Foster City sustainability committee narrows water‑conservation pilot to ‘turn off tap while brushing’ and readies Earth Day outreach

Vanessa, who led the committee's community‑based social‑marketing presentation, asked the group to choose a single measurable behavior for a pilot designed to reduce water consumption.

"To get community based social marketing up and running, there's 3 steps you need to start with. You need to identify your goals and objectives, you need to conduct research, and then you need to select a target behavior," Vanessa said as she walked the committee through examples and a recommended process. She cited the city's climate action plan targets — "reduce water consumption by 5 percent by 2030 and 15 percent by 2045" — to underline the need for focused, measurable campaigns.

Committee members debated target audiences and approaches. Some urged focusing on single‑family homeowners because lawns and outdoor watering are visible and measurable; others suggested businesses or larger institutional water users might have bigger absolute impact. In the end, the group favored a low‑cost, behaviorally focused pilot intended to be easy to measure and to test at an upcoming public event.

Vanessa proposed two simple Earth Day survey questions to test engagement: "Do you turn off the tap when you brush your teeth?" and "Did you know how much water it uses?" The committee agreed that the Earth Day booth (April 22) — which will include a water refill station — is an opportunity to deploy the survey, hand out low‑cost sustainable giveaways (bamboo toothbrushes and seed bookmarks were discussed) and gather baseline data.

Logistics and funding: Vanessa said the Sustainable Foster City Fund can cover some costs but additional funds would require council approval. Volunteers will be recruited through a sign‑up link; setup for the Earth Day booth was planned for about 4:30 p.m. with the event running roughly 5–8 p.m.

What happens next: staff will prepare the Earth Day poster board survey and small giveaways; the committee will collect responses at the booth as a pilot data source and later decide whether to scale or pivot based on results. Members emphasized keeping the pilot narrow and measurable so the small committee can execute it effectively.

No ordinance or regulatory action was taken; the meeting focused on program design, community outreach and next steps for data collection and evaluation.