Bringing ads to bear in water-quality battle
June Casagrande
How do you get individuals to pay attention to water-quality
rules? Take a lesson from Madison Avenue.
The city will soon be asking themselves just how pithy they want
to get while trying to persuade people not to flick their cigarette
butts in the street or to let soapy water from washing a car run down
the sidewalk and into the storm drain.
“It’s not exactly the ‘Got Milk?’ approach, but that’s the general
idea,” said Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff, who will present some
rough ideas for a public information campaign at Thursday’s meeting
of the city’s water-quality committee.
“Welcome to the beach. Did your runoff get here before you did?”
“You + your dog = bad. You + your dog + your bag = good.”
“All roads lead to the bay. Flick your butt in the ashtray.”
These are just some of the messages that could soon be trumpeted
from banners on Coast Highway and Newport Boulevard.
As lighthearted as the campaign sounds, it’s actually part of the
grave task of trying to meet tough new water-quality rules. Since the
Orange County Sanitation District imposed the new rules last year,
with the city’s support, officials have been worried about how they
will comply with the new mandate to keep pollutants out of the storm
drains.
The city has the power to change its own behavior and has followed
through with stepped up street sweeping, putting filters in storm
drains and finding creative ways to stop debris from rushing into the
bay. And getting businesses to behave is a realistic goal. Changing
individuals’ behavior has loomed as the biggest bugaboo.
So salesmanship may be the solution.
If members of the water-quality committee like this approach to
public education, they may send the idea with their blessing along to
the City Council. If not, City Hall’s ad wizards will go back to the
drawing board.
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