Good Neighbor Initiative

Community

• Good Neighbor Guidelines
• Water Awareness
• Off-Campus Waste Diversion

Good Neighbor Guidelines

In order to foster good relations between community members and the students new to Santa Cruz each year, we've provided the Good Neighbor Guidelines-a few simple suggestions for students living in or frequenting the city, tailored to the unique relationship UCSC has with its surrounding community.

For a more detailed report of city ordinances regarding students in Santa Cruz: a report by the Good Neighbor Initiative is available.

Water Awareness

In working toward water usage reduction, we at the Good Neighbor Initiative are making an effort to spread awareness. A first step might include posting water usage statements on apartment and dorm buildings, right along with the energy statements, to get students thinking about how much they use. Here's why:

UCSC's water usage makes up about 5% of total Santa Cruz Water Department demand. The campus used 19% more water in 2003 than it did in 1986. While per capita water usage is down 36% since 1986, we're working toward further reduction for several reasons:

1. Keep students' fees from rising: UCSC must pay the city $6,530 for each 85,000 gallon increase in usage. In 2003, UCSC used 206 million gallons.
2. Create a more sustainable campus
3. Minimize the strain on the city water supply: the city has been searching for new supplies over the last 20 years and is now considering a dam and desalinization plant.

What is Being Done: Beginning with UCSC's 2007 Water Efficiency Survey, the school is making an effort to greatly reduce water usage, in part by projects such as searching for and fixing leaks, and reducing toilet flows by roughly 50%. Overall, UCSC will reduce water usage by 15% and save around $500,000 per year.

Off-Campus Waste Diversion

Interns are interested in looking into the opportunities to reduce the amount of waste generated by some students when they move out of their off-campus residences in June. There is work to be done with the City of Santa Cruz to identify areas of high concentrations of students, and this information can be used as a starting point for creating better waste disposal options, such as recycling and donations to non-profit organizations.