Hilton Head Public Service District (PSD) has earned the 2020 Excellence in Education and Outreach Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program. The PSD earned the award for its efforts to inform and educate customers about water efficiency and environmental sustainability programs.
“Hilton Head PSD has done a great job of amplifying WaterSense campaigns with interesting and engaging messages to reach their customers,” said Veronica Blette, head of the EPA WaterSense program. “And customers should be proud of how PSD is leveraging other partners like the Clemson Cooperative Extension to develop materials that benefit the community.”
The PSD actively promotes Clemson University Cooperative Extension’s “Carolina Yards” program, which teaches sustainable landscape management practices. It also informs customers about the local irrigation and rain-sensor ordinance on Hilton Head Island that restricts irrigation to no more than two days a week at all times and requires working rain sensors on all irrigation systems.
“Our customers play a pivotal role in helping to save our most precious natural resource — water,” said PSD General Manager Pete Nardi. “Earning this national recognition from the EPA shows the importance that our entire island places on natural resource stewardship and environmental protection.”
The communications plan regularly promotes EPA WaterSense campaigns such as Fix a Leak Week and Shower Better with such tools as “The Liquid Letter” e-newsletter, social media and bill-insert newsletters to inform and educate customers, among other outreach efforts. Earlier this year, the PSD overhauled its website to enhance the user experience with a more intuitive information flow; regularly updated articles, blogs and public service announcements; public information pages with links to publications, past newsletters, press releases and more. The PSD is assisted in its print and digital communication outreach by Bragg Media Marketing of Bluffton and its founder, Heather Bragg.
“I am amazed at the number of forward-thinking programs and initiatives Hilton Head PSD has implemented for the betterment of their customers and the community,” Bragg said. “We are proud to work with an organization that cares so much about preserving this vital natural resource.”
The PSD was one of three WaterSense Partners nationwide to be recognized for Excellence in Education and Outreach in 2020, along with the City of Allen, TX, and the Placer County (CA) Water Agency. Learn more about the 2020 WaterSense Award winners at https://www.epa.gov/watersense/watersense-awards. The PSD earned a WaterSense Honorable Mention Award in 2019.
