Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Partners Team Up to Make Rainwater a Resource

Barrel Painting Contest Sponsored by Coca-Cola Bottling of Buffalo Creates Colorful Competition

Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz was joined by Maria Whyte, Commissioner of the Department of Environment & Planning, representatives of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Buffalo, Inc., members of the Western New York Stormwater Coalition and the Erie County Water Quality Committee, concerned citizens, and the winning entrants in a rain barrel painting contest, sponsored by Buffalo Coca-Cola, to highlight the importance of conserving rainwater that would otherwise flow off of a property. The contest served both as an observation of Earth Day and as a demonstration of a practical way for individuals to make an environmental difference in their own lives.

Working on the theme “Rainwater is a Resource, Not Just Runoff”, competing teams from 25 area middle- and high schools designed and painted their own rain barrels using converted syrup concentrate barrels donated and retrofitted by Buffalo Coca-Cola as part of their “Live Positively” initiative. A panel of judges consisting of representatives from Buffalo Coca-Cola, local government, the arts community, and academia voted on all entries, with the top three vote getters and their barrels on hand for the winning announcement. Barrels were judged on creativity, neatness and execution of the idea, and how well they fit into the theme of the contest.

“Rain barrels are an effective and efficient way to save and redistribute stormwater runoff, and as we see today, they can be attractive, colorful additions to anyone’s backyard,” said Poloncarz. “I want to thank the Department of Environment & Planning, Coca-Cola Bottling of Buffalo, and their partners for their work in raising awareness on this issue and taking these steps to better pollution control.”

“This exercise in creative thinking and design, teamwork, and planning has allowed us to educate the next generation on the importance of conserving resources and preventing stormwater pollution,” said Commissioner Whyte.

“We congratulate the students for their fine winning artwork, and for lending their talent to this Live Positively Rain Barrel Art Contest,” said Pat Greco, Director of Operations for the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Buffalo. “These rain barrels represent Coca-Cola’s commitment to water stewardship and will allow Coca-Cola to reach our goal to ‘give back’ an amount of water equivalent to what we use in all of our products and their production by 2020.”

Mr. Greco presented three checks, totaling $1000.00, to the top 3 winning schools.


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