 2018, bringing the total to 43 overall.
The City of Plano increased its focus on outdoor outreach programs in 2018. For Sprinkler Spruce-Up, the City offered a three-part class series covering quick sprinkler fixes, do-it-yourself drip irrigation, and proper irrigation controller use and taught sprinkler repair on a webinar for the Utah State University Extension Service. In 2018, the City’s innovative online learning module, “Water, Water Everywhere: A Guide to Sprinkler Repair,” was accessed more than 6,000 times! The City of Plano continued to promote water-smart landscape design and WaterSense labeled outdoor fixtures, hosting its sixth annual WaterWise Landscape Tour.
Beyond its outdoor efforts, the City hosted the official kickoff event for the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation and took fourth in the competition. It also collaborated on outreach for students competing in the FIRST LEGO League regional championship, which focused on hydrodynamics to improve water efficiency and water quality. On the retail side, the City worked with The Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement stores on promotions and provided rebates for 1,058 WaterSense labeled toilets and 142 devices with rain/freeze sensing technology, many of those WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers, in 2018. Flo, the WaterSense “spokesgallon,” dropped by for the City’s Fix a Leak Week Workshop in March, when a plumbing expert from The Home Depot and several volunteers taught 32 residents how to detect water leaks and make simple repairs.