| “People are starting to realize it’s time to start taking some action.” | |
| Tony Duplechin, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation |
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With about 50 percent of Louisiana’s drinking water coming from groundwater, it is a concern to the whole state when one aquifer begins to show signs of depletion. But how do you communicate the problem and get people to change their behavior to begin conserving water?
One of the most effective communications tools in Louisiana has been a video, “Our Lives...Our Water,” aimed at increasing awareness of the need for water conservation and encouraging conservation actions.
“Everyone in Louisiana should be educated on where water comes from, how we use it, and why water resources and aquifers are so important,” says James Welsh, commissioner of the state’s Office of Conservation in the Department of Natural Resources.
The award-winning video was produced by the Department of Natural Resources as part of a broader water-conservation communications effort.
Formatted as a 10-minute DVD, the video portrays an exchange between a grandfather and grandson about the importance of aquifers and caring for them, and then shows how the boy gets various members of his family to conserve water.
The video was created in response to dropping water levels in the Sparta Aquifer, which covers southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana and dips into the central portion of the state, notes Tony Duplechin, public education and outreach coordinator for the Office of Conservation’s Ground Water Resources Program.
For the past 50 years, water from the aquifer has been piped to 16 Louisiana parishes at a rate faster than can be replenished by rain. The Sparta can provide up to 56 million gallons per day, but current use is about 70 million gallons per day.
An additional concern is the potential for salt water to intrude into an aquifer—something that could be an issue for overused aquifers in coastal areas in many parts of the U.S.
“People are starting to realize it’s time to start taking some action,” says Duplechin.
The agency took the outreach idea from an existing video focused on the Sparta Aquifer that was produced in northern Louisiana. To take the conservation message statewide, a new script was written. The agency saved money by hiring the same actors and using much of the original video footage.
Newcomer, Morris, and Young Productions, Inc., of Monroe produced the video, which received a Silver Addy in March from the American Advertising Federation.
“We’ve done other videos, but this one seems to have the right blend of magic,” says Welsh.
About 15,000 copies of the DVD have been distributed free to community groups, environmental groups, student groups, and teachers. It is also on the Department of Natural Resources’ website, says Phyllis Darensbourg, the department’s public information director and the writer of the DVD’s script.
Darensbourg adds, “This is one of the department’s best products for education. Video makes a lasting impression.”
To view the “Our Lives...Our Water” video, go to http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/pubinfo/newsr/2008/0813con-gwater-video.ssi. For more information on the video’s production, contact Phyllis Darensbourg at (225) 342-8955, or phyllisd@dnr.state.la.us
