Madison Water Utility will be giving away three iPads this summer to customers who track their water use online. Last year, the utility was the first in Wisconsin to give its customers online access to view their weekly, daily, even hourly water use. The online tool is part of an aggressive campaign to encourage water conservation in Madison.
 
“You need the knowledge of how you’re using water and when you’re using water to be able to conserve it," says Robin Piper, Madison Water Utility customer service manager. “You can go in and see right down to the hour what type of water usage you had. We’re making available to our customers data that’s really theirs.”
 
The online conservation tool also lets people take control of their water use by setting usage threshold alerts. Customers can choose the number of gallons they want to use on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and get an email alert if they go over that amount. Customers who set up a water usage alert before September 21st will be automatically entered to win an iPad.
 
“The control is with the customer. It’s the ultimate conservation tool if you really use everything it’s capable of,” says Piper.
 
Madisonians currently use 61 gallons of water per person per day, but Madison Water Utility hopes to reduce that number to 58 gallons in the next five years. The utility’s conservation initiative also includes its successful Toilet Rebate Program, which has saved an estimated 1 billion gallons of water since 2009, and a tiered water rate structure currently under consideration by the Public Service Commission.
 
For more information on the giveaway, visit MadisonWater.org.