As this long, hot summer groans on and on, saving precious water is at the top of everyone’s minds.  Event organizers have an opportunity to save water on a larger scale based on the decisions they make every day. Did you know that 2 cups of coffee, one tote bag and a 60-page program for 750 participants equals enough water to fill one Olympic size swimming pool?

Given the drought situation in many regions, we would like to take this opportunity to share a few water saving tips and best practices from the recently published book, Meet Better: 167 Easy Ways to Make Your Events More Environmentally and Socially Responsible. Please read, share and incorporate them into your event planning…

Tip # 9 Choose chicken or vegetarian instead of beef. Different foods have different water and carbon footprints. It can take over three times as much water to raise one kilogram of beef compared to one kilogram of chicken.

Best Practice: Provide a conference app instead of a printed program

Tip #15 Banish individual disposable plastic water bottles. How many times do you see half full bottles being tossed aside?

Best Practice: Look for water smart landscaping and grounds maintenance

Tip #19 Do not pre-fill water glasses at banquets. How many do you see empty at the end of an event?

Best Practice: Make sure all meeting venues and accommodations have low-flow fixtures in the rest rooms

Tip #28 Make sure hotel rooms have a linen reuse program that they actively honor

Participants will take note of your responsible use of this scarce resource, thank you for being good corporate citizens and perhaps even change their own practices at home.  Add your own tips in the comments section, we all learn from each other!