For the 7th year, Laguna Beach secures the the title of "Most Waterwise City" in the National Wyland Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation.
It’s lucky number seven for Laguna Beach as the City secures the title “Most Waterwise City” for a seventh time in the annual Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation! 🥇💧 In addition to this year, Laguna Beach was recognized with the distinction in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021.
“Thank you to all Laguna Beach residents who have made tremendous strides to reduce water waste,” stated Laguna Beach Mayor Sue Kempf. “The title “Most Waterwise City” recognizes these efforts and we are beyond thrilled to be a seven-time winner of the Challenge. I am confident that as California enters its third year of this unprecedented drought, our community will rise to the challenge and continue to work together this summer to use water wisely to stretch our limited supplies.”
In addition to reducing overall water waste, residents from Laguna Beach pledged to reduce their use of single-use plastic water bottles by 49,824 and eliminate 1,364 pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds. By altering daily lifestyle choices, residents also pledged to put 582,665 fewer pounds of waste in landfills. Rounding out the final pledge results is a potential reduction of 80.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide, a savings of 1.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, and $275,698 in consumer cost savings.
The national campaign encourages people of all ages to take actions for cleaner waters and a healthier environment. In addition to online pledges, the campaign provides tools for residents to conduct tree plantings, storm drain stenciling projects, and neighborhood cleanups to remove pollution that might otherwise find its way into storm channels.
The other four winning cities with the highest percentage of residents making pledges during the campaign included Palm Coast, Florida; Miramar, Florida; Sacramento, California; and Houston, Texas. Overall, residents around the nation made 334,603 pledges to change behaviors ranging from fixing home leaks to reducing harmful runoff into local rivers and streams.