Measured and monitored with results Cornerstone to the project s success was the development of understandable performance measures, both social and environmental. The social measures indicating the effectiveness of the Residential Pledge program are being measured through a telephone survey completed this summer by Applied Research Northwest. Three hundred homeowners residing the in Lake Whatcom Watershed were interviewed during June and July of 1999. The survey measured recall of their behaviors during the summer prior to the program, how much they had changed their behavior since that time, and how much exposure to the Watershed Pledge program they recalled. The preliminary results are very encouraging.
Findings show a great deal of change in the desired direction.
The final report is literally just being delivered to the Bellingham Office, however the preliminary results also noted, Across all levels of education, age and sex, people who took the pledge were significantly more likely to have reduced their watershed polluting behaviors than people who didn t take the pledge. An evaluation of the Business Pledge program was also conducted. The results of that evaluation are similarly encouraging. Measuring effects on changing levels of pollution in the environment is known to take up to five years. Physical monitoring for changes in the creeks began in the fall of 1998 and will conclude in 2002.