Adapting Colorado’s Municipal Water Efficiency Programs in light of COVID-19

This event is sponsored by Colorado WaterWise.

With the snow hopefully behind us and spring flowers starting to bloom, water utilities across the state have begun to plan for their summer outreach events and efficiency programs including indoor and outdoor water loss audits, landscape efficiency rebates, and educational events like hands-on seminars, workshops and water wise festivals. However, the realities of COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order, has necessitated that water utilities press pause on many of these in-person events and programs and start to think creatively about how to continue to provide water efficiency services and opportunities to their customers.

During this webinar, we will hear from three utilities that are adapting their conservation programs to keep their workers and their customers safe while still communicating and working during these unprecedented times. We will hear about how Colorado Springs Utilities is transitioning their in-person educational events to an online platform capable of hosting 10,000 participants. We will also hear the City of Aurora’s challenges and successes in utilizing other city employees to fulfill seasonal conservation roles during a hiring freeze and how the City of Greeley can safely conduct outdoor water audits and other programs, like continuing their popular lecture series and adapting to the changing scenario of conservation while waiting to hire a new FTE and seasonal staff.

This will just scratch the surface of this topic and we hope that you will both come away with new ideas to implement within your utility and share with other participants the ways in which your utility is adapting in light of COVID-19.

Come prepared with your questions and ideas on how we might be able to grow and adapt as a water conservation community. We are in this together.

Speakers:

Lance Ackerman, Colorado Spring Utilities, Conservation Specialist

Ruth Quade, City of Greeley, Water Conservation Manager

Tim York, City of Aurora, Water Conservation Supervisor

This event is free to the public but please register through the link below as space is limited. Webinar access information will be sent out the morning of the event.