Study Finds Students The Biggest Water Consumers On Campus

By: Caitlin Emma

Posted: 4/28/08

Residential buildings use an estimated 101 million gallons per year, making it the largest category for water usage on campus, according to a recent university water audit. The audit detailed UConn's water consumption, problem areas, and possible ways to save water more efficiently.

The report revealed that students flush the toilet an average of 4.8 times daily, use the bathroom sink for 12 minutes daily and use 17 gallons of water each time they wash their clothes.

The existing steam system produces 80,000 pounds of steam per hour, and loses an average of 124,000 gallons of condensate per day.

"This study really gets into the nooks and crannies of water usage at UConn," said Thomas Callahan, UConn's associate vice president of operations and an advocate of improving water consumption.

According to the audit, residential and academic buildings make up 20 percent and 19 percent of the university's total water consumption respectively. The Central Plant uses an estimated 18 percent, Dining Services makes up 8 percent, and the remaining 35 percent is divided between irrigation, agriculture, process cooling, off-campus use and other miscellaneous or unaccounted losses.

An estimated 498 million gallons of water per year is used, and the estimated cost to imple

ment the changes recommended by the audits will total $3.2 million. The savings will total 167 million gallons per year, a 34 percent reduction in water use.

Callahan said that there are many places wehre UConn can improve water conservation such as constructing new buildings, building better water systems and attentively tracking water use in facilities.

"There are many opportunities to improve the way UConn operates," he said.

According to Richard Miller, director of the Office of Environmental Policy at Uconn, the water study began in 2005 when UConn was forced to pump water from the Fenton River during one of the driest summers on record, and a section of the river ran dry when students returned for the fall and the demand for water rose.

The university has already taken measures to improve the numbers. The audit specifies various systems to monitor water use and detect leaks and plans to make infrastructural improvements such as the usage of low-flush, low-flow equipment in residence halls, academic buildings and dining halls.

"Technology is improving," Miller said. "We can now have low-flow fixtures without compromising quality."

The audit also details plans to conduct an overhaul of water usage at the Central Plant. By building a system to treat and recycle waste water to cool the power co-generation plant, the university could total an estimated 250,000 gallons of water per day.

Since then, the university has made efforts to monitor its pumping from the Fenton and Willimantic rivers, and even avoided pumping from the Fenton last July through December, said Miller.

Plans toward changing faculty and student behavior are also a priority.

"The residence halls are a huge opportunity," said Miller. "There, it's not just systemic improvements, but behavioral improvements as well. It's about building awareness."

Residence halls have held contests to see which buildings can conserve the most water and dining halls are making attempts at ways to conserve.

Northwest dining hall recently attempted a pilot effort to go "trayless" in order to improve food waste and water usage. "When people do not have trays, they take less food," said Daniel Britton, a sustainability coordinator with the Office of Environmental Policy. "This can result in a 20-40percent reduction in food waste."

While the effort did not last, the energy spent washing dishes for that week experienced a 24 percent reduction in water usage.

"The environment is not an infinite resource," said Miller. "It's a process about educating people and showing them what they can do."

Contact Caitlin Emma at Caitlin.Emma@UConn.edu.