Each year, Public Utilities conducts a Water Awareness Calendar Contest to help educate our customers about ways to use water wisely. The calendar's theme is "How I use water wisely in and around my home."
2023 Calendar Contest Winners Announced!
View Winners' artwork here!
View Honorable Mentions' artwork here!
Water Awareness Calendar Topics
Please choose a topic from the following list for your artwork submission. You can stick with one topic or combine a few—just use your creativity! Please ensure your artwork is on 8.5x11 inch paper in landscape orientation (horizontal/sideways).
The picture can be about:
1. Water Conservation
- Take shorter showers
- Only wash full loads of laundry
- Only wash full loads of dishes
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth
- Only fill the bath tub halfway
- Wash your pets on the grass so you are watering the lawn at the same time
- Water plants in the morning or evening to reduce water loss due to evaporation
- Use a hose nozzle
- Check for leaky toilets
- Fix leaky pipes
- Sweep your driveway and sidewalk instead of using a hose
- Wash fruits and vegetables in a bowl of water instead of under running water
- Install low-flow toilets
- Look for the WaterSense (high-efficiency) label when purchasing a toilet, showerhead, or fau-cet
- Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the fridge rather than letting the faucet run until it’s cold
- Collect rain water with a rain barrel to use to water plants, wash your pets, etc.
- Adjust automatic sprinklers when it rains so you are not overwatering
- Make sure your sprinklers are only watering grass and plants, not the driveway or sidewalk
- Use mulch in your garden to retain water
- Plant native species because they use less water
- Repurpose used water to water your plants
- Turn off the water while washing your hands
2. Backflow Prevention
- Don’t put a hose in water (pool, bucket, puddle, etc.)
3. Keeping Fats, Oil, and Grease out of the Sanitary Sewer System
- Reduce or eliminate garbage disposal use because food scraps can contain fat, oil, or grease
- Pour cooking grease into an empty food can to let it cool, then toss it in the trash
- Scrape your plate over a trashcan before rinsing
4. What Not to Flush/Only Flushing the 3 P’s
- Do not flush: wipes (even those labeled “flushable”), tissues, paper towels, disposable diaper liners, cotton swabs, cat litter, dental floss
- Don’t use your toilet as a trashcan
*While preventing pollution of our local waterways is very important, artwork with this theme will not be considered for this contest.
More Information: Contest Entry Form and Contest Rules