March 26, 2001
Students compile comprehensive report on campus water use
By Jennifer McNulty
Campus water use will almost double as UCSC increases enrollment on the campus to
15,000 students, according to a comprehensive report compiled by 15 undergraduates
as part of a senior class project.
The team of graduating seniors tracked UCSC's water system from source to sewer and recommended conservation strategies the campus might want to consider to reduce water use before the next drought. Their report received rave reviews from campus personnel and from members of the City of Santa Cruz Water Department, who attended a one-hour seminar last week during which the students reported their findings.
The campus currently uses about 500,000 gallons of water per day, a figure that will grow to 880,000 gallons per day by the year 2005, according to the students. They produced the report, "UCSC Water Management Report and Conservation Plan," as their senior project for an environmental studies course taught by Brent Haddad, an assistant professor of environmental studies.
The campus uses 24 million cubic feet of water annually. Of that, 51 percent goes to housing, 38 percent goes to academic and administrative buildings, and about 10 percent is used by other campus users.
Thanks in part to a water-conservation effort that began in 1987, campus water use is considered in line with city averages, said Toby Goddard, water manager for the City of Santa Cruz. City residents average about 75 gallons per day, compared with an average on the Central Coast of about 113 gallons per capita per day. Statewide, per capita daily use averages 134 gallons.
To accommodate future demand, Goddard said the city will tap the San Lorenzo River, one of four sources that supply the city's water.
"We'll get it from the river, unless it's not there," said Goddard. "The river and our other sources are adequate to carry demand during a wet year, but we don't have a dry-year solution, particularly at a higher level of demand. The city's population has grown from since the big drought in 1977-78, so we're living on borrowed time."
Given the likelihood that a drought will require residents to reduce their water
use, conservation strategies figured prominently into the students' report.
Such efforts should include "structural and behavioral conservation measures"
ranging from the use of disposable utensils in campus dining halls to the installation
of ultra-low flow toilets across campus, according to the authors, who also recommended
that the campus bolster staffing to make water conservation a higher priority. Other
strategies that warrant exploration, according to the students, include rainwater
collection systems, toilets that separate solids and liquids, and "graywater"
systems that funnel reusable wastewater toward landscaping applications.
Campus energy manager Bob Dunn applauded the students' work and agreed that water-supply issues are "a looming problem we need to understand and prepare for."
"Water awareness is definitely something we should talk about," he said after the students' presentation.
The campus got a jump on water conservation efforts when it retrofitted all campus toilets in the late 1980s, installing a $20 device on each fixture to reduce water use from 5 gallons per flush to 3.5 gallons. Similarly, showerheads were retrofitted to use 1.6 gallons per minute instead of 2.75, and low-flow sink faucets were installed. Since then, a city ordinance has mandated the use of ultra-low flow (ULF) toilets that use only 1.6 gallons per flush in all new construction.
Although the students recommended the installation of ULF toilets campuswide and cited a generous city rebate program as an incentive, Dunn called attention to the cost, which he estimated at more than $500 per fixture, and the challenge of disposing of hundreds of used toilets.
On the other hand, he emphasized that although playing fields require "a huge amount of water," he considers them vital to the mission of the university. New weather-monitoring sprinkler systems have improved the efficiency of water delivery to the fields, and the students recommended that such systems, which have been installed on the east playing fields, should also be installed at Family Student Housing and College Eight.
Haddad commended the students for the thoroughness of their report and the opportunities
and benefits the project offered. "It combined undergraduate research, public
service, and environmental conservation," said Haddad. "Everyone benefits
when 15 energetic researchers dive in and tackle a subject of importance to the campus
and the city." See flow chart.
Authors of the report are: Emily Agin; Carin Apperson; Deedra Aro;
Clark Baker; Karye Bulloch; Kim Carr; Antonella Gentile; Monica Grammenos; Gretchen
Heckmann; Jenny Leach; Trina Martynowicz; Josh Miller; Kate Miller; Andrew Quattrin;
and Kelly White.
