We are all in agreement that water is our most precious resource. Without water life would not survive on our planet; all living things rely on water for their existence. Any effort to preserve this resource is valuable.

One such effort is Connect the Drops. This campaign came from the efforts of Ceres, a nonprofit sustainability advocacy organization, who organized this campaign to bring companies and individuals together to bring focus and collaboration to the issue of water conservation.

The water situation in California is critical and, according to Ceres, “currently 93 percent of California is categorized as being in a severe, extreme or exceptional drought. In 2014, the state’s agriculture economy lost more than $2.2 billion and farmers left more than half a million acres of fields unplanted.” The situation cannot be ignored and to make an impact there needs to be an organized consensus on how to responsibly work towards a solution.

From their site: “Connect the Drops is a ‘big tent’ campaign elevating the voice of California businesses in a time of unprecedented drought in favor of resilient water solutions such as conservation, reuse and integrated management of the state’s precious surface and groundwater supplies. It aims to promote a shared message that is positive, solutions-oriented, and bridges the state’s traditional water ‘divides.”

This campaign has reached not just businesses based in California but businesses, like General Mills, who source a number of their key ingredients from California. The first companies to sign on to the campaign were the Coca-Cola Company, Driscoll’s, Gap Inc., General Mills, KB Home, Levi Strauss and Co. and Symantec.

At the center of the Connect the Drops campaign is a declaration drafted by Ceres that talks about the economic benefits of sustainable water management and points up the important connections between healthy water supplies and the sustainability of the California economy.

Companies signing on to the Connect the Drops campaign agree to:

• Make and implement business commitments to support the state’s action plan for water conservation, and
• Engage with policymakers, employees, customers and their peers on improving water management and enhancing water efficiency.

Many of the companies who have signed on have made significant water conservation efforts like KB Home’s Sea Cliff development. The homes in Sea Cliff are equipped with Nexus eWater graywater recycling systems. The system captures about two-thirds of the waste water from the home and recycles it to irrigate lawns or for applications like toilet flushing. The homes are also landscaped with drought tolerant plants.

When the Connect the Drops campaign was launched in 2015, Felicia Marcus, chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board was quoted: “Water is an issue we can no longer take for granted whether we are looking at supply reliability, environmental protection or water quality. Fortunately, there are solutions within reach for the challenges we face. The business community’s voice in elevating the issues through efforts like Connect the Drops is hugely important for the future of our state’s economy and well-being.”

To find out more about Connect the Drops and how you can be a part of it, visit http://www.ceres.org/connect-the-drops/.