In case you missed it, on Monday, Western Growers launched a digital media campaign aimed at intensifying awareness among urban Californians about the water being lost to the sea this winter and the need for federal and state leaders to exert pressure on water system operators to capture and store those El Niño waters before they are lost.

With El Niño’s continuing to bless the state with rain and snow, the fish agencies in charge of regulating the Delta pumps must be challenged to immediately begin operating them at the maximum levels allowed under the Endangered Species Act.

The centerpiece of the digital program is a two-minute video educating Californians on the amount of water currently being lost to the ocean and calling on them to leverage social media to demand action from Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Governor Brown.

[VIDEO::https://vimeo.com/157633874::aVideoStyle]

Among other facts, the video states: “Three billion gallons of extra water are passing under the Golden Gate Bridge every single day. We’re not talking about water we need to protect fish or the environment. That water is already being accounted for. No, this is additional water that could be captured and stored for use by farms and cities.”

Over the course of the next week, this video will be heavily promoted on Facebook and as premium pre roll (commercials that run prior to news content).

Viewers of the video will be directed back to the new www.wga.com/water website where they can learn more about the drought and why we’re at risk of losing the potential benefits of El Niño.

At the top of the WG Water Page is a running counter that aggregates in real time the amount of water that has escaped to sea since the beginning of the year. The number is quite staggering. When the page was launched on Monday, the counter indicated over 210 billion gallons of water have been lost in 2016. As of today, the amount of water lost increased to over 220 billion gallons — that’s 10 billion gallons in three days!

Page visitors will be prompted to get involved in the conversation by tweeting their thoughts using popular hashtags, including a new hashtag created specifically for this campaign: #lostCAwater.

The Twitter handles of Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Governor Brown are included to facilitate direct outreach to these key influencers in water management.

Western Growers encourages all of its members to take advantage of the resources on the WG Water Page. Watch the video and share it on your various social media platforms. Use the #lostCAwater hashtag to share your perspective on El Niño and the drought. Not sure what to tweet? Talking points are provided for inspiration.

The bottom line is that we must continue putting pressure on our policymakers to do the right thing and not waste El Niño. Social media has given us a powerful platform to share our messages. But time is running out. Get involved today!