Be Water Wise

A Public-Private Partnership Supporting Environmental Education and Water Conservation

Over the past several years, improving water conservation has become increasingly critical for many U.S. cities. Widespread drought, conflicts over water rights and other water-related issues have gained media attention and a place on the agendas of public officials across the country.

Early in 2009, the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) began a new program aimed at creating a unique public-private partnership leveraging resources and expertise to bring a meaningful learning experience to a K-12 audience on the topic of water conservation: Be Water Wise. Be Water Wise engages partners from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to raise awareness of local water issues and improve water conservation in school buildings and grounds. In most cases, student-led Be Water Wise projects result in significant reductions in costs and improved water conservation.

The launch of Be Water Wise was made possible by generous contributions from the Wal-Mart Foundation and Johnson Controls, Inc. We are grateful to these organizations for helping to initiate the program and for their ongoing support. 

Key components of Be Water Wise include:

• A strong partnership among government agencies, businesses, the public school system, nonprofit organizations and other local groups to provide a meaningful learning experience for students;
• A curriculum supplement designed around local water issues and strongly correlated to local K-12 standards of learning;


• Professional development for teachers and school custodians, facilitated by experts in water conservation technologies, on how to engage students in an investigation of current levels of water consumption in school facilities;


• Integration of water conservation lesson plans and activities across the K-12 curriculum;


• Involvement of students in a survey of water use and in developing projects to improve water conservation at their schools;


• Student presentations of the findings and water conservation proposals to city officials;


• Grant-funded projects to improve water conservation at each participating school;


• Reporting and storytelling by teachers, students and partners in order to inform the development of a national Be Water Wise program model; and


• Collection and analysis of school water consumption and billing data to determine water and cost savings.

Be Water Wise Pilot Cities 

Click on a city logo to learn more about the Be Water Wise pilot programs

Be Water Wise Miami Partners: Miami-Dade County Public Schools The City of Miami Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department South Florida Water Management District U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4 Johnson Controls, Inc. HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc. The Wal-Mart Foundation	Be Water Wise Atlanta Partners: City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management U.S. EPA Region 4 Georgia Project WET Georgia Green & Healthy Schools Conserve Water Georgia Georgia Aquarium The Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech Johnson Controls, Inc. The Wal-Mart Foundation