Due to COVID-19, typical education and outreach strategies were not safe. As a solution to continue to raise awareness during this time, the Lynchburg Water Resources (LWR) education and outreach staff began filming a series of videos entitled “Water Wonders”. The lighthearted, upbeat videos highlight the work of LWR while also showing the plants and wildlife that benefit from clean water to demonstrate the importance of LWR’s work in the natural and built world. The campaign also featured special events that would have otherwise had an in-person education and outreach event such as Earth Day, Arbor Day, and Drinking Water Week.
The campaigns videos include activities and individual/household actions that families can complete at home or in their neighborhoods to help protect and conserve our water resources. The virtual format was promoted on social media sites (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) on #WaterWondersWednesday. Additionally, special episodes have been featured on local news (WDBJ and WSET) and the campaign has continued to increase the reach as the team progressed through the project. The project team has tracked and documented the increased awareness as a direct result of the campaign, through video comments and messages sent to LWR after videos were published, in addition to increases in digital engagement metrics.
