Hillsborough Township Mayor Frank Delore announced on April 11 that he is joining colleagues across the country in an initiative to encourage residents to make a long-term commitment to manage water resources more wisely.
In an effort to carry out this initiative, township officials said the municipality will take part in the annual Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.
Founded in 1993, the Wyland Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, protecting, and preserving the world’s ocean, waterways, and marine life. The foundation encourages environmental awareness through community events, education programs, and public art projects.
The annual challenge is a non-profit national community service campaign that encourages leaders to inspire their residents to make a series of simple pledges to use water more efficiently, reduce pollution, and save energy.
“Water conservation is critical for a sustainable future and Hillsborough remains dedicated to supportive efforts for further education and awareness to initiatives such as this,” DelCore said.
Last year, residents from over 3,800 cities in all 50 U.S. states pledged to reduce their annual consumption of freshwater by 3 billion gallons, reduce waste sent to landfills by 79.9 million pounds, and prevent more than 177,000 pounds of hazardous waste from entering our watersheds.
The challenge aims to go beyond recent drought issues and looks at the ways people’s water use will affect the future of communities — from how society grows food to reducing polluted runoff.
“We are encouraging all residents and businesses to take the ‘Pledge’ as well as to open the conversation for additional discussion on ideas for conservation,” DelCore said.
The first step of the challenge, which began April 1 and will run until April 30, is to make the pledge.
To participate, residents are encouraged to go to mywaterpledge.com, and then make a series of online pledges to be “water-wise” on behalf of Hillsborough Township. Students and teachers are encouraged to take part as well by visiting mywaterpledge.com/classroom-edition.
In addition to reaping the benefits of their conservation efforts, residents have the potential to win $3,000 toward their Home Utility Payments, water saving fixtures, and hundreds of other prizes.
Cities compete in population categories and those with the highest percentage of residents taking the challenge in their category have a chance to win $3,000 toward their home Uuility bill and hundreds more eco-friendly prizes.
