On Earth Day 2019, Colgate announced its continued partnership with one of the greatest swimmers of all time, Michael Phelps, who serves as global ambassador for the brand’s ongoing “Save Water” initiative.
The campaign message is simple: small acts like turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can cumulatively save massive amounts of water as well as the energy required to treat water and pipe it into people’s homes.
Colgate products are found in two out of every three homes in the world, and almost all of them require water use.
“Given that our brand is found in more households than any other brand in the world, Colgate is uniquely positioned to lead in water conservation and promote conservation,” says JoAnne Murphy, Director of Retail Category Development, U.S.
While Colgate continues to make significant strides in reducing the amount of water and energy it uses to make and distribute products, 90 percent of its water footprint comes from consumer use.
While the U.S. uses more water per person than any other country in the world, 130 million Americans live with severe water scarcity1 at least one month per year. More than that, 1.7 million lack running tap water or a flushable toilet in their homes.
World-champion swimmer Phelps, Colgate’s global water ambassador since 2017, says, “I am often asked about my keys to success in the pool and people are surprised to hear how much I talk about doing all the small things as part of my preparation that ultimately have a big impact on performance.
“The same applies to this important “Save Water” campaign as the more we can all practice small behavior changes like turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth, the bigger collective impact we can make in conserving our water usage.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, just turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth for two minutes can save about 64 glasses of water.