Download our calendar, and conserve water all year long
 
Bonita Springs is presenting its Water Conservation Calendar differently this year. The 2011 calendar is a “best of” edition, featuring student artwork used in earlier calendars. It is available only at www.BSU.us, saving the utility and its member-customers printing and postage costs.

The 2011 edition features cover drawings from the nine previous calendars, plus a few illustrations from students whose drawings were selected for more than one calendar.

Two versions of the calendar are offered for downloading and printing. One version, formatted for 11-inch by 17-inch paper, will print each month’s illustration and calendar on a single page, a format identical to earlier calendars. The second version is formatted for letter-size sheets and will print the drawings and calendars on separate pages.
 
No matter how they’re printed, the calendars serve as a reminder to be conscious of water use throughout the year. The students’ drawings encourage wise water use, and South Florida Water Management District’s Freddy the Alligator offers water conservation tips throughout the pages.

BSU has published the calendar annually since 2002 as a way to remind its member-customers of the importance of smart water use throughout the year. The utility’s mission includes the protection of water resources, and BSU encourages water conservation among its 40,000 member-customers.

The idea for the water-conservation calendar originated during a 2001 brainstorming session with the utility’s Advocacy Council. During the following years, the contest was open to Bonita Springs students who were in kindergarten through fifth grade; members of the Advocacy Council chose from as many as 800 entries each year looking for drawings that showed the importance of water and suggested ways to use it wisely. Students whose drawings were selected won movie tickets and were recognized during BSU board meetings.
 
Eighty-seven students have had their artwork featured in the calendars, and eight students had their pieces chosen more than once. Carla Garcia’s artwork was featured for six consecutive years, each year throughout her elementary school career. In addition to Carla, artwork from the following students is used in the 2011 calendar: Tasha Corley, Nicole Davis, Leilani Gonzalez, Emily Gruver, Katy Guzman, Cristopher Martinez, Sandra Pratt, Rebecca Szilagyi, Ryan Thompson and Jessica Vargas-Medina. The online calendar shows students’ names, schools and grades for the years they were chosen.

Bonita Springs Utilities is a not-for-profit water and wastewater utility founded by local citizens in 1971. Today, the member-owned utility serves homes and businesses in a 60-square-mile area. For more information, visit the BSU website at www.BSU.us, and check out the calendar while you’re there.

We hope you enjoy the calendar, and we wish you a Happy New Year.