Fifty thousand dollars in eco-friendly prizes, including $3,000 toward home utility bills, are up for grabs as Yorkville once again enters the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.

Yorkville has shined in past national competitions, placing fifth nationally in both 2022 and 2018 in their city-population category.

Each year, around 2,000 cities compete in the competition, helping to “reduce their freshwater consumption by billions of gallons, cut millions of pounds of waste sent to landfills, and prevent thousands of pounds of hazardous waste from entering local watersheds,” according to a release by the city.

The challenge runs from April 1-30. To participate in the competition, residents can sign up at mywaterpledge.com, where they can select from different eco-sustainable pledge options designed to conserve water, reduce pollution and save energy.

“This challenge is a great way for cities large and small to do our part for the planet and reward our residents for doing the right thing,” Mayor John Purcell said.

Cities with the highest percentage of residents taking the pledge in their population category will win prizes. One school in each winning city will also receive prizes.

Participants can monitor how their pledges impact local water issues, reduce utility costs and enhance community health.

“Residents can also participate in the MyVolunteer Water Project, a year-round platform that offers hands-on opportunities to support sustainability through home, community, and workplace projects,” the city said in the release. “The more projects completed, the greater the city’s chances of winning the challenge in April.”

The annual competition is hosted by the nonprofit Wyland Foundation in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

As Yorkville continues to experience a population boom, the city is transitioning to using Lake Michigan water because the underground aquifer was being sourced at an unsustainable rate.

Underground aquifers can take tens or hundreds of thousands of years to replenish once harvested unsustainably.

The city has also recently green-lit several massive data center projects which residents have criticized for their water consumption. To help conserve water, some of the projects have been designed to be air-cooled in a closed-loop system.