BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Santa Clara Valley Water Commission’s Recommendation and Associated Staff Analysis from the Commission’s October 25, 2017, Meeting.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Consider and act on the recommendations by the Santa Clara Valley Water Commission, encouraging the Board to target and concentrate its potable and non-potable water reuse education and outreach efforts on the youth.
Body
SUMMARY:
Recommendation:
At the Santa Clara Valley Water Commission’s Meeting on October 25, 2017, the Commission approved by unanimous vote to encourage the Board of Directors to consider targeting and concentrating its potable and non-potable water reuse education and outreach efforts on youth.
Staff Analysis
The District currently has in place many targeted outreach materials on potable and non-potable water reuse efforts in its water Education Outreach programming. Staff recommends the Board review the current outreach efforts outlined below to see if they adequately address the Water Commission’s recommendations from its October meeting. Staff is also recommending that potable reuse messaging be specifically included under Education Outreach in the new Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) workplan which has already incorporated staff hours to address this request.
The District’s Water Education and Volunteer Program currently incorporates recycled water and potable reuse efforts in many of its existing education outreach materials for school and outdoor classroom curriculum, presentations, special events and youth tours. Furthermore, the Education Outreach team has been recently restructured under the new OCE, which was officially formalized on August 28, 2017. The purpose of the OCE is to advance and build a positive and proactive relationship with the community through engagement, education, and partnerships to build understanding, trust and support for the District’s goals and mission. The new Water Education and Volunteer Program is under the newly-formed OCE, and now encompasses three project areas: Education Outreach, Recycled Water Outreach and District Volunteer Support. This one program will sustain stronger cross-functional collaboration, support and unified messaging.
A recent example is the Program’s big success with the First Lego League Hydrodynamics Competition, an annual Robotics challenge, which resulted in a high volume of requests in the Fall from multiple teams for water education programming. Education Outreach staff fielded and responded to over 100 separate team requests, and worked closely with Recycled Water Outreach team to provide nine (9) youth tours at the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center that specifically covered both non-potable and potable reuse efforts. The youth tours at the SVAWPC reached more than 200 youth. The Education Outreach project staff also worked closely with other District areas to deliver additional programming and tours that also touched upon recycled and purified water, among other topics. Overall, Education Outreach staff provided over 15 tours/presentations, assisted in setting up District staff interviews with student teams, and saw over 500 students and coaches before the competition began. Since the interest was so high, additional tours are being scheduled after the competition.
Staff from both teams have also worked together over the last two years to develop and update specific materials, such as our “Teach A Mouse About Purified Water”, a book that explains the purification process, and have developed a specific Youth Tour Guide Toolkit, materials and script for tours at the SVAWPC.
Moving forward, the Water Education and Volunteer Program will continue to support these types of innovative collaborations. Staff will work together to fine-tune existing youth programming and materials to continue to include recycled and potable reuse messaging.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Office of the Clerk of the Board has budgeted funds to support the business meetings of the Board’s Advisory Committees for Fiscal Year 2017-2018.
CEQA:
The recommended action is a ministerial action and thus is not subject to the requirements of CEQA.
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Nina Hawk, (408) 630-2736