What is water conservation?
According to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation Development (OECD), water conservation refers to the preservation, control and development of both surface and groundwater resources. It encompasses the policies, strategies and activities made to manage freshwater as a sustainable resource, protect the water environment, and meet current and future human demand (4).
Proposing a Solution
Colleges and universities are inextricably woven into the communities in which they live. |
Their actions are important to the environmental health of the broader society, and their buildings give the school opportunities to visibly live out its mission. The implementation of water conservation strategies in residential, commercial and industrial buildings is not a new topic. However, as a leading public Tier One research university in the state of Texas, the University of Houston has the potential to expand its water conservation efforts and strengthen its performance and reputation in sustainability efforts.
As a group, we made it our mission to investigate these areas of high on-campus water consumption, discover practical conservation methods and map out implementation strategies for the university. Our research focuses on rainwater harvesting, landscaping and irrigation, restroom utilities, and public outreach and education. According to UH’s Utility and Sustainability Coordinator Paul Brokhin, in 2015, the university’s average monthly water usage and expenditure was:
Water - $128,198 – 29,935,000 gallons/month Sewer - $163,249 – 28,350,000 gallons/month Recently, a significant and likely growing proportion of prospective university students are making decisions about where to apply and attend based on campus sustainability performance. Major college guide businesses are taking note of this recent trend and meeting the demands for such campus greening information. Starting in 2009, the Princeton Review incorporated a "Green Rating" for 534 colleges and universities, and the Kaplan College Guide included a special "Green Section" featuring 25 green campuses and ten green careers (5).
For the sixth year in a row, the University of Houston has been named one of the nation’s “greenest” colleges by the Princeton Review. Spanning 667 acres with a population of 44,331 individuals and 5,783 students living on campus, the University of Houston represents an enormous investment in buildings, land and people. By implementing direct water conservation strategies, the university simultaneously enacts a campus-wide sustainability initiative that ultimately attracts prospective students and promotes interdisciplinary approaches to building everyday water conservation habits and public education in sustainability.
|