Yorkville residents can win over $50K in prizes in national water competition

They are upping the ante in this year’s National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, with Yorkville residents having the chance to win over $50,000 in eco-friendly prizes, including $3,000 toward home utility bills and water-saving fixtures.

The competition runs through the end of April.

Yorkville has shined in past competitions, placing fifth nationally in both 2022 and 2018 in their city-population category.

“This challenge is a great way for cities large and small to do our part for the plant and reward our residents for doing the right thing,” Mayor John Purcell said in a release by the city.

Residents interested in joining the challenge to conserve water, energy and other natural resources can sign-up online at mywaterpledge.com where they can select from different pledge options.

Cities with the highest percentage of residents taking the pledge and completing water projects will be awarded the prizes. School districts can also enter, according to the release.

City standings in the challenge are listed on the website. Participants can monitor how their successful pledges positively affect their communities by addressing local water consumption, reducing utility costs, and enhancing community health.

The annual competition is hosted by the Wyland Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than 2,000 cities have participated, reducing their freshwater consumption by billions of gallons, cutting millions of pound of waste sent to landfills, and preventing thousands of pounds of hazardous waste from entering local water sheds, according to the release.

“A sustainable water source for the City’s future water supply is a main focus for our community and its residents,” according to Yorkville’s draft statement in supporting the challenge. “Yorkville currently obtains its water from the deep sandstone aquifer, which is being steadily drawn down as it is being pumped beyond its long-term sustainable yield due to increasing water demands and growth of the region. The City is committed to building strong, collaborative relationships regionally for sustainable water use. We hope to partner with our neighboring communities and our actual neighbors to promote water conservation efforts in the home. By taking the water pledge, you can help extend the capacity of the City’s water supply.”

Because the region’s large population growth has led to unsustainable usage of the aquifer for water consumption, the city is spending more than $100 million to construct the infrastructure necessary to connect to Lake Michigan water. The official switch to Lake Michigan water will be in 2028.

Underground aquifers can take tens or hundreds of thousands of years to replenish once harvested unsustainably.

The city hopes the challenge encourages residents to be more aware of the importance of the natural resources they use on a daily basis, the need to protect those precious resources, and how quickly small actions can add up to benefit the whole community.