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Denver Water’s Running Toilet flushes the competition

Water utilities nationwide show off their moves in a friendly dance-off challenge.
March 25, 2019 | By: Jose Salas

Denver Water is not one to back away from a challenge.

In mid-March, on what appeared to be a typical Friday, our friends from Fort Worth Water Systems challenged Denver Water’s Running Toilet and San Antonio Water System’s mascot to a dance-off via Twitter.

As Ren McCormack (It’s an ’80s reference, I suggest you look him up) once said:

“From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer or so that their crops would be plentiful or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate. And that, that is the dancing that we’re talking about.”

So, feeling inspired by McCormack, we dusted off our Running Toilet suit (FYI: It’s not our mascot), turned up the music and responded.

 

 

Denver Water introduced the Running Toilet to teach people about water efficiency as part of our decade-long “Use Only What You Need” campaign, which started in 2006. The toilet suit, which has been worn by many Denver Water employees over the years, has walked the streets of Denver during the annual holiday Parade of Lights, been in dozens of videos on a variety of subjects and thrilled children who (surprisingly) love having their picture taken with the toilet.

We also invited water utilities around the nation to join the dance party, including the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, better known as DC Water, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Louisville Water.

Other utilities, including El Paso Water, stepped up with their own dancing videos.

The dance-off caught enough steam that Denver news station FOX31 joined the festivities with their coverage of the dance party.

 

 

“I don’t think anyone thought the challenge would get this kind of attention. More than a week later, we are still responding to retweets and comments from the dance-off,” said Jessica Mahaffey, marketing specialist at Denver Water.

Let the GIFs and witty critiques commence.

 

 

A poll was created to ask viewers who should be crowned the winner. For obvious reasons, we think we won the challenge, but we’ll let you decide.

Are there plans to keep this going?

Our people are talking to their people. But for now, we’re enjoying the dance moves that will forever live on the internet.

Why are we doing this?

Because we can’t pass up a good ol’, trash-talking, social media challenge among friends, the chance to provide a few laughs along the way and remind our fans to fix a running toilet — or Dancing Toilet in this case.