Question: What is the 40 Gallon Challenge?

Answer: The 40 Gallon Challenge is a voluntary nation wide campaign to increase water conservation. Sampson County residents and businesses are encouraged to reduce our county’s water use on average by 40 gallons per person, per day by adopting new water-saving techniques. The website http://www.40gallonchallenge.org/ contains the pledge card outlining water-saving practices that you or your family currently puts to use. By pledging new practices, you can see the total daily savings expected from your household. You can follow neighboring counties and other states across the nation to see how well they are doing with pledges to conserve water.

You should consider conserving water because drought conditions, population growth, and increase in water demands put added stress on the water supply. By doing your part to conserve water helps to decrease the water demands and the demand for energy-intensive systems that obtain, treat, and distribute the water.

Pledging to save at least 40 gallons of water adds up, in turn you’re saving money from decreased water usage. Saving a minimum of 40 gallons a day for a month adds up to more than 1,000 gallons saved per month. If you already have put into practice a water-conserving plan, then build on it to save more. For example, if cutting off the water while brushing your teeth is a practice you have already implemented, then don’t indicate that in your pledge because you are already doing that. This will not truly provide you with water usage savings. Implement a new practice to add to what you already do.

The 40 Gallon Challenge maps are a quick way to access participation of each county and state. Counties and States are highlighted based on how many gallons their citizens have pledged. The charts show the most popular practices being pledged, the pledged practices that are saving the most water daily, and counties that are pledging the most daily savings. For more information about conserving water, please contact your local County Extension Agent. Remember visit the website http://www.40gallonchallenge.org/ to make your pledge to conserve water.

Reminder: A new program for 2012 is the “Sampson County Friends of Horticulture.” This program offers monthly “How To” Horticultural Seminars. Please call (910) 592-7161 for more information. Please turn your radio to WCLN 1170AM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon (that’s lunch time) and listen to the Sampson County Ag Minute segment, which is brought to you by the Sampson County Extension Agricultural Agents. Please call the Sampson County Cooperative Extension Center at (910) 592-7161 with your horticultural questions and to register for any upcoming events. Be sure to check out the Ask An Expert Widget at sampson.ces.ncsu.edu for any questions you may have.