BACKGROUND

UNC launches ‘Every Drop Counts’ campaign to inform campus about local water emergency

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has developed a new Web site to help drive campuswide communications about the current water emergency facing the Chapel Hill-Carrboro communities. The Web site is part of a new communications campaign called "Every Drop Counts."

The Web site is located at http://www.unc.edu/depts/pubserv/savewater/ and is linked off the UNC home page, www.unc.edu. The site includes a printable poster now going up across campus and emphasizes the practical ways in which students, faculty and staff can help reduce water consumption. Other communications to date have included campuswide e-mails. Some of the other plans include placards in Chapel Hill Transit buses, stickers in bathrooms and posters.

The university has set a goal of reducing its water usage by 25 percent compared to last year in response to the current community emergency. Nancy Suttenfield, vice chancellor for finance and administration, is leading the campuswide effort to reach that goal.

News editors and assignment desks might also consider covering a related Oct. 9 event on the UNC campus being organized by a student. The public forum will examine the drought's impact on the Chapel

Hill-Carrboro area and the Piedmont. The forum will be held at 7 p.m. in 133 Rosenau Hall, located off Pittsboro Street. Several UNC faculty and administrators and Orange Water and Sewer Authority Executive Director Ed Kerwin will speak and address questions about the current drought. UNC student Dan Waxman, who can be reached at dewaxman@email.unc.edu, is coordinating the event.

For assistance with ongoing water emergency related stories and coverage plans, contact the News Services staff, 962-2091.

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Contact: Mike McFarland, 962-8593