City, residents can win prizes in April contest

For the fourth year, the Wyland Foundation, named for founder and marine artist Robert Wyland, has joined with Toyota to issue a month-long challenge to encourage cities to conserve water.

This year, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson has accepted the challenge on Benicia’s behalf.

The Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation takes place during the entire month of April, designated as Earth Month. It is a competition to see which city can become the “most water wise” by urging residents to take pledges to cut back their consumption of water, energy and other natural resources.

Joining the Wyland Foundation and Toyota are the National League of Cities, the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, the United States Forest Service, the Toro Company, Bytelaunch, Wondergrove Kids and multiple other water agencies.

The contest offers $50,000 in prizes that emphasize ecology and conservation.

The pledge, available at www.mywaterpledge.com, suggests a variety of commitments people can make to reduce their water and energy use at home, such as fixing leaky faucets, taking shorter showers and limiting sprinkler use.

“Participating in the 2015 Mayor’s Challenge further raises awareness about the need to conserve water during this fourth year of severe drought, and adds a fun factor,” Patterson said.

“We already know that Benicians not only pledge to conserve water, they take action. Here’s another way for Benicia to show off their dedication to conserving water and our community spirit.”

Residents who take the pledge will be entered to win a Toyota Prius Plug-in hybrid car, water-saving fixtures and hundreds of other prizes.

In addition, Benicia will compete against similar-sized cities for a chance at winning other ecologically friendly prizes — and, of course, bragging rights, contest organizers have said.

Among the prizes for cities is a pocket park landscape makeover, which will be awarded a city chosen at random. Cities also are competing for customer engagement and data analytics programs from WaterSmart Software.

To participate, residents enter online at www.mywaterpledge.com beginning Wednesday and continuing through April 30. They enter by taking a four-step conservation pledge on behalf of the city.

They also can check Benicia’s standings in the contest.

The Wyland Foundation, a registered nonprofit, was founded in 1993 by Robert Wyland, a Michigan native who has created 100 “Whaling Walls,” large, outdoor marine paintings of life-sized whales and other marine animals.

Wyland became interested in whales when he was 14 during a visit to Laguna Beach, where he saw several during a gray whale migration. He later moved to the Southern California city and painted his first Whaling Wall at a parking lot there.

Since then, his art has become recognized internationally. It is sold in galleries and zoos and has been used on specialty license plates and United Nations stamps that honor the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

Since the Wyland Foundation’s founding it has been engaged in teaching millions of students about oceans, rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. Those interested in learning more may view its website, www.wylandfoundation.org.

Last year, more than 23,000 people in the United States participated in the foundation’s challenge, promising to take 277,742 actions during the year to change how they use water inside and outside their homes and in their communities.

Contest organizers said those collective efforts are expected to reduce national water waste by 1.4 billion gallons, cut back landfill deposits by 36 million pounds, prevent more than 179,000 pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds and prevent 5.3 billion pounds in greenhouse gas emissions from polluting the air.

The foundation started its Mayor’s Challenge so residents who adopt better conservation habits could be rewarded, and so cities could see how they compare with neighboring cities, organizers have said.

Last year’s winner, Dallas, Texas, will soon break ground April 9 on a new water-efficient student garden at Nancy Cochran Elementary School.

The contest’s other stated purposes are to inform residents and cities about how they can do more to save water and energy, to save money for both consumers and cities, to promote drought resiliency and to protect watersheds.

The Mayor’s Challenge has been recognized for its zero cost to taxpayers, its information-sharing methods that help cities and water utilities encourage conservation, and its rewards to those who make consumption-reduction commitments.