Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning Agency Wins EPA WaterSense Award for Promoting Water Efficiency

(Las Vegas, October 8, 2015) – The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District (Metro Water District) was named a winner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2015 WaterSense Excellence Award for Outreach and Education during the WaterSmart Innovations Conference today in Las Vegas, Nev. The Metro Water District received this national recognition for making a difference through water efficiency innovation and WaterSense promotion in 2014.

Each year, the EPA recognizes WaterSense partners for their commitment to promoting water efficiency and strengthening the drought resiliency of communities across the country. More than 1,700 utilities, manufacturers, retailers, builders, and organizations partner with WaterSense, a program sponsored by EPA that promotes water-efficient products, homes and services. Only a select few are recognized for their significant program contributions.

“We are so appreciative of, and continually impressed by, our WaterSense partners’ dedication to making water efficiency a priority,” said Ellen Gilinsky, EPA Office of Water Senior Policy Advisor. “By touching lives with water-efficient products, programs, and practices on a daily basis, they’re helping improve community resilience to extreme weather conditions such as drought and providing a foundation for water conservation that will help save water for future generations.”

The Metro Water District is the water planning agency for the 15-county Atlanta region. Since 2001, the District has implemented activities and policies that have helped per capita water use in the region drop by more than 30 percent The District’s programs and activities include:

• My Drop Counts water conservation program
• Toilet rebate program
• Annual Water Drop Dash 5K and Water Festival
• Recruitment of new WaterSense partners
• Development of conservation materials for use by our partners
• Essay and video competitions for middle and high school students

By creating, rebating, communicating and educating consumers about WaterSense labeled products, homes and programs, WaterSense helped consumers save 346 billion gallons of water in 2014 alone—that’s more than the amount of water used by all households in Texas for a year. WaterSense also has helped reduce the amount of energy needed to heat, pump and treat water by 146 billion kilowatt hours, enough energy to supply a year’s worth of power to more than 13.3 million homes.

For more information about the District’s water conservation programs, visit www.northgeorgiawater.org or for information about WaterSense, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.

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