Regional Service Through Unity...Meeting our Region's Needs Today and Tomorrow

NTMWD Public Education Staff at Rockwall Founder’s Day and Royse City Library Summer Reading Kick-off

May 24, 2022

NTMWD education and outreach staff had a busy weekend sharing the water conservation message at the City of Rockwall’s Annual Founder’s Day celebration and Royse City C.F. Goodwin Public Library’s Western Day to kick-off its summer reading program.

Rockwall Founder’s Day 

NTMWD partnered with the City of Rockwall for this day-long event on Saturday, May 21st, which featured live music performances, vendor booths and food trucks. Close to 150 attendees visited the NTMWD booth that featured a spinning wheel to attract visitors and prizes such as water bottles, stainless steel drinking straws, lighted whistle keychains, top 100 native/adapted plant cards as well as grease scrapers for Defend Your Drains. Younger kids were given Take Care of Texas activity and coloring books.

Whenever we have outreach in Rockwall, we take the opportunity to raise awareness about how Rockwall residents get their drinking water from Lavon Lake. There is often a misperception that due to Lake Ray Hubbard being closer, they are served by that water source. Lake Ray Hubbard is owned and operated by the City of Dallas Water Utilities and serves their residents.

To aid in our discussions, our booth was decorated in a “Love Lavon Lake” banner, and we handed out numerous Love Lavon Lake cooler stickers to visitors  as they arrived. Bobbi Bryan, NTMWD Water Resources Assistant, gave valuable information about the free WaterMyYard.org tool available to help residents learn when to water and when to wait through a unique wildflower seed card. Irrigation systems are the cause of the largest amount of outdoor water waste. She also handed out toilet leak detection tablets and brochures to encourage testing once or twice a year since a leaky toilet is the home’s biggest indoor water waster.

C. F. Goodwin Public Library Summer Reading Program 

The Royse City C.F. Goodwin Public Library held Western Day to kick off the summer reading program which starts June 1. The event featured game stations near the library that included painting rocks, making hats and panning for gold. Across the parking lot were ponies and a canopy with summer reading information. NTMWD Public Education Manager Helen Dulac was on hand with our water conservation booth where children and adults played Plinko for prizes. With at least 30 people visiting the booth, Helen shared about our Water4Otter.org and  WaterMyYard.org programs, plus provided tips on how to test their toilet for leaks.