Mayor Turner Presents Award to Local School

November 16, 2023

HOUSTON - Mayor Sylvester Turner attended a special assembly on November 15, 2023, to award local students for their efforts in promoting water conservation. The mayor, along with officials from Houston Public Works, the Office of Resilience and Sustainability, and the Wyland Foundation presented the students at Baylor College of Medicine Academy at James D. Ryan Middle School with the award for winning the 2023 Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.
 
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner accepted the Wyland Foundation’s challenge back in April, encouraging community pledges to save water. The community responded by pledging to save 188 million gallons of water. This is the second year in a row the City of Houston won the Wyland Foundation’s challenge. Houston was named a “Water-Wise City” by the Wyland Foundation for populations above 600,000.

As part of the prize, the school with the most pledges to conserve water in the Houston region was selected to receive 100 pairs of Zenni Remakes™ eyeglasses, specially designed to reduce eye damage caused by prolonged exposure to blue light. Each pair is crafted from recycled plastics equivalent to three discarded single-use plastic water bottles. During Wednesday’s assembly, Mayor Turner also presented Baylor College of Medicine Academy at James D. Ryan Middle School students with a special water conservation pin.

“These students recognize that conserving water is crucial for the Houston region,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “We continue to recover from a record-breaking drought and efforts to preserve our most precious resource do not have an age limit. These students represent the leaders of tomorrow and the City of Houston is proud of what they’ve accomplished. We can all take small steps today to build a more resilient future.”
 
As part of the Wyland Foundation national challenge, the Houston region also committed to additional methods of conservation:

• Stop using 453,952 single-use plastic water bottles.


• Prevent 12,044 pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds.


• Keep 5,220,882 pounds of waste out of landfills.


• Save 703,464,370 pounds of carbon dioxide.


• Save 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity.


• Save $2,385,351 in consumer costs.

The Houston community can find more information about water conservation efforts, including ways to save water and save money daily here.

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