Oregon’s Departments of Emergency Management and Water Resources are providing a toolkit to local governments and utilities who want to offer people new ways to conserve water as drought conditions intensify.
The kit includes tips on how to reduce water usage and waste, pre-made social media slides, and pre-written language that can be used by any group that needs it, though the intent is to help county governments with lower populations.
“Lane County is pretty well resourced as are many of the counties in the Portland area,” said Erin Zysett, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. "But we have a lot of small counties in rural areas in Oregon that have one person that’s wearing five hats, and they may not have time to put together social media cards and some messaging around conservation."
The toolkit can also be of assistance to other groups such as small water utilities who are concerned about their ability to meet water demands during a summer that was preceded by historically low snowpack.
The latest drought report shows 84% of Oregon is in some stage of drought, and the National Integrated Drought Information System estimates 2 million people live in those areas.
Zysett said the information in the toolkit can also be helpful for people who are not concerned about drought.
"Whether we’re having a drought or not, using WaterWise faucets and doing all of these things that the Oregon Water Resources Department is recommending is going to help all of the time,” she said. “It’s going to help your bottom line, and right now people are also worried about their bottom line."
Because, she said, less water usage means a lower water bill.
Some of the toolkit’s repeated messages center on the irrigation, lawn watering, the use of reduced flow plumbing fixtures and checking for leaks.
