April isWater Month for Santa Fe

April is always the busiest month of the year for the City’sWater Conservation Office. We have a couple hundred 5th-graders up in thewatershed this month as part of our partnership with the Santa FeWatershed Association and the “MyWater, MyWatershed” education program. Every weekend, we have an event such as the Santa Fe Railyard Earth Day Celebration on the 27th from 1 to 4 p.m. We also have the Mayor’sWater Challenge running through themonth of April. Most importantly, we have two more of our public-input sessions scheduled to inform the draft of our 5-year water-conservation plan.

We’re still excited about the process we’ve adopted for this 5-year plan. It is completely input driven, not only by the community we serve but also by our internal stakeholders. Once the plan is drafted in May, we also hope to get input from other water-conservation professionals across the Southwest at the City-sponsored Next Generation Water Summit in June. The best part of a five-year plan for the water conservation office is that most everything we identify should be something we can accomplish, especially with initial buy-in from the community.

So far the meetings have gone so well and have been well attended. It’s wonderful to look out in the audience and see many familiar faces of people who continue to support our efforts and many new faces as well. We really want to hear from all of you and have our efforts be driven bywhat you feel is important.

Our meeting on April 11 will be held at the Main Library downtown, from5 to 7 p.m., and will be focused on our commercial sector. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a business owner to attend; you could offer input from the consumer perspective as well. For our April 13 meeting, wewill focus on climate change and drought and look at short-term solutions that our plan can address related to water. This meeting will be held at the Southside library branch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

All of the input we are collecting can be found on our website www.savewatersantafe.com, as can presentation materials from the meetings.

Lastly, for the month of April we’d like to encourage everyone to join the Mayor’s Water Challenge and make a pledge to save water. With a simple one-click signup you’ll be entered to win $3,000 toward your utility bills, plus a Toyota Highlander Hybrid for your favorite charity, and hundreds of other prizes. You can pledge daily for more chances to win.

Last year, Santa Fe placed in the top five and we are making it our goal to make Santa Fe number one. To make your pledge, visit www.mywaterpledge.com.

Christine Y. Chavez has a background in water-rights administration and energy- and water-conservation program management in the state of NewMexico. She is a graduate of NewMexico State University with a B.S. in environmental science and an M.S. in biology. Christine is the water-conservation manager for the City of Santa Fe. She may be reached at 505.955.4219 or cychavez@santafenm.gov.