On Jan. 17th, the Governor of California declared a statewide drought emergency urging residents to cut water use by 20 percent and directing state agencies to take a range of steps to ease the effects of water shortages on agriculture, communities and fish and wildlife. On Feb. 4th, the CSU Chancellor’s Office issued a memorandum for individual campuses to develop campus-specific water reduction strategies to comply with the statewide effort.

 

Facilities Management staff met with faculty, auxiliary representatives, and Housing staff, in mid February to explore campus strategies to reduce water use in the short and long-term. In the beginning of March, Facilities submitted a list to President Rollin Richmond detailing the strategies and specific actions that will reduce campus water use.  The plan includes immediate actions to reduce water use through changing infrastructure (e.g., sink aerators, showerheads, toilet/urinal flush valves) to lower gallon per minute or flush units from existing ones; reducing the duration and timing of landscaping irrigation; eliminating pressure washing in preparation for Commencement; partnering with the students of PowerSave Campus to implement an outreach and education campaign to raise awareness of behavior changes that can reduce water use.

 

In the long-term, Facilities will implement activities intending to achieve larger and permanent water reduction beyond the current drought emergency. These activities include:

One of the first visible changes the campus community will likely see is blue and red stickers on all restroom soap dispensers reminding people to turn off water while they soap up. These stickers will be part of the behavior change education effort that will continue into the fall semester.

 

At this time, the campus community is highly encouraged to be mindful of all water use that is part of a daily routine and to do your part to reduce use where possible. Examples include watering your office plant with water in your cup from the previous day, filing a work request for the leaky faucet you noticed in a particular restroom, revising a lab activity that typically needs many gallons of water, or conducting a single demo for the entire class to observe.

 

By next fall, campus will receive an update on implementation activities and what the numbers show for expected reductions.  The aim is for campus to not only reach the current mandate, but be well positioned to meet the water reductions called for in the updated CSU Sustainability Policy (expected to be fully ratified in May by the Board of Trustees), which call for a permanent 20 percent reduction by 2020.

 

If anyone would like additional information please call or email Silas Biggin at silas.biggin@humboldt.edu or (707) 826-5899.