"Be Water Wise" campaign - Veolia Water Indianapolis
The city of Indianapolis helped by Veolia Eau makes his inhabitants aware of responsible consumption of water.
Issues involved
In the summer of 2005, the weather was hot and dry, resulting in the customers of Indianapolis Water using more water than usual, with priority given to watering lawns.
Usage reached, and even exceeded, the system's water-pumping capacity (about 850 million litres a day), increasing the risk of low water pressure and of not being able to fight fires properly.
For the next summer, 2006, it was therefore essential to inform people and make them aware of the situation, so as to avoid a repetition of 2005's excessive consumption.
Approach decided on
- Establishing a local publicity campaign to make customers aware of water-protection considerations;
- Providing practical information and hints on how people could economise on water;
- Measuring how the behaviour of individuals changed in terms of results from the publicity campaign.
Veolia Water's response
Since 2006, the City of Indianapolis and Veolia Water stepped up their efforts to provide information and promote thoughtful use of water. A local publicity campaign was communicated in the mass media (TV, press and radio), using a character, "Bob", who gave advice on being "water wise".
The campaign provided recommendations, such as using economical domestic appliances, adopting water-saving measures in daily life and reducing garden watering.
The publicity was well received by the customers and the community in general. They took on board the message about thoughtful water usage, and in the summer of 2006 there were only three days when water consumption exceeded 760 million litres a day, compared with 14 such days in 2005.
Key figures 2008
- Population served: 1 million
- Workforce: 375
- Contract began: 2002
- Duration of contract: 20 years
- Total length of network: 6,799 km
