Ads aim for aqua-education

By Brandon Shulleeta

Published: August 25, 2008

The ads are campy, eye-grabbing and surreal, and they’re meant to drive home how easily waterways are polluted unintentionally.

In one, a man wearing old-fashioned checked trousers, horn-rimmed glasses and a trilby hat lets his dog do its business as they float, unaided, on the surface of a river. In an apt visual pun, the man’s alarmingly snug trousers end well above his ankles, such that they might be dubbed high-water pants.

All three ads share the same tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and an aesthetic that could have been inspired by maverick menswear designer Thom Browne, who has built a career on the shrunken suit and an obsession with mid-century Americana. But the ads also share a serious message about how everyday activities can damage local waterways.

“Most people don’t want to pollute streams,” but sometimes they don’t realize the damage they’re causing, said Greg Harper, Albemarle County’s water resource manager and a member of the partnership that purchased the ads.
The spots, appearing at the local Regal Cinemas, were purchased by the Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership for $470.

The message is that “whatever you do on the land, you effectively do on the water,” according to a county spokeswoman.
The partnership was formed in 2003 and consists of eight members, including Albemarle County and Charlottesville, that pay $500 each in yearly dues.
Prior to the cinemas’ movie previews, the three ad pictures are displayed for 10 seconds each, a cinema manager said. The ads have been shown before every movie since Aug. 8 and will run through Sept. 4.
In addition to advertising through traditional venues, such as radio and newspapers, the theater ads have been an experiment, Harper said.

Alongside an image of a man washing his car on the surface of a river, for example, the ad states: “Wash your car on grass or at a carwash to keep dirty, soapy water from entering streams via storm drains.”
A local nonprofit, StreamWatch, reported last month that about three-quarters of the streams tested in the Rivanna River watershed failed to meet state Department of Environmental Quality standards. Since then, locals have wanted to know what government officials have done to reduce damage from stormwater runoff, Harper said.

The recovery process for the river is a slow one, he said, but educating the public has been a central component of that process.
He referred to locals whom he’s seen scoop after pets and dump their wastes into storm drains — likely unaware that it would end up in streams.
“The streams in Albemarle County and the general vicinity are somewhat impaired,” Harper said, adding that restoration must be a collaborative effort. “It’s not like we can fix it ourselves without involving citizenry.”