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Save Water AND Money: The City of WPB Shows You How! · Inside West Palm Beach

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  Welcome to the City Center podcast. I'm
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  Gerry Marcelo. West Palm Beach is known
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  for warm temperatures and tropical style
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  rains, but in spite of our tropical
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  moisture, we are a city that needs to
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  worry about conserving water. We'll
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  discuss why that is and more importantly
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  how residents can be a part of the
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  solution when it comes to water
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  conservation. Next on the City Center
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  podcast.
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  And joining me today is Elaine Christian,
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  Sustainability Supervisor for the City
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  of West Palm Beach. Elaine, welcome.
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  Thank you for having
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  me. I'm so excited to be
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  here. You know, one of the things that
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  pops into my mind immediately is people
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  know that we've got, you know,
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  administration here in the city. We have
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  police, we have fire, we have all the
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  departments and then you say, well, what
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  do you have for sustainability? People
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  don't even know about sustainability.
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  Tell us a little bit about what you guys
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  do. So the Office of Sustainability has
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  been around since 2008 for the City of
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  West Palm Beach and we do so many
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  things. We are, we look holistically. We
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  work with all different departments
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  within the city. We focus on everything
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  sustainability. I think if you think of
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  any sort of aspect that is involved with
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  sustainability, we probably have a
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  program or initiative that covers it from
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  tree giveaways, rain barrel
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  giveaways, toilet credits, you name it.
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  We're probably doing it. We're working
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  on helping the city become a better place
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  to live, work and play. And that's
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  important. Obviously, the quality of life
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  is one of the magic things about
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  West Palm Beach. And as we continue to
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  grow, it's easy, that's easily lost. So
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  we really need to be thinking about so
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  sustainability. You guys are thinking
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  about not only today, but frankly, think
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  looking into the future, making sure
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  that the city has got everything it's
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  going to be needing,
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  not in 2026, but 2036,
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  46. Absolutely. And how did you get
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  involved in
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  sustainability? Oh gosh. So my
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  degree is in marine biology. Wow. And I
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  graduated from Auburn University and
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  after that, you know, knew that I wanted
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  to be in a coastal area, was really
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  looking at Florida or California, and
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  ended up just applying to a lot of
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  different places. And the Smithsonian
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  Marine Station in Fort Pierce reached
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  out to me and offered me a paid
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  internship and out of college. That
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  sounds really great. Yeah, she does. So I
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  moved on down to Fort Pierce and actually
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  lived in Port St. Lucie for a little bit.
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  And after that, you
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  know, paid internships
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  only last so long. So looked for other
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  positions in the area, ended up applying
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  to the Cox Science Center and Aquarium,
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  previously known as the South Florida
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  Science Center, and was offered a
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  position as a science
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  educator there. So I
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  was going around to different schools in
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  the area every single day, offering
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  different programs on just anything
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  science-based and teaching all levels
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  from kindergarten to adults and worked
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  with them for a couple years. And
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  honestly, my mom one day just sent me the
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  job listing for a sustainability
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  program coordinator with the city. And I
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  looked at it and I said, "Wow, you really
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  have high hopes for me here." And, you
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  know, she said, "Take a
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  chance, apply for it."
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  And honestly, from just a young age, I've
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  always been interested in
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  conservation. I love nature. You'd always
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  find me outside. I'd rather be outside
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  than inside and just enjoying nature
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  overall, trees, even playing in the dirt.
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  One of the things that, of your long list
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  of things that you've done
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  leading up to this, education and
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  teaching people, instructing people about
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  things, I think that'd be like a major
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  part of what's involved in
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  sustainability. Of course, education is a
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  huge component. And for the past nine
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  and a half years, I was a sustainability
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  program coordinator focused on education
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  and outreach, now moved into the
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  supervisor role. But that's really our
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  main focus. All of our team really
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  focuses on education, whether they're
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  focused on internal operations, working
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  with other departments within the city,
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  or looking at green infrastructure. We're
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  always out and about either talking
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  with residents, organizations that are in
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  the area, or just, like I said, just
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  our city departments. It's a
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  collaborative effort and
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  we all have to work together
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  and be educated. We understand that not
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  everyone knows as much as everyone else.
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  And we all start at different levels and
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  that's really kind of the joy in it,
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  is helping people understand
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  sustainability. Do you find
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  that a lot of people are coming
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  and asking questions? Is it people hungry
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  for information about it?
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  They are definitely. We're out and about
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  in the community all the
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  time too. And we find that
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  people come up to our tables and ask us
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  questions about what they can do. They
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  see a problem within
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  their community. Maybe it's just their
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  neighborhood and they come to
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  us and ask us for our advice.
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  And we're always happy to
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  provide any information we can.
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  So obviously you have different programs
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  and different events
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  that you attend. Is there a
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  list of where these events may be and
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  when you're going to be there?
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  Of course. So on our website, wpb.org
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  slash green, we have an
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  event calendar and we also
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  post all of our events on our Facebook
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  and our Instagram, which is at wpbgreen.
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  Oh, there you go. And we'll be mentioning
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  that web address again, but it's wpb.org
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  front slash green. Yes. Okay. Got it. So
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  we'll be mentioning that again,
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  because that's important. We're here to
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  talk about water. Yes.
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  West Palm Beach is a subtropical town.
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  You know, we get a lot of water. It's
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  very warm here. A lot
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  of people just don't understand that
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  water conservation for
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  this city is very important.
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  Tell us why. It is every single day.
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  There are more and more
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  people moving into South Florida,
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  into our city, which is great. We love to
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  see it. But that means
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  that there is a stress on our
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  resources and especially our water
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  supplies. So that is something that we
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  really have to protect.
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  We have to look at conservation and it's,
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  it's not just the office of
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  sustainability doing it.
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  It's everyone putting in their parts to
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  help conserve water within our area.
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  And water, you know, there are parts
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  right now in 2026 where
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  in the west part of the state, there's a,
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  there's a fairly
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  significant drought situation.
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  It's not hard to imagine that happening
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  right here. And it has in
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  the past and we have looked
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  at watering restrictions, especially
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  irrigation is, you know, one
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  of our, the largest consumers
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  for water and South Florida water
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  management district in the past has put
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  in some restrictions
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  where you limit the number of days per
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  week that you water your
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  lawn or your plants and,
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  and that can help conserve water
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  tremendously. And it's not just a matter
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  of becoming conservative
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  when the water is running low. It's
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  conserving all the time.
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  Right. It's an everyday issue.
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  It's something that we have to be
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  concerned about every single day. And
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  this never goes away. You
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  know, it's something that we just have to
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  be very conscious of
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  every day and do our part,
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  do what we can. And, and that
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  collectively makes a
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  very huge impact overall.
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  Let's talk about some of the things that
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  residents can do to get involved with
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  saving water. There's
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  a couple of really big ones, but right in
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  front of us here, we have
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  some small items that are
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  actually really quite interesting. Let's,
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  let's go over a couple of them.
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  Yes. One of my favorites is our five
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  minute shower timer.
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  Okay. Let me hold that up.
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  This one is a crowd favorite. So how's it
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  work? So you, it has a
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  suction cup on the back
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  and you would put it in your shower. So
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  when you are in the shower,
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  you'll turn it so that the sand
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  starts to, to drain down maybe the other
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  way though. Sorry. I
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  can't see that from the back.
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  And so then that tells you when that five
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  minutes is running out. So
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  when the sand all goes to the
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  bottom, you know that it's been five
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  minutes. You know, I gotta
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  tell you, I'm a, I'm a criminal
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  in that sense. I like long showers. I'd
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  probably be turning this
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  thing back over. And hopefully
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  you feel a little guilty if you have to.
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  You probably know that.
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  Yeah. But that's a great idea.
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  It's, it's so easy to get lost. You're
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  thinking about work or life
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  and whatever. And suddenly
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  five minutes turns into 10, 15. Right.
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  And that's a huge amount of
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  water. Yeah. That's really neat.
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  Yeah. All right. Well, we love that one.
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  I'm also looking at
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  indoor water use as a kitchen
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  aerator here. So this is a nice little
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  device. If your faucet does
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  not currently have an aerator on
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  it, you can install one of these and it
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  decreases the amount of
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  water coming out. It does not
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  decrease the pressure though. I was going
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  to ask you about that. It
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  would seem to me that restricting
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  or slowing down the water in some form
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  would really make it sort
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  of a dribble as opposed to
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  forceful. This really does the job. It
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  does the job. And, um, and we
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  often give them away for free
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  out at our events. So if you stop by our
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  table, we have them and
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  you can try them out, but,
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  but also just look at your own faucets at
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  home and just check to see
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  if you already have one. A lot
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  of fixtures already come with them. Um,
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  but they may be varying, um,
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  efficiencies. So some may
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  conserve more water than others. That's
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  something you can look at. Do you know,
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  well, fan, hopefully
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  I'm not surprising you with this, that if
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  you are like a new
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  construction, you know, a new
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  apartment or a condo that you're moving
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  in is, are there law, are
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  there rules and code that will
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  make you use a restricted water flow? So
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  I know for toilets there
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  are, but I don't know for sure.
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  I don't know if there's like a law. We're
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  going to be talking about
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  toilets a little bit here.
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  Yes. We fortunately don't have one to
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  demonstrate to you, but we do have a
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  couple of last items here.
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  Let's go ahead and talk about this cool
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  little device. Yes. So
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  that is a hose timer or an
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  irrigation timer. So you can hook that up
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  and you can set the times. So
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  if you have a sprinkler that
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  you're using, maybe a manual one that you
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  put out and in your yard,
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  um, then that can set the timer
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  for you and you can walk away. You can go
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  inside. Maybe you're cooking
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  or doing something else and
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  you don't have to worry about wasting a
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  bunch of water. How many
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  times have I done exactly that?
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  Put out a manual sprinkler, turn it on
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  just as the sun's going
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  down. And then I wake up in the
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  middle of the night and I put down way
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  too much water on the lawn.
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  So this is a great device.
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  And the neat thing about it is that it's,
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  it's, it can be moved to different
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  spigots. If you don't,
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  you know, just have one you can use in
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  different places, a great
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  little device to save a ton of
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  water. Is it true that irrigation is like
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  one of the primary ways
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  that we use too much water?
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  Especially outdoors. Yes. Outside the
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  home for sure. Irrigation
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  is a huge component of water
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  usage inside the home. Toilets. Toilets.
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  Again, we're going to get
• 7:11:44
  back. We're talking about
• 7:11:45
  toilets in just a little bit, but there's
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  one last item here and this
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  is more of a common sense one.
• 7:11:50
  Here we have a hose gun. Hose nozzle.
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  Hose nozzle. We're going to call it a
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  nozzle. It looks like a
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  gun, but that's fine. It's a nozzle. What
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  about this nozzle is
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  conserved, conserved water. So
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  it's going to stop the flow of water. And
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  also it has different, you
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  can change different modes on
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  the, the head there. And so you can
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  either, if you want a lot of water to
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  come out, you can have a
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  lot of water, or if you want just like a
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  mist, you can have a mist
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  coming out. So it kind of varies.
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  And I know for me, I have some more
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  delicate plants around my
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  home that prefer mist rather
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  than a soak. So, so you can use that.
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  But, but also if you think
• 7:12:31
  about it, a lot of times,
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  if you're out just using your hose and
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  there's not a hose nozzle on the end,
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  that water is just flowing freely and it
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  can waste a lot. I got to tell you, I've,
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  I've seen folks washing their cars and
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  they have just the raw
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  hose and it's just water just
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  running down the curb right into, right
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  into the, in the storm
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  drain. That is a shame. So
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  this is a smart thing to have. It's
• 7:12:55
  inexpensive. And then on top
• 7:12:56
  of that, you just simply adjust
• 7:12:57
  it to the kind of stream you need,
• 7:12:59
  whether it's a jet for whatever and
• 7:13:02
  you're in rock and roll.
• 7:13:03
  So it's, it's a great thing to have. So
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  we've gone over some of the
• 7:13:06
  things that we can do inside
• 7:13:07
  and outside, just simple things to help
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  conserve water. But there's
• 7:13:11
  a one item that you really
• 7:13:13
  want to talk about. Let's talk about this
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  program that you've got
• 7:13:15
  coming up. It's very exciting.
• 7:13:16
  Yes. So the high efficiency toilet credit
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  program is, is a very great
• 7:13:21
  way to save money when you
• 7:13:23
  are replacing your toilets and also
• 7:13:24
  decrease your water usage
• 7:13:26
  inside the home as well.
• 7:13:27
  Okay. So what's the deal? It's, are we
• 7:13:30
  buying a new toilet or are we just
• 7:13:32
  changing the guts out?
• 7:13:33
  What's, what's the program? Sure. So the
• 7:13:35
  program has evolved over
• 7:13:36
  time. It used to be a voucher
• 7:13:38
  program, but now it is currently a water
• 7:13:41
  bill credit program. So
• 7:13:42
  you will be purchasing the
• 7:13:44
  toilet beforehand. We encourage you to go
• 7:13:46
  to our website, which is
• 7:13:47
  wpb.org slash save water.
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  And you can view all of the program
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  requirements, the steps to apply,
• 7:13:53
  frequently asked questions, and the
• 7:13:55
  application is available on there.
• 7:13:57
  But the first thing you're going to want
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  to do is make sure you're
• 7:13:59
  eligible for the program.
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  Who is eligible? So, um, city of West
• 7:14:04
  Palm Beach water customers are eligible
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  and I really encourage
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  everyone to go onto the website, just
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  read through the details.
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  But if you have any questions,
• 7:14:12
  make sure you reach out to me, my email
• 7:14:13
  and phone number is on the webpage.
• 7:14:15
  Okay. Got it. Got it. Okay. So that's a
• 7:14:17
  great step forward. So the
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  ideas is that you will go out and
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  purchase a high efficiency toilet and you
• 7:14:25
  have information about
• 7:14:26
  what qualifies as all that.
• 7:14:28
  And then go out and get that. And then
• 7:14:29
  there's a credit. Now I
• 7:14:31
  just want to cover that basis,
• 7:14:32
  not necessarily a voucher, but you get,
• 7:14:34
  is it, you get
• 7:14:35
  credits on your water bill?
• 7:14:36
  Yes, that is correct. So if you purchase
• 7:14:39
  a toilet for $150, you submit your
• 7:14:43
  receipt along with your
• 7:14:43
  application to me. I review everything,
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  make sure everything checks
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  out. And once it's approved,
• 7:14:49
  we're, we're able to give up to $125 back
• 7:14:51
  onto the water account. So if you
• 7:14:52
  purchased the toilet for
• 7:14:53
  150, we give 125 back. Gotcha. Gotcha. So
• 7:14:57
  all the way up to $125,
• 7:15:00
  if you buy $150 toilet,
• 7:15:02
  your investment in the deal is the 25.
• 7:15:05
  That's pretty good.
• 7:15:06
  So well, it keeps you,
• 7:15:07
  it keeps people from going out and buying
• 7:15:08
  a $5,000 toilet. Right.
• 7:15:10
  And expecting to pay back.
• 7:15:11
  I've seen some pretty expensive. Pretty
• 7:15:12
  expensive toilets, but, but okay. So,
• 7:15:15
  and, and to the point,
• 7:15:17
  high efficiency toilets, what makes a
• 7:15:20
  toilet high efficiency? Why are older
• 7:15:23
  toilets low efficiency?
• 7:15:25
  How much water do they use? So before
• 7:15:27
  1995, toilets were using three, five,
• 7:15:31
  maybe seven gallons per
• 7:15:32
  flush. And so once we, once water sense
• 7:15:36
  came into play, they have
• 7:15:37
  the high efficiency toilets.
• 7:15:38
  They now use 1.28 gallons or less. So,
• 7:15:42
  and you still have the
• 7:15:42
  ability to do the job. They do. Yes.
• 7:15:46
  It's a good question. It is a good
• 7:15:47
  question. Yes. All right. So the idea is
• 7:15:50
  that they will be marked
• 7:15:52
  as high efficiency. You know that the,
• 7:15:54
  you can just tell by the
• 7:15:55
  amount of water used gallons per
• 7:15:57
  flush, how much water, you know, which
• 7:16:00
  ones qualify, and then
• 7:16:01
  you can pick that up, get it
• 7:16:03
  installed. And then you get credit,
• 7:16:05
  credit back on your water
• 7:16:06
  bill. Yes. And if you have any
• 7:16:08
  questions, I mean, I've even had
• 7:16:09
  residents contact me after they've gone
• 7:16:12
  to the store, send me a
• 7:16:13
  picture while they're in the store. And
• 7:16:15
  they give me a call and they
• 7:16:17
  say, Hey, I just emailed you a
• 7:16:18
  picture of this toilet. Can I get it? And
• 7:16:21
  yeah, I'm able to, so people
• 7:16:22
  actually get, that's pretty
• 7:16:24
  neat. Yes. And I mean, it's a great way
• 7:16:25
  just to make sure you're
• 7:16:26
  getting what, you know, is, is
• 7:16:28
  eligible for the program. There are some
• 7:16:30
  tricky toilets out there
• 7:16:32
  that are dual flush. And so I
• 7:16:34
  do, there is some, some information,
• 7:16:39
  there's some information on the website
• 7:16:40
  about the dual flush
• 7:16:41
  toilets. So the maximum flush rate cannot
• 7:16:44
  exceed a certain amount. So you have to
• 7:16:47
  be cautious of that.
• 7:16:48
  So you're still dealing with a maximum
• 7:16:51
  flush rate as for
• 7:16:53
  qualification is, I know what you're
• 7:16:54
  talking about, the dual, dual, but you
• 7:16:56
  pick one or the other,
• 7:16:57
  depending on your need, right. But
• 7:17:01
  you're dealing with the maximum amount of
• 7:17:02
  water that's going to be
• 7:17:03
  used during a specific kind
• 7:17:05
  of flush. Correct. Gotcha. Fascinating.
• 7:17:09
  So what other requirements?
• 7:17:11
  So depending on the age of the
• 7:17:13
  home, we've currently, we've made some
• 7:17:15
  changes recently. But as
• 7:17:17
  it stands, if your home was
• 7:17:18
  built in 1995 or before, so in 1994, 93,
• 7:17:22
  92, you would be replacing
• 7:17:25
  with a 1.28 gallon per flush
• 7:17:27
  toilet. If your property was built after
• 7:17:31
  1995, so in 96, 97, 98, so
• 7:17:35
  on, you would be replacing a 1.6
• 7:17:37
  gallon per flush toilet with a 1.0 gallon
• 7:17:39
  per flush or less. So
• 7:17:41
  after 1995, building code said
• 7:17:43
  that all new construction had to have 1.6
• 7:17:46
  gallon per flush toilets or
• 7:17:47
  less. And so that's where the
• 7:17:49
  1.6 to 1.0 comes into play. So you just
• 7:17:52
  have to be really cautious
• 7:17:53
  about that. But all of that is
• 7:17:55
  detailed out on the website. And again, I
• 7:17:57
  encourage everyone call me,
• 7:17:59
  email me. I'm happy to walk them
• 7:18:00
  through it. Send you pictures. Yes. Send
• 7:18:02
  me pictures. All right.
• 7:18:05
  Well, it again, it is an
• 7:18:07
  important program. A tremendous amount of
• 7:18:10
  water to be saved here,
• 7:18:12
  you know, within the house.
• 7:18:14
  Obviously, irrigation is still a huge
• 7:18:16
  part of it. But, you know, doing
• 7:18:18
  everything we can to minimize
• 7:18:21
  the amount of water that we're that we're
• 7:18:23
  expending inside the home saves,
• 7:18:26
  basically preserves the
• 7:18:27
  future. Correct. Yeah. So it's going to
• 7:18:29
  reduce strain on our
• 7:18:30
  infrastructure. It's going to protect
• 7:18:32
  our ecosystems. It's going to also save
• 7:18:34
  residents money. I mean, that's the,
• 7:18:35
  that's the big one here,
• 7:18:36
  right? I mean, we all are concerned about
• 7:18:38
  money, of course, but also just
• 7:18:40
  conserving our precious
• 7:18:41
  resources is a huge component as well.
• 7:18:44
  Huge amount of information. A lot of
• 7:18:45
  things that people need
• 7:18:46
  to read up on to take part in these
• 7:18:48
  programs and to do the right thing.
• 7:18:50
  Again, the website is
• 7:18:51
  w w p p dot org slash save water. Save
• 7:18:56
  water. Okay. W p p dot org
• 7:18:58
  slash slash save water. Really,
• 7:19:01
  really cool. What are the things that we
• 7:19:02
  need to cover today? So we also have
• 7:19:04
  other great programs
• 7:19:05
  to help can save or help conserve water.
• 7:19:08
  So we have a rain barrel
• 7:19:10
  giveaway. And, um, and on that
• 7:19:12
  same website, the w p p dot org slash
• 7:19:14
  save water, you can go on there, um, and
• 7:19:16
  register for our next
• 7:19:18
  rain barrel giveaway. Okay. It's coming
• 7:19:20
  up on, I believe it's, oh, is
• 7:19:22
  it like a wooden rain barrel
• 7:19:23
  or what? No, not a wooden rain barrel. So
• 7:19:25
  these are actually
• 7:19:25
  repurposed barrels that used to hold
• 7:19:27
  syrup for soda products. Sweet. Yeah. So
• 7:19:31
  instead of them going to the
• 7:19:32
  landfill and going to trash,
• 7:19:35
  you know, contributing to the, our
• 7:19:37
  overall waste problem, they're being
• 7:19:39
  repurposed and they're
• 7:19:40
  turned into rain barrels. They are food
• 7:19:42
  grade safe. So they've been triple rents.
• 7:19:44
  They're safe for you
• 7:19:45
  to use on your plants. And you can even
• 7:19:48
  use the rainwater to water
• 7:19:49
  your cars, wash your pets. We
• 7:19:51
  just don't drink it. Right. Right. So you
• 7:19:53
  have a source of water that
• 7:19:55
  you just literally scoop up.
• 7:19:57
  You can wash car. You can, you can take
• 7:20:00
  care of the little plants
• 7:20:01
  out front of your house and you
• 7:20:03
  save that water and you don't, you're not
• 7:20:04
  using the hose. Right. And
• 7:20:06
  it's a 55 gallon rain barrel.
• 7:20:07
  I mean, you can save a lot of water that
• 7:20:09
  way. And that can also help
• 7:20:11
  reduce your water bill in the
• 7:20:13
  end too. That's a, that's a really
• 7:20:14
  terrific program. And it's all free. Wow.
• 7:20:18
  Again, information on the
• 7:20:19
  website. Yes. And you do have to be a
• 7:20:20
  city of West Palm Beach
• 7:20:21
  water customer. And we do,
• 7:20:22
  we give away one per property for the
• 7:20:24
  lifetime of the property.
• 7:20:25
  Wow. I would love to hear from
• 7:20:27
  somebody at home who has had an
• 7:20:29
  opportunity to use one of these rain
• 7:20:31
  barrels. I'd love to hear,
• 7:20:32
  you know, how long does it take to fill
• 7:20:34
  one up? Is it just like one
• 7:20:35
  rainstorm and it fills up or
• 7:20:37
  how long does it take? I'd love to hear.
• 7:20:39
  So if you have, if you have an
• 7:20:39
  opportunity to let us know,
• 7:20:41
  put some, put, put it down in the
• 7:20:42
  comments or, or shoot us
• 7:20:44
  a note, we'd love to hear.
• 7:20:45
  So what are the things that we need to
• 7:20:47
  talk about today? We also have a free
• 7:20:49
  irrigation evaluation
• 7:20:50
  program. Wait. Okay. Tell me about that.
• 7:20:53
  We haven't dived into
• 7:20:54
  that one yet. So this is new.
• 7:20:56
  We had a pilot program a couple of years
• 7:20:58
  ago and now we're rolling out a new
• 7:21:00
  program. It's in full
• 7:21:01
  effect right now. Um, where we've
• 7:21:04
  partnered with Palm Beach soil and water
• 7:21:05
  and they go out to once
• 7:21:07
  you, after you register, after you apply
• 7:21:09
  and you're approved for the
• 7:21:10
  program, um, you just have to be
• 7:21:12
  a city of West Palm Beach water customer.
• 7:21:14
  And, um, and Palm Beach
• 7:21:15
  soil and water will schedule
• 7:21:16
  your evaluation. You'll need to be there
• 7:21:19
  with them when they do
• 7:21:20
  that, but they'll basically just
• 7:21:22
  evaluate your irrigation and let you know
• 7:21:24
  if there are any
• 7:21:25
  improvements that can be made to make it
• 7:21:26
  more efficient. And, and that can give
• 7:21:29
  you really kind of a guideline of where
• 7:21:31
  you are, whether, um,
• 7:21:33
  your irrigation system needs maybe a
• 7:21:35
  little upgrade, maybe some
• 7:21:36
  TLC. There can be some easy
• 7:21:38
  things, um, that can be marked off. They
• 7:21:41
  can really help you
• 7:21:41
  conserve water. Yeah. So like
• 7:21:43
  changing types of sprinkler heads you
• 7:21:45
  have and how they spray and all.
• 7:21:47
  Sometimes they're broken.
• 7:21:48
  You don't even know. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that
• 7:21:50
  happens to me all the time where
• 7:21:51
  something gets broken
• 7:21:52
  and then suddenly a large brown spot
• 7:21:54
  appears for no apparent
• 7:21:55
  reason. And then, oh, it's perfect.
• 7:21:57
  Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it sounds like a
• 7:21:59
  great opportunity for
• 7:22:00
  folks to have somebody come
• 7:22:02
  out and it's for free. It is. It's all
• 7:22:04
  free. Again, it's on the website,
• 7:22:07
  wpp.org, save water.
• 7:22:09
  Amazing cavalcade of items here that you
• 7:22:11
  guys, anything else that we got?
• 7:22:13
  As far as water conservation, that's
• 7:22:15
  really all that we have.
• 7:22:17
  Well, well, I will say,
• 7:22:18
  our home improvement program though, I
• 7:22:20
  did miss that one. So
• 7:22:21
  that one focuses on energy
• 7:22:24
  conservation and water conservation. So
• 7:22:26
  residents can apply and, um,
• 7:22:29
  you just have to be a city,
• 7:22:30
  West Palm beach resident. And, um, you
• 7:22:33
  attend the workshop. It's
• 7:22:34
  about an hour and a half. Um,
• 7:22:36
  usually we have them either in the
• 7:22:37
  evenings or on Saturdays, Saturday
• 7:22:39
  mornings, and you would
• 7:22:42
  attend and you get a lot of free
• 7:22:43
  resources, over $200 worth of free
• 7:22:45
  resources that you can go home
• 7:22:46
  with. And you also walk away with a lot
• 7:22:49
  of tips and education. This
• 7:22:51
  one's on a different website.
• 7:22:52
  It's wpp.org slash save energy. Save
• 7:22:55
  energy. Yes. Okay. Very good.
• 7:22:57
  All right. So, uh, that covers
• 7:22:59
  that type of program. And, uh, you know,
• 7:23:02
  again, it's, it's an
• 7:23:03
  amazing now, do these gatherings
• 7:23:06
  happen at city hall or do you go out to
• 7:23:09
  communities or we're usually
• 7:23:10
  at community centers, community
• 7:23:12
  centers. Yes. And even, um, we've had
• 7:23:14
  neighborhood associations schedule these
• 7:23:17
  for their neighborhoods.
• 7:23:19
  Um, uh, faith-based organizations have
• 7:23:21
  contacted us to schedule one
• 7:23:23
  for them. So really, if anyone's
• 7:23:24
  interested, if you have a group that's
• 7:23:26
  interested and they live in
• 7:23:27
  the city of West Palm beach,
• 7:23:28
  we're open to scheduling something for
• 7:23:30
  them. But if there is a
• 7:23:32
  group like a neighborhood
• 7:23:33
  association that's interested in offering
• 7:23:36
  this program at their
• 7:23:38
  neighborhood association
• 7:23:39
  meeting or something like that, you know,
• 7:23:41
  they want to schedule one.
• 7:23:43
  Um, they can always reach
• 7:23:44
  out to us and we can look at our calendar
• 7:23:46
  and see if we can schedule
• 7:23:47
  one special for them. That's
• 7:23:48
  tremendous. Huge amount of material and
• 7:23:51
  resources available to the
• 7:23:52
  residents of West Palm beach.
• 7:23:55
  People who use the water systems here in
• 7:23:57
  West Palm beach to
• 7:23:59
  conserve both water and all,
• 7:24:01
  all the other resources that we have here
• 7:24:03
  in the city. Um, you guys do
• 7:24:05
  amazing work and it's, it's,
• 7:24:07
  it's refreshing to see how the city is
• 7:24:11
  looking forward and not
• 7:24:12
  just thinking about next month
• 7:24:14
  or next year, but looking as far into the
• 7:24:17
  future as possible. And
• 7:24:18
  that's what you guys are doing.
• 7:24:19
  That's, that's pretty spectacular. Of
• 7:24:21
  course. And, and also, you know, we
• 7:24:23
  haven't really touched on
• 7:24:24
  to use water. You're also using energy.
• 7:24:27
  So there's a water energy nexus there.
• 7:24:30
  And we're also looking
• 7:24:30
  at, you know, the city has an overarching
• 7:24:32
  goal of net zero by the
• 7:24:33
  year 2050. So everything really
• 7:24:35
  comes into play there. Um, water
• 7:24:37
  conservation, energy
• 7:24:38
  conservation, it all goes hand in hand
• 7:24:40
  and that's going to help us get to net
• 7:24:41
  zero 2050 as well. And we are well on our
• 7:24:44
  way and specifically,
• 7:24:45
  specifically because of you guys'
• 7:24:46
  efforts. So thank you so
• 7:24:47
  much. Of course. Yeah. We're
• 7:24:49
  happy to do it and always, you know,
• 7:24:51
  happy to connect with residents. So if
• 7:24:53
  anyone ever has any,
• 7:24:54
  um, you know, if they ever have any
• 7:24:57
  questions or any thoughts,
• 7:24:59
  needs, whatever it may be,
• 7:25:00
  we're always open-eared and happy to
• 7:25:02
  help. Blaine, thank you. Yes.
• 7:25:04
  Thank you. And thank you for
• 7:25:07
  joining us. The city center podcast is
• 7:25:09
  well into its second full
• 7:25:10
  year of video podcasts and we've
• 7:25:13
  got a lot more in store for 2026. So feel
• 7:25:16
  free to follow or subscribe
• 7:25:17
  to get the latest from the
• 7:25:18
  city of West Palm Beach. This has been a
• 7:25:21
  production of the city of
• 7:25:22
  West Palm Beach Communications
• 7:25:24
  department. I'm Jerry
• 7:25:25
  Marcello. We'll see you next time.