Getting The Word Out: ADWR Uses A Host Of Media For Keeping The Public Informed
Public agencies that provide direct services to their “customer base” – another way of saying “taxpayers” – have a wide variety of ways to get their service message out to those customers these days.
At the Arizona Department of Water Resources, we still do it the old-fashioned way in a lot of cases. We do presentations before civic groups about issues related to our water supplies. And we set up booths at public events, especially events related to water and water conservation. In communications circles, it’s called “outreach,” and it remains a valuable tool for keeping the public informed.
Increasingly, we also use electronic media to reach out to all those valued customers. Just five or six years ago, this (mostly!) weekly newsletter – Arizona Water News – had a readership that tallied only in the hundreds.
Today, our subscribers number in excess of 14,000 – the size of a healthy small-town newspaper. The enhanced popularity of Water News can be attributed to a lot of things, but one of them surely is our strong focus on providing topical information that water users (literally everyone, in other words) can find useful. As a result, Arizona Water News has become an important tool for getting out the word about issues and events affecting our water supplies in Arizona and the Southwest.
It is not ADWR’s sole outreach publication, however.
Another valuable newsletter tool is one with a very specific purpose – informing water-community stakeholders of water-project funding opportunities available to the public.
Our “Stakeholder Funding Opportunities & Resources” newsletter identifies infrastructure and water-conservation funds “that may be available to the public to assist in local water conservation and infrastructure projects.”
ADWR’s Statewide Planning Section staff began publishing the newsletter in 2022, in an effort to engage with stakeholders on new water funding opportunities.
As developed, the newsletter notifies stakeholders about various water related grant openings and other resources available to water providers, districts and rural communities across the state.
It became an immediate hit. The newsletter now regularly is sent out to over 19,000 stakeholders statewide, informing the public about water infrastructure and conservation funding opportunities at the local, state, and federal levels.
The newsletter also provides information about new programs and policies related to water conservation and updates on the progress of existing projects. The Department also sees this newsletter as an opportunity to engage with rural stakeholders on various water infrastructure and conservation opportunities.
The most recent volume includes information about a WaterSMART Applied Science grant, which seeks out “nature-based solutions” that can “use natural features and processes to combat climate change, improve water quality, restore, and protect wetlands, stabilize shorelines, and reduce flood risk.” It also features a Water Conservation Field Services Program grant award for selected projects, as well as other grants.
The newsletter also provides important links and information about application deadlines.
If you have an interest in finding out more about water-related funding opportunities and resources, or if you would like to subscribe to our newsletter, contact [email protected] .
Important disclaimer: As with other ADWR-produced communications tools, the Department neither endorses nor affirms opinions expressed or implied in any grant opportunities shared in the Stakeholder Funding Opportunities & Resources newsletter.
Another important disclaimer: Although ADWR is not directly involved in the application or grant writing process, we may assist with technical questions that fall within the regulatory scope of the Department.