The following is a press release from ACWA about the Kings River Conservation District winning the Huell Howser Best in Blue Award at the recent Fall ACWA Conference in San Diego. I don’t think the release went far enough. It didn’t mention the amazing amount of effort and missed family time put in by the KRDC staff. For instance; the accompanying photo has a picture of two unnamed slightly familiar looking guys and Cristel Tufenkjian and Rebecca Quist, also unnamed but I know who they are by sight. If you’ve gone to Riverdale, Lemoore and Kerman for Groundwater Sustainability Agency meetings you’ve seen Tufenkjian and Quist. At first I was going to title this report “Local Girls Make Good”.* But most likely you’ve also seen KRCD’s Brian Trevarrow and Randy Schilling helping the GSAs with outreach and technical guidance. So there were guys helping too. Congratulations from WaterWrights.net for this recognition of a job well done.http://krcd.org/kings-river-conservation-district-wins-2019-best-in-blue-award/
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) presented its Huell Howser Best in Blue Award to Kings River Conservation District for three highly successful Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) Proposition 218 Election campaigns. Ultimately, the campaigns point back to a guiding principal at KRCD: securing resources for the Kings River region. KRCD is honored to be recognized for its efforts to support local Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation.
KRCD conducted outreach campaigns to secure SGMA implementation funding via Proposition 218 Elections in McMullin Area, North Fork Kings, and South Fork Kings GSAs. Common messaging and tools developed in English and Spanish were used to educate landowners on SGMA, newly-formed GSAs, and a Prop 218 Assessment. KRCD used hyper-localized channels to reach its target audience of growers and rural community residents including mailers, meetings, workshops, emails, webpages, and a direct phone line. Collaboration with local nonprofits provided support to reach and educate residents of disadvantaged communities.
The campaign secured 5-Year budgets for the three GSAs while increasing transparency between the agencies and their landowners.
The award honoring exceptional communications and outreach programs developed and run by California water agencies was presented during the 2019 ACWA Fall Conference and Exhibition in San Diego on December 4, where water professionals are gathered for programs and panels on California’s critical water issues.
*See how I still slipped in a politically incorrect statement?
