AWWA SOURCES55615

This paper discusses the concept of water conservation by "civic engagement". In other words, a concerted effort to engage citizens in the role of citizen rather than as customers, in assuming responsibility for water conservation for no other reason than that water conservation is the right thing to do. The study focuses on the power of tapping "citizenship", and cites a case study from Cary, North Carolina where community "block leaders" form the core of a grassroots neighborhood-based program, and from Phoenix, Arizona where citizens created the conservation plan and are key to its implementation. Includes figure.