Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan has included Greensboro in a national effort to conserve water during April of this year and now she’s challenging all city residents to participate.

At a Greensboro City Council meeting in late March, Vaughan and the Greensboro City Council declared April as “Wyland’s National Mayor's Challenge for Water Conservation Month” in order to publicize the initiative.

This is the 11th year that the Wyland Foundation has held the friendly, national competition that asks people in participating communities to pledge to “use water more efficiently, reduce pollution, save energy, and explore ways to improve their community’s health.”

In addition to helping the environment, the City of Greensboro can win prizes – and so can you. If you go to www.mywaterpledge.com to join the campaign, take the pledge and watch the mayor’s call to action, you might win $3,000 toward your utilities, water-saving products for your home, product rebates or more.

The challenge – which encourages mayors across America to get their communities to participate – runs from April Fool’s Day to the last day of April. Of course, even after it’s over you should continue to try to preserve water whenever you can.

Vaughan stated in a press release announcing the effort that it’s very important for Greensboro residents to protect the water supply in all ways.

“Sustainability and environmental stewardship are priorities for keeping the green in Greensboro,” the mayor said. “Water conservation is part of this focus. That’s why I’m once again asking our residents to join me in taking this pledge to demonstrate how the Gate City values our natural resources.”

Wyland Foundation President Steve Creech, in the same press release, also made the case that there were very good reasons for people to take part.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve seen climate change and shifting weather patterns affect the distribution of water, pollution impacting the quality of water, and freshwater sources that are being used at a quicker rate than they are bring refilled,” he said “That’s why it is so important to have programs like this where people can learn what they can do to help.”