Story in Brief
The growing population and subsequent water demands have coincided with several high-impact regional droughts, increasing the pressure on limited water supplies. The 40 Gallon Challenge is an educational program designed by the UGA Center for Urban Agriculture to teach water conservation. Essentially a self-audit checklist, the 40 Gallon Challenge provides an estimate of water savings resulting from the implementation of water-conservation practices. The participant selects practices that fit his lifestyle, and then pledges to implement them with the goal of saving 40 gallons a day. In the process of selecting practices, participants learn how to conserve water and how much water is used in routine activities. Already a successful county program in Georgia, it was time to take The 40 Gallon Challenge statewide and nationwide. A team of Cooperative Extension specialists and agents from six states received grant funding to develop the 40 Gallon Challenge from the Southern Region Water Program. Seven states eventually joined in the effort to promote the Challenge. Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas participated the first year and Arkansas Cooperative Extension joined the second year. Each state created Extension programs and urged participants to complete an online pledge. Nation-wide, 4,561 people have taken the Challenge and pledged to save 845,353 gallons of water per day. In Georgia, 1,403 people have taken the Challenge and pledged to save 273,522 gallons of water per day. The five activities pledged most often were turning off the water while brushing teeth, turning off the water while rinsing dishes, running the dishwasher only when full, not using the toilet as a wastebasket, and washing only full loads of laundry. The practices pledged which saved the most water were reducing irrigation station runtimes, sweeping driveways and sidewalks, and fixing leaky toilet. Survey respondents reported saving a total of $3,427 on their water bills. Extrapolating these savings to all the 40 Gallon Challenge participants suggests a total saving of $37,039 per month or $444,470 per year resulting from the program.
