American Water Taking Steps Toward Creating Green Cities This Earth Day and Every Day

The global theme for Earth Day 2014 is "Green Cities," and the Earth Day Network is seeking to help cities around the world become more sustainable and reduce their carbon footprint. The campaign aims to help cities accelerate their transition to a cleaner, healthier, and more economically viable future through improvements in efficiency, investments in renewable technology, and regulation reform. American Water (NYSE: AWK), the nation’s largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, knows that water plays a crucial role in the sustainability, energy savings, and greening of cities, and planning for the future is always a part of the company’s efforts in treating, delivering, and protecting this most important resource on Earth.

In addition to advances like “living buildings,” breakthrough solar applications, and self-driving cars, green cities of the future will have buildings equipped with comprehensive water management systems, allowing them to collect rainwater, monitor water use, and efficiently recycle greywater. American Water already utilizes innovative technologies in treating and delivering water, as well as more advanced solutions that help address the needs of future generations while making a difference today.

“It’s not enough for us to just deliver healthy and reliable water services to our customers. As caretakers of the most precious of resources, we have also developed innovative solutions that help prevent losses of treated water and create efficiencies in energy use, which preserves water supplies and also helps reduce our carbon footprint,” said Dr. Mark LeChevallier, Director of Innovation & Environmental Stewardship for American Water. “Embracing innovations like these is what helps us achieve sustainable and efficient operations, which ultimately makes a difference for individuals, communities, and the environment.”

But before looking too far into the future, there are more immediate actions that can be taken today to start down this path and celebrate Earth Day. During this year's Earth Day celebrations, American Water also urges consumers to remember their important role in preserving the sustainability of the nation's water supply.

“Even though large-scale institutional change and innovation is important, each and every one of us can do our part to preserve and protect water and the environment. Individual actions on a daily basis can quickly add up, and that is why coming together on Earth Day is an important reminder of what we can all accomplish collectively," said LeChevallier.

American Water offers the following tips to make every day Earth Day when it comes to water:

• Think about water. Everyone can do their part by simply understanding where their water comes from, and the journey it makes to our homes, as well as by supporting needed system upgrades that keep the water flowing today and for future generations.
• Regularly check for leaking toilets, pipes and faucets — indoors and outdoors — and repair them promptly. American Water offers leak detection kits, which can be downloaded directly from the Learning Center of the company's website, www.amwater.com.
• Be conscious of your daily water use and take the necessary steps inside and outside your home to be water smart. Simple actions like turning off the tap while brushing your teeth or washing dishes, only running full loads in the clothes and dish washer, and using a broom instead of a hose to clean up outside walkways, can make a big difference. Also consider replacing old fixtures with water efficient ones, such as those with the EPA WaterSense label.
• Drink water wisely — keep a reusable bottle of tap water handy. Avoid purchasing bottled water; in addition to being more expensive and less stringently regulated as tap, it is less environmentally friendly. As many as 85 percent of plastic water bottles — an average of 38 million bottles a year — are sent to landfills rather than recycled, despite being made of recyclable materials, according to the Container Recycling Institute.
• Take care in the use and disposal of garden, lawn, garage or other home products and ensure that they do not find their way into groundwater.
• Dispose of unused or expired medicines properly. Do not pour them directly into home drains, the sewer, street drains or the lawn, and do not flush them down the toilet.

About American Water

Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs approximately 6,600 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 14 million people in more than 40 states and parts of Canada. More information can be found at www.amwater.com.

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