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Several people urged me to follow-up on Oprah’s request.

The Oprah Winfrey Network is looking for stories about people that are making a small change with a big impact, especially as it relates to, of all things, water conservation. Now that’s a niche I know well, given our Water – Use It Wisely campaign, and it’s the reason so many people pushed me to submit a story idea.

Unfortunately, I had to deal with a colonoscopy before I could video tape and write my 2,000 character submission (I used 1998 of the characters). It went out today. Their website gently broke the news to me that I had missed the deadline. Dang it.

So given all of the work that went into my story, I thought I’d at least share it with you. After you read it, and if you think we should be on Oprah, forward it to her show.

Untitled from ParkHowell.com on Vimeo.

How “Water – Use It Wisely” Surfaced in Mesa, AZ, and Became a World-wide Movement

Fifteen years ago, the City of Mesa’s water conservation department had an urgent need to educate their residents about conserving water, but had almost no money to create a campaign.  The answer to their dilemma was hiding in a consumer survey. Residents said, “Don’t tell me to save water. Show me how.”

With that unique insight, a revelation hit us. If we could create a universally accepted campaign based on showing people how to save, then perhaps Mesa could get other cities and states to share in the creation of the campaign and use it themselves.

So we took simple, everyday objects that you wouldn’t normally connect with saving water, and made them the hero of our campaign. A toothbrush, for instance, became water-saving device #54, which begs the question, “How can a tooth brush save me water?” It’s an “environmental prompt” that reminds you to turn off the water when you brush and you’ll save around 5 gallons every time. A broom is water-saving device #15. Sweep your driveway or patio, and you’ll save approximately 80 gallons. Water-saving device #1 is people. After all, if we don’t take action the 100+ other water-saving devices won’t work.

Thus, “Water – Use It Wisely” was born with the call-to-action, “There are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you.”

Cities in Arizona and the state were quick to join the campaign. Our sustainable marketing firm, Park&Co, matched our water partners’ investment dollar-for-dollar with in-kind contributions of creative and production services. We began attracting other states, water municipalities and private utilities. They tapped Water – Use It Wisely’s proven universal appeal and co-branded it with local efforts at a fraction of the cost of creating their own campaign. The campaign, now in its 12^th year, is the largest water conservation effort of its kind in the world with more than 400 private and public partners.

Home Depot and Lowe’s have used the campaign to educate their customers about water-saving products and the 100+ ways to save water featured on our website.

In 2006, US AID asked for our help to teach the Turks about how to create and launch a water conservation campaign on Cyprus.

It’s quite an achievement to take a struggling water conservation program in Mesa, Az, and turn it into a world-wide movement. You’ll see what I mean if you simply search, “Water conservation,” online.

So what do you think? Should we be on Oprah?