Local Cities Celebrate Wins In Wyland's My Water Pledge Contest

STUDIO CITY (CBS) — Twelve cities across America won the National Mayor's Challenge for Water! Two of the cities were local to Socal - Laguna Beach and Manhattan Beach!

Steve Creech of the Wyland Foundation and Laguna Beach Mayor Jane Egly visited the KCAL9 studios Tuesday to talk about the success of the program.

Over the course of Earth Month (April 2012), residents from more than 1,000 cities across the United States went to mywaterpledge.com and agreed to help their communities by cutting back in the following ways during the upcoming year:

• Water Saved
4706832956.5 gallons

• Dollars Saved
$11,641,683.27

• Less In Landfill
17649371 lbs.

• Water Bottles Not Used
1115400

The Wyland Foundation, founded by renowned environmental artist Wyland, created the Challenge with Toyota in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the primary federal law protecting water resources in the United States. Organizations spearheading the effort also include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water, U.S. Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, WaterPik, Rain Bird, Lowe's, STERLING Plumbing, PADI and Project AWARE.

The Challenge divided cities into four regions (West, Midwest, South and Northeast) and categorized them by population according to ZIP Codes (5,000-30,000 residents, 30,001-100,000 residents, 100,000+ residents). Cities with the highest percentage of residents within the city's ZIP code boundaries who made online pledges at www.mywaterpledge.com to reduce their water use were recognized as the winners. Participants in the winning cities will now be entered into a drawing to win more than $50,000 in prizes, including the Grand Prize of a Toyota Prius c Hybrid, as well as custom-designed sprinkler systems from Rain Bird, Eco-Flow Showerheads from WaterPik, water-saving toilets from STERLING Plumbing, and 1,000 gift cards for Lowe's Home Improvement Stores.