Posted on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015 at 4:28 pm

Madison Water Utility’s first conservation contest winner can picture it now – a sunny afternoon spent lounging in her rain garden, checking her daily water usage on her new iPad.
 
“I’m so excited, I can’t believe I won!” says Michelle Bright, who signed up to track her water use online after seeing an ad for the utility's iPad giveaway on the back of a Madison Metro bus. “I’m a long-time homeowner with rain gardens and native plants, so (water conservation) is really important to me.”
 
Any Madison Water Utility customer who sets up a water usage threshold alert before Sept. 30 is automatically entered into a drawing to win an iPad. The utility will be drawing two more customer names, one at the end of August and one at the end of September.
 
Michelle says she’s always been careful when it comes to conserving water, but the online tool brings conservation to a whole new level for her.
 
“The email (alert) makes a big difference…We’re trained to look at our phones, check email. So it’s easy.”
 
Michelle used the city’s own conservation goal of 58 gallons of water per person per day for her usage threshold. She proudly points out that she’s brought her usage down so much, she rarely gets an email alert these days, “What a really easy way to actually see where I’m going. I’m like, ‘Look at me!’”
 
But for Michelle, tracking water use is about more than a contest. It’s about taking responsibility for what we use and what we need.
 
“There is no reason to waste,” she says. “With everything in life, you need to be aware. Water isn’t free. Right now we’re lucky, but who knows what can happen.”
 
And who knows when taking the first step toward conservation might land you an iPad. For more information on how to enter, visit MadisonWater.org.