Out & About with NTMWD Public Education & Outreach in March
NTMWD Celebrated World Water Day with Water Trivia
World Water Day was March 22nd. NTMWD celebrated the day with water trivia at Herman Marshall Whiskey in downtown Wylie. Over Fifty people came to the new tasting room and tested their water knowledge. General Manager at Herman Marshall created a special, vibrant blue cocktail aptly named, The Wave, to mark the occasion. The night opened with Wylie’s Mayor Porter welcoming the crowd and reading the first five questions. Then, Public Education team members Helen Dulac and Ted Pick took the audience through several water-themed categories: Boiled Water, Wasted Water, World Water, and Fire Water.
Teams competed for No Water No Whiskey t-shirts and rocks glasses provided by the North Central Texas TAWWA Chapter.
- Ted Pick, Public Education Specialist at NTMWD
- NTMWD Communications Team with the City of Wylie, Mayor Porter
- Wylie residents enjoying Water Trivia
Communications Assistant, Bobbi greeting guests at the NTMWD Water is Awesome booth
NTMWD Attended the Collin County Master Gardeners Show
The 2-Day Collin County Master Gardeners Garden Show was March 18-19, inside the Show Barn at Myers Park & Event Center in McKinney. The new Public Education Specialist, Ted Pick, and Public Education Manager, Helen Dulac, played water trivia with the crowd on Saturday. They also promoted Water My Yard and passed out toilet leak detection kits. On Sunday, Director of Communications, Wayne Larson, and Communications Assistant, Bobbi Bryan signed up 50 people for Water My Yard and thanked each one of them with a special goody bag. David Cowan, Watershed Manager, and the stream trailer were in action on both days. Ted Pick conducted stream trailer demonstrations on Saturday to connect with the audience and give David a break.
NTMWD Earned a Watermark Award for Community Outreach and Education Programs
NTMWD earned a Watermark Award for Community Outreach and Education Programs for its Water Conservation STEM Basketball Clinics. NTMWD partnered with the Texas Legends basketball team to develop a one-of-a-kind program to teach the fundamentals of basketball, teamwork, and water conservation. NTMWD hosted 8 STEM clinics in 7 different Member Cities over a 9-month span to teach more than 150 kids about being good stewards of our most precious natural resource – water.
NTMWD is also pleased to announce that the No Water Trivia events won an Honorable Mention Watermark Award. Ted Pick Jr, former Education & Outreach Coordinator – WaterWise Team Frisco and now the NTMWD Public Education Specialist, Annie Mattia, Environmental Education Coordinator for the City of McKinney and Helen Dulac, former Public Education Manager for North Texas Municipal Water District and Chair of the Education & Outreach Committee of the North Central Texas Chapter of the American Water Works Association (NCT TAWWA) crafted entertaining and educational questions in four fun categories and the trio co-hosted each contest. The NCT TAWWA supplied the AWWA branded prizes for each event. The next No Water Trivia is in the works for springtime at Lakewood Brewery in Garland, TX.
The Watermark Award for communications excellence recognizes Texas Section AWWA members who have produced top-quality communications. The award ceremony is April 12th as part of the 2023 Texas Water ® Conference from April 11-14, 2023 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.
Spring into Backyard Composting Virtual Lunch and Learn
The Spring into Backyard Composting virtual Lunch & Learn on March 6th helped nearly 40 people understand how to start and troubleshoot a compost pile. Listeners also learned how compost conserves water, and helps plants and our soil.
The replay is available on the NTMWD YouTube page and at /classes/
EPA’s Annual Fix a Leak Week
March 20-26 was EPA’s annual Fix a Leak Week. For the first time, NTMWD participated in a statewide collaboration with Dallas Water Utilities, Tarrant Regional Water District, San Antonio Water System, Houston Public Works, and the Cities of Frisco and Fort Worth on a virtual workshop series to walk people through common home plumbing and outdoor irrigation issues and sources of water waste, then show how to fix them with minimal tools and time.