Day of fun, music and events helps citizens and businesses learn how to capture and use rainwater for drinking and irrigation.
The award-winning Rainwater Revival has been set for October 8 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Roger Hanks Park in Dripping Springs. The second annual event will include many of the features that made the 2010 event a success, with vendors, an auction of professionally decorated rain barrels, speakers on many rain-harvesting-related topics, music and food. An estimated 1,000 people attended the event last October in the Texas Hill Country.
Envision Central Texas, a non-profit organization designed to address growth while recognizing the interests of the region’s citizens, recently named the 2010 Rainwater Revival winner of its Community Stewardship Award for Public Awareness. Karen Ford, who was Precinct 4 County Commissioner in 2010 and led the Hays County Water Conservation Working Group (HCWCWG) that produced the Revival, accepted the award on behalf of the County and the HCWCWG from Hays County Judge Bert Cobb, M.D., one of several regional elected officials who presented Envision Central Texas awards in different categories. Award winners in all categories received a hand-blown glass bowl from Hays County business Wimberley Glass Works.
Hays County Precinct 4 Commissioner Ray Whisenant has already requested and received a commitment from the Hays County Commissioners Court to help sponsor the 2011 Revival. Other sponsors to date include the Hill Country Alliance, which is producing the 2011 event, the Lower Colorado River Authority, Kathi Thomas Design, The Preserve at Walnut Springs and Austin Green Water.
The HCWCWG developed the Rainwater Revival to call attention to the ways in which everyone from the average homeowner to large businesses could take advantage of rainwater catchment as a way to conserve water, a priority in Hays County and much of Central Texas.
“During two recent years of drought, homes with rainwater catchment systems were able to avoid having to buy trucked-in water or drill new wells into an aquifer that is already being depleted,” said Ford. “The Rainwater Revival will help everyone who is interested in finding a kinder, less expensive way to have water learn how rainwater catchment can fit into their lifestyle and budget.”
For more information on helping to make the second annual Rainwater Revival a splashing success by becoming a sponsor, vendor or participant, go to www.rainwaterrevival.com.
Media contacts:
Laureen Chernow, 512.393.2296; laureen.chernow@co.hays.tx.us
Kathi Thomas, 512.479.9H2O; info@rainwaterrevival.com
