Cascade Water Alliance (Cascade) provides water efficiency programs and services on behalf of its member agencies: Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, Tukwila, Sammamish Plateau Water, and Skyway Water and Sewer District.
These programs and services promote water efficiency and stewardship of water resources throughout the region resulting in thousands of student, teacher, business, and customer engagements representing all Cascade members and achieving an estimated savings of 21,446 gallons of water per day in 2023. Along with 2019-22 savings, this represents 52% of Cascade’s 2019 – 24 Water Use Efficiency Goal.
Why are water efficiency programs important?
Using water efficiently is important to provide a safe, reliable supply of water for our community’s needs today and in the future. On behalf of Bellevue and other members, Cascade will dedicate resources to achieve a cumulative, annual drinking water savings of 0.4 million gallons per day by December 31, 2022.
In 2023, Bellevue Utilities supplied 6.08 billion gallons of water to the community. Bellevue’s water system is fully metered. The city does its part to encourage efficient use of water by minimizing water loss caused by leaks throughout its distribution system. Distribution system leakage or water loss was 6.41 percent of total consumption in 2023, below the Washington State standard of 10 percent.
2023 Cascade Water Efficiency Program Highlights
- Provided water education school programs on diverse topics, such as “Watershed Ecosystems”, “Water Supply”, “Waterwise Gardening”, “All About Groundwater”, and “Carbon, Climate, and Conservation”. The program achieved:
- 521 classroom presentations delivered to 12,990 students
- 11 remote classroom presentations delivered to 235 students
- Remote learning materials continue to be accessed from website
- Videos and other materials were provided to support remote learning
- Live remote classes and video chat sessions for deeper inquiry into subjects
- Co-created and supported the Problem-Based Learning for Water Systems (PBL4WS) program with Sustainability Ambassadors for teachers and students who want more in-depth learning about water systems. The program achieved:
- Supported local teacher who developed a Water Management Handbook for an Environmental Systems Design course at STEM high school
- Published new curriculum units including:
- How People Replumbed an Entire Watershed
- Analyzing Salmon Habitat Restoration Projects Near Us
- Stormwater Policy Making
- Published new lesson plan on Shorter Shower Data Stories
- Updated 20 Student Impact Project Templates including:
- Saving Water
- Hidden Toilet Leaks
- Washing Machine Full Loads
- Recycling Saves Water Too
- Use a Commercial Car Wash
- Trees are Cool
- Continued developing and refining tables demonstrating PBL4WS curriculum units / student impact projects alignment with member city climate action plans, which allows PBL4WS to focus efforts that have the greatest impact on locally developed policies and goals
- Produced Curriculum Design Teacher Labs on Snowpack and recruited several new teachers to participate in the utilization of Snowpack materials to help teachers understand and teach the importance of annual snowpack to water systems management
- Continued to utilize and add content to the My Water Tower unit developed last year
- Developed student-led communications strategy aided by Cascade’s social media vendor
- Provided student-voiced videos on minimizing peak season water use through smart irrigation techniques
- Supported student-led effort at Skyline high school to install a water bottle filling station and discourage the use of single-use plastic bottles with funding and free reusable water bottles, which students received after taking a pledge to avoid using plastic water bottles.
- Provided 1,500 water bottles to students at Issaquah high school who took a pledge to avoid using single-use plastic bottles.
- Supported Issaquah Middle School with supplies for 262 students to conduct home water audits.
- Provided 1,059 rebates for EnergyStar-labeled clothes washers.
- Provided 70 rebates for WaterSense-labeled bathroom faucet aerators.
- Distributed approximately 5,000 conservation items at community events.
- Provided 400 free shower timers, rain gauges, toilet leak detection dye, and other conservation items through Cascade’s website.
- Delivered free conservation items to multifamily properties and Cascade members for distribution to residents / customers.
- Contacted 150 apartment complexes and public housing properties with offers of free leak detection dye and showerheads.
- Contacted 152 houses of worship with an offer of toilet leak detection dye.
- Participated in the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, Issaquah Salmon Days, Bellevue Family Fourth, Redmond Derby Days, Skyway Health and Wellness Fair, Issaquah Sustainability Fair, Tukwila Back To School Beach Bash, Sammamish Pumpkins on the Plateau, and Kirkland Concert Series and Farmer’s Market to promote water efficiency.
- Provided twenty-three remote gardening classes with 3,060 attendees.
- Provided eight in-person garden walking tours with 80 attendees.
- Provided two watershed ecology field trips with 30 attendees.
- Provided “Trees and Water” workshop in Kirkland.
- Provided two training events for landscape and irrigation maintenance staff at King County Housing Authority.
- Partnered with the Sno-King Watershed Council to train residents to become stream monitors at local streams.
- Provided 4 irrigation system assessments for high-peak season use customers, such as school districts, parks departments, and homeowner associations.
- Supported the regional Garden Hotline; received 237 calls from member areas.
- Provided speakers on various aspects of sustainable landscaping for the Washington Recreation and Parks Association annual conference in Tukwila.
- Partnered with Tilth Alliance to deliver the Soil and Water Stewardship program, which trains residents on sustainable landscaping practices, rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation, and other water-related topics. The program produced:
- Seven community projects
- Twenty-eight training sessions
- 583 attendees
- Created a Cascade Gardener e-newsletter to promote classes and sustainable landscaping techniques.
- Created a repository of information from Cascade Gardener classes on Cascade’s website available to all.
- Promoted “Fix A Leak Week”, “World Water Day”, “Drinking Water Week”, “Earth Day”, “Source Protection Week”, “Groundwater Awareness Week”, “Arbor Day”, “Imagine A Day Without Water”, and other events through social and digital media.
- Partnered with Lake Washington Institute of Technology to offer the Sustainable Landscape Technologies accredited program to train students and industry professionals on the fundamentals of efficient irrigation system management and sustainable landscaping.
- Implemented a strategic plan for Cascade’s “We Need Water” social media campaign that included:
- Customer surveys and interviews
- Four audience personas around which to target social media content
- Annual calendar of events and materials to post
- Templates for posts and reels
- Produced nine podcasts on various water-related topics.
- Reached more than 98,000 people with social media content.
- Produced hundreds of posts and reels promoting water efficiency.
- Grew We Need Water social media campaign to 1,517 followers.
- Published two videos on Cascade’s website about water conservation in seven languages.