AWWA SOURCES59225

There is the old adage that "a painter's house is the last to get painted." The City of Austin has had a very active water conservation program for almost two decades. In that time, over 65,000 toilets have been retrofitted, millions of gallons of water are saved daily in the commercial and industrial sector, and a great deal of effort has gone into educating the residents of Austin about the need for water conservation. The program has enjoyed the strong support of our city government and citizens alike. But, up until 2003 many City facilities had not been retrofitted with water efficient toilets and the awareness level of the benefits of water conservation among City departments was not as high as it should be. This is definitely changing due to efforts by Water Conservation staff and others in City government. The Water Conservation program has implemented a multi-level plan to help City government develop its own program. This came at a critical time when budget concerns were at a high. The purpose of this paper is to describe how these programs were established within the city government, at a time when budgets were very tight. Specific topics covered include: why we are doing this, how we are monitoring the process, and how we are communicating with other City departments.