ABAGS Be Sewer Smart" Public Service Campaign Recognized for Public Affairs Excellence: Innovative Campaign Partners Communities and Businesses to Help Homeowners Avoid Costly, Inconvenient Backups

The Association of Bay Area Governments' (ABAG) innovative public service campaign, Be Sewer Smart, has received the northern California Compass award for the best in the public service program category. The Compass award is presented annually by the three San Francisco Bay Area chapters of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Be Sewer Smart partners homeowners with communities and local business to reduce sewer backups into homes -- a multimillion dollar problem in the backup-prone Bay Area.

Oakland, CA (PRWEB) October 20, 2004 -- The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) announced that its innovative Be Sewer Smart, Prevent Sewer Backups" public service campaign and backup prevention device giveaway has been recognized for public affairs excellence. The Be Sewer Smart" campaign has received the top Northern California Compass Award in the public service/public affairs program category from the three San Francisco Bay Area chapters of the Public Relations Society of America.

The Northern California Compass Awards recognize programs meeting the highest standards of performance in the public relations and public affairs profession. The Compass Awards are presented annually to organizations that have successfully addressed a contemporary issue with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. They are jointly sponsored by the three San Francisco Bay Area chapters of the Public Relations Society of America: Oakland/East Bay, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley.

Our Be Sewer Smart campaign took the innovative and untested approach of partnering communities with local businesses and homeowners to reduce the costly and inconvenient problem of unnecessary sewer backups," said Marcus Beverly, director of risk management, ABAG PLAN Corporation. This public service campaign strategy has proven to be a huge winner with the Bay Area communities and tens of thousands of homeowners involved benefiting from a downward trend in backups and related costs for the first time in five years."

Through Be Sewer Smart," area homeowners, communities and local businesses work in partnership to reduce the number of at-risk homes in the backup-prone San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, the backup risks faced in local communities and the potential costs to those communities and their homeowners to clean up backup messes are on the decline. In the first year of the campaign, and for the first time in five years, the number of backups and costs associated with them, began a downward trend.

ABAG estimates that every backup prevented saves its member communities tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars, and homeowners and their insurers similar amounts. Hundreds of Bay Area homes are damaged annually by sewer backups, with costs to local homeowners and their communities as much as $20 million.

Be Sewer Smart, Prevent Sewer Backups" is a public education campaign of the Association of Bay Area Governments Pooled Liability Assurance Network (PLAN) Corporation. The campaign is designed to raise homeowners awareness and help them understand their risks and responsibilities related to the potential of sewer backups into their homes.

The award-winning campaign was conceived and implemented by East Bay-based PR firm, Steve Hill Strategic PR.

ABAG PLAN Corporation is a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to benefit the citizens of each member community by establishing a stable, cost-effective self-insurance, risk sharing and risk management program for each community. The PLAN was formed in 1986 and currently has 31 member cities and towns in the Bay Area. It provides liability and property coverage as well as a variety of risk management services such as training, claims management, loss prevention, and consulting services. For more details, visit www.abag.ca.gov/plan.

The Association of Bay Area Governments is one of more than 560 regional planning agencies across the nation working to help solve problems in areas such as land use, housing, environmental quality, and economic development. Founded in 1961, ABAG is the regional planning agency for the 101 cities and towns, and nine counties of the Bay Area and is recognized as the first council of governments in California.

Steve Hill Strategic PR is an East Bay-based PR firm focusing on smart, affordable -- and award-winning -- public relations and public affairs programs. For more information, visit www.shspr.com.

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