The City of Evanston invites the community to support National Drinking Water Week 2020, May 3 through May 9, and celebrate water as our most precious natural resource!

What is National Drinking Water Week?

For more than 30 years, communities across the United States have joined the American Water Works Association (AWWA) in recognizing the essential role that water plays in our daily lives by celebrating National Drinking Water Week. Throughout the week, AWWA and its partners provide information and host activities to highlight how important water is for us all. This year, Evanston has chosen the official AWWA theme “There when you need it" to recognize how vital water has been and will continue to be in our lives, and to acknowledge the Water Department’s productive and successful efforts to provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to our community for more than a century.

2020 Theme:"There when you need it"

Having potable water delivered to our faucet whenever we need it is easy to take for granted, but Evanston is fortunate to have a great source of water, Lake Michigan, in our backyard.  Using water wisely not only preserves this resource for current and future generations, it can make a real difference to our household budgets.

National Drinking Water Week Art Contest

2020 Award Winners:

• People's Choice Award: Two winners, Ben Miller from St. Athanasius School and Sophia Lunt from St. Athanasius School
• Mayor's Choice Award: Lillian Bird from Orrington Elementary School
• Water Spirit Award: Colin David from St. Athanasius School

 Winners will receive a plaque recognizing their achievement, to be distributed at a later date.

Starting Monday, March 16 through Monday, April 6, community members are encouraged to cast their vote online at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ndww2020

Details:

• The City is hosting its annual art contest for 3rd grade students to showcase their ideas of what “There when you need it” means to them.
• Submissions should fit on a 8.5x11 piece of paper.
• Online voting will occur from March 16 to April 6.
• The winners will be announced on the City's website.
• Hard-copies of the submissions should be delivered to the Evanston Water Production Bureau, 555 Lincoln Street.
• Submission Deadline: Thursday March 5, 2020 at 4 p.m.

Celebrate NDWW with the City

By 1897, Evanston’s water utility could pump 12 million gallons per day of untreated lake water. In 1911, the water utility started using hypochlorite of lime to disinfect water and improve safety. But the largest development in the city’s water infrastructure  came in 1913, when construction began on a plant that would provide the city with 12 million gallons per day of filtered and disinfected water. This was the first water treatment plant of its kind to be constructed along the shores of Lake Michigan Water treatment, and it inspired many families to move to Evanston for its superior water supply. The plant largely eliminated typhoid and other waterborne diseases from the city after 1914. Today, this plant is a critical part of Evanston’s award-winning commitment to public health.