Drumroll please...WaterNow is excited to announce our next round of Project Accelerators!
Every year we partner with cities and water agencies to champion sustainable, innovative water solutions. Today we announce two new Accelerator projects that we will begin working with this summer. 
Water Conservation Ordinance Development – Graywater, Landscaping, and New Development Standards – Moab, UT
Moab, a desert town of about 5,300 people on the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah, is facing the compounding threats of growth and climate change, with rain and snowfall becoming increasingly intermittent and unpredictable. To avoid over-drawing its water resources in the future, the community is working to develop strong water conservation policies now.
At the moment, Moab does not have any water conservation ordinances in place. WaterNow Alliance and our partner, Western Resource Advocates, will work with Moab to develop a new ordinance establishing landscaping and irrigation efficiency standards for new development. The project team will also explore opportunities to advance graywater reuse for landscape irrigation. The project is designed to bring additional capacity and expertise to Moab, to help local decision makers achieve their sustainable water goals for the community.
Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) & Mandarin Language Water Use Efficiency Program Enhancements – Walnut Valley Water District (WVWD), CA
The Walnut Valley Water District (WVWD), located about 20 miles east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, serves over 100,000 multi-use customers in six communities. The District applied to WaterNow’s Project Accelerator for support in ensuring that its water use efficiency programs and activities are reaching Mandarin-speaking and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members as effectively as possible. Building on our experience with similar issues in Spanish-speaking communities, WaterNow will partner with WVWD to develop outreach tools and enhance communications specifically for AAPI communities.
The project team will analyze participation in water use efficiency activities across AAPI and Mandarin-speaking communities; survey other utilities for lessons learned and best practices; and work with local stakeholders to develop a replicable and scalable plan and set of recommendations.
Congratulations to the new Project Accelerator participants and thank you to all of our excellent applicants!
Looking to Future Opportunities
This selection process was exceptionally challenging since we received many strong and creative applications for support on a wide variety of projects, ranging from community outreach and engagement campaigns to the development of rebate, water efficiency, and green infrastructure programs. If we could, we’d select every single one of them.
It’s exciting to see so many utilities from across the U.S. developing sustainable and innovative projects to improve their community’s water quality and quantity, as well as raising public awareness about these important issues. We look forward to adding this round of projects to the library of examples and resources available on our website.
The Fall 2021 Application Round for Project Accelerator is right around the corner, and we strongly encourage you to consider applying.
We look forward to more opportunities to build a sustainable, resilient water future with you!
Photo credit: "Desert Garden, Sunnylands 2-22-14c" by Don Graham is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.