FINAL REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE GILA CONSERVATION EDUCATION CENTER 3005 E. CAMINO DEL BOSQUE SILVER CITY, NM 88061

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1 FINAL REPORT EFFECTS OF OUTREACH EFFORTS ON PUBLIC AWARENESS OF THE WATERWORKS RESTORATION PROJECT SUBMITTED BY THE GILA CONSERVATION EDUCATION CENTER 3005 E. CAMINO DEL BOSQUE SILVER CITY, NM IN FULFILLMENT OF LINE ITEM # TO THE TOWN OF SILVER CITY POB 1188 SILVER CITY, NM NOVEMBER 21, 2011

2 Introduction In 1887 the Silver City Waterworks was established to provide the Town its first municipal water supply. The stone building consisted of a two-story residence wing, a pump room and a boiler room. This unique stone building played a pivotal role in the growth and development of Silver City, and in 1984 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2011, the Town of Silver City was awarded a grant from the Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Foundation to energize efforts to restore the Waterworks building. As part of the project, the Gila Conservation Education Center (GCEC) was awarded a contract to provide four presentations at area schools and to implement a pre- and post-project survey. The survey was designed to determine whether outreach activities (presentations, press releases, media announcements and a volunteer service project) enhanced public awareness about the Waterworks building as well as knowledge about the Town s municipal water source. Methods Between February and November 2011, a series of PowerPoint presentations were made at public events and area schools. Presentations were developed to explain the history of the Waterworks building and the development of the Town s municipal water system. Presentations were developed and given by Town volunteer and project manager Nancy Gordon, GCEC Executive Director Kathy Whiteman, and GCEC Board members and curriculum consultants Sue Teller-Marshall and Priscilla Mathena. The Gila Conservation Education Center also conducted a pre- and post-project telephone survey of 50 Silver City residents asking two questions to determine whether they 1), knew where the Waterworks building was located and 2), whether they could identify the source of the Town s municipal water. Phone numbers were selected at random from the 2010 Silver City Names and Numbers phone book and all residential and business numbers were considered eligible as long as they were associated with physical address within Silver City. Callers followed the same script and protocol during pre- and postproject surveys (Appendix 1). Results During March and April 2011, Aldo Leopold High School teacher Harry Browne and his Year 4 Interactive Mathematics students Milagre Coates, Camille Dalton, Caleb Kalisher, Miriel Manning and Dhante Stroud phoned 142 Silver City residents with 70 respondents agreeing to participate in the survey. Thirty people (43%) knew where the Waterworks building was located, but the ALHS data were incomplete and the GCEC AmeriCorps staff (Susan Harwood and Barbara Nuzzi) and Youth Conservation Corps interns completed the study by phoning an additional 313 residents until they reached 50 respondents who provided answers both questions (Appendix 2).

3 Of the 50 respondents phoned by GCEC, 22 (44%) were able to correctly identify the location of the Waterworks Building, either stating that it was on Little Walnut Road or next to Jose Barrios Elementary. Two people incorrectly identified the building location as downtown or Gold Street. When asked about the source of the Town s municipal water, 28 respondents (56%) correctly cited aquifers, groundwater, wells, springs and well fields. Two respondents articulated the source as the Franks wellfield while one respondent incorrectly identified the water source as Lake Roberts Dam. Between February and November 2011, eleven PowerPoint presentations were developed and presented at schools and other local events (Table 1). Presentations reached at least 258 people and were designed to provide information about the history of the Waterworks building and the development of Silver City s Municipal water system (Table 1). Date Presenter Location/Event Number Served February 22 Nancy Gordon Aldo Leopold High* 6 April 11 Nancy Gordon Silver City Museum 38 June 21 Nancy Gordon Rotary Club 21 July 14 Nancy Gordon Aldo Leopold High/Super 18 Computing Challenge on Water Resource Modeling August 7 Nancy Gordon Unitarians 20 August 30 Nancy Gordon Kiwanis Club 12 October 11 Nancy Gordon Silver City Town Council 44 Meeting October 17 Sue Teller-Marshall Jose Barrios Elementary* 24 and Adrienne Dare October 18 Kathy Whiteman Silver High School* 17 November 10 Sue Teller-Marshall Harrison Schmitt Elementary 48 (2 different classes)* November 21 Kathy Whiteman Silver High School* 10 TOTAL 258 Table 1. PowerPoint presentations given in Silver City, New Mexico between February and November, Eleven presentations were made to 258 participants. (*)Denotes one of four required GCEC presentations. In September, more than 70 volunteers donated 900 hours to a service project to repoint the masonry of the historic building using traditional lime-based restoration methods. Following the project, in October and November, GCEC Education Coordinator Barbara Nuzzi and Youth Conservation Corps Intern Megan Lescht conducted the post-project survey, making 338 phone calls until 50 residents agreed to participate (Appendix 2). The post-project survey found no increase in community awareness regarding the location of the Waterworks building. Similar to the pre-project survey (t=0.59, df=49, p=0.55), twenty-two of the postproject survey respondents said they knew what the Waterworks building was and where it was located on Little Walnut Road. Two of the post-project survey respondents incorrectly stated that the Waterworks building was located up in the mountains or on Gold Street. Interestingly, there was a

4 difference in the number of people who knew the source of the Town s municipal water between the pre-and post-project survey (t = 2.29, df = 49, p = 0.03). In the post-project survey, only 18 (36%) said they knew the source of the water, with one person citing aquifers, 14 citing wells and three citing the storage tanks located either on W-Mountain or above Western New Mexico University. Two of the 18 people specifically stated the Gabby Hays well-field as the Town s municipal water source. Discussion At least 350 people were directly affected by the outreach efforts associated with this project. This number includes 70 Town volunteers; three GCEC staff, 12 Board members and four Youth Conservation Corps interns; twenty ALHS students and teachers; and the 258 adults and students reached through the 11 presentations, press releases and the restoration project itself. Still, with a population of approximately 10,000 residents, these direct contacts represent only a small proportion (3.5%) of Silver City s total population. Results from the pre- and post- project survey did not indicate an increase in public awareness of the Waterworks building. This may be due to the small sample size of the phone-survey or the methods used to obtain phone numbers. To more accurately reflect public awareness, almost 400 residents would have had to participate in both the pre-and post-project phone surveys. As it was, callers had a very difficult time getting 50 people to agree to participate in the survey. Many respondents did not appreciate phone solicitation, either hanging up on the caller or refusing to participate in the survey (Appendix 2). Also, in today s society, many people do not have land-line telephone service and rely on cellular telephones. Unless listed in the phone book, cell phone numbers were not represented in this survey. And, all calls were made from the GCEC offices located in the Gila National Forest building. Telephones equipped with caller ID display unknown caller on incoming calls from this government office. The caller ID feature blocked many calls (Appendix 1). More respondents (n= 28) correctly identified the sources of the Town s municipal water during the preproject survey than the post project survey (n = 18). It is not clear why this might be the case, but again, it may reflect the small sample size used in this survey. Only four of the 100 pre- and post-project respondents articulated the name of any of the Town s well-fields (i.e. Franks and Gabby-Hays). In both the pre-and post-project responses, one person indicated that the Waterworks building was located on Gold Street. The current location of the Town s Public Works office is Swan Street, one block west of Gold Street. Perhaps these two respondents did not understand the survey question and were attempting to identify the current location of the Town s Public Works building, rather than the Waterworks building. The focus of GCEC s outreach was targeted to raising awareness in children ages 8 through 17. Because children did not participate in a pre-and post-presentation survey, conclusions drawn about the effectiveness of outreach efforts may be misleading. The phone survey solicited responses from adults who were not the target audience of GCEC s outreach efforts.

5 Conclusion The Silver City Waterworks building played a key role in the development of the Town and today stands as a hallmark to Silver City s unique and enterprising history. Many of the Town s residents seemed to know where the Waterworks building was located on Little Walnut Road, yet few residents were able to identify the current source(s) of the Town s municipal water. Indeed only four people correctly identified a particular well-field, and none identified the Woodward well-field which supplies the Town a large proportion of its municipal water. Future outreach efforts could focus on this apparent lack in awareness. Silver City is located in a semi-arid region where water is a limited resource. In order to protect water resources, people must understand where the Town s municipal water comes from and the speed with which municipal wells are drawn down and recharged.

6 Appendix 1

7 Appendix 2