BY PAUL STEINHAUSER

The communities of Mahtomedi, Birchwood and White Bear Lake; the Mahtomedi and White Bear school districts and MAGI and H2O for Life are collaborating in creating Race to Reduce, an initiative designed to revamp how we think about and use water in our homes, in our lives. Its soft launch was last week with a “Fix a Leak a Week” event in the schools.  Look for more about it as the H2O Home Makeover Kits and other promotions hit the streets this coming summer.  Some recent points of progress:

• Mayors Emerson, Wingfield and Marshall  signed on for developing  a rebate program for their citizens who upgrade to a dual flush toilet.  The 3 communities also agreed to develop  one lawn watering policy, creating consistency between the cities.
• A Race to Reduce grant proposal has been submitted to the Bush Foundation, and another is now being prepared for submission to the Bremer Foundation.
• We are in conversations with the City of White Bear around the possibility that the White Bear Lake Conservation District and Race to Reduce share the city Marketfest booth this summer.

To learn more or to get involved, contact infomahtomedigreen.org

Photo by Tom Raftery via Creative Commons / Flickr