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The Okanagan Basin Water Board rallied a record breaking number of water wise residents this year, as at least 939 individuals took the "Make Water Work" pledge.
“It’s the greatest number we’ve had since we began collecting pledges in 2012,” added Corinne Jackson, Communications Director with the OBWB and coordinator of the Okanagan WaterWise program.
Aside from garnering more participants this year, the program also awarded a Kelowna woman with $6,000 to upgrade her yard. Gena Sherwood will receive the WaterWise grand prize, after she pledged to help conserve water during this summer’s exhausting drought.
To keep from using too much water, Sherwood pledged to:
• Water plants. Not pavement.
• Water between dusk and dawn.
• Don’t mow. Let it Grow. Leave lawn 5-8 cm (2-3 inches) tall.
• Leave grass clippings as mulch.
• Top dress with compost; and
• Change out some lawn for drought-tolerant turf and/or native and low-water variety plants.
“I’m extremely excited,” said Sherwood. “Redoing our landscape to be more WaterWise has been a project we’ve been wanting to do, so this will definitely help.”
In addition, KelownaGardens.com will conduct an audit on the Sherwood property in order to help her determine what upgrades and renovations would work best.
Make Water Work is a residential outdoor water conservation initiative of the Okanagan Basin Water Board's WaterWise program. The initiative works towards reducing the second largest use of water in the Okanagan: outdoor residential landscapes.
Residents are provided with tips to make water work more efficiently and are encouraged to take the pledge online, where they can also enter to win WaterWise yard prizes.
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