Olympia asks residents to make water conservation pledge

Olympia will participate in the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, a friendly competition that runs April 1-30.

The Olympia City Council and Mayor Cheryl Selby issued a proclamation about the annual contest Tuesday. The city is asking residents to take a pledge to reduce water consumption at mywaterpledge.com.

In 2015, Olympia ranked ninth in the nation for participants among cities with a population between 30,000 and 99,999. Olympians pledged to decrease their annual consumption of drinking water by nearly 8 million gallons, according to the city.

Bremerton placed third in the same category last year, while Seattle finished eighth among cities with more than 600,000 people. Prizes are available to participants in winning cities.

The city reports that Olympia residents already have lowered their water use by at least 8.7 percent since 2009.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 7:40 AM with the headline "Olympia asks residents to make water conservation pledge."