East Valley Water
Sterling Natural Resource Center
Client Type
Water District
Services
Research, Community Outreach, Social Media, Stakeholder Engagement, Media Relations
Overview
East Valley Water District (EVWD) and San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (SBVMWD) teamed up to address the Inland Empire’s 20+ year drought with the innovative Sterling Natural Resource Center (SNRC). The water treatment facility aimed to recycle and preserve up to 10 million gallons of water daily, benefiting over 600,000 people. However, the City of San Bernardino opposed the project, fearing it would impact their water authority and revenue, and filed a lawsuit. The political tensions made it challenging to gain community support for the SNRC.
Idea Hall was hired to execute a multi-phase campaign to educate, cultivate, and mobilize support for the SNRC. After conducting in-depth research on community sentiment, economic factors, and media coverage, Idea Hall crafted a strategy with three key goals:
- Mobilize public support for the SNRC
- Control the narrative and address opposition
- Elevate SBVMWD and EVWD as forward-thinking water agencies
Idea Hall launched digital and social media campaigns, organized community events, conducted neighborhood canvassing, and led a letter-writing campaign. We increased community awareness and support for the SNRC by driving conversations on social media, generating letters to officials, video testimonials, and public meeting participation. This momentum led to the lawsuit being dropped and fostered collaboration among agencies to address the region’s water needs, culminating in project approval and permission to treat wastewater at the SNRC site.
As a result, SNRC garnered 629,500 impressions across social media, 35 media stories positive highlights, 2,500 1 on 1 conversations with community members, and 27,000 video testimonial views.
