Water Conservation: Above and Beyond
Click the image above to see a detailed view of our reclaimed water system.
In addition to complying with the city of San Diego's emergency water regulations, UCSD is further targeting water conservation on campus in the following ways:
- Partnering with students
- The student group AQUAholics Anonymous has written a 12-step program to achieving a sustainable water footprint (PDF).
- Students receive the campus-developed Storm Water Pollution Prevention pamphlet when they check in at their residence halls.
- Student-led projects in residence halls aim to reduce water use and change behavior.
- Adjusting water conservation goals
- The campus Climate Action Plan (CAP), developed in December 2008, calls for water conservation equaling 4% per year. We're already revising the CAP with more aggressive goals to address the current water crisis.
- Emergency meetings
- The Sustainable Operations Work Group (SOWG) is holding emergency meetings to discuss water conservation solutions. Participants include stakeholders from departments that represent all aspects of campus life and are uniquely positioned to support and accomplish behavioral and operational change.
- Existing building operation and maintenance
- We're retrofitting existing buildings with low-flow devices (UCSD has applied for and hopes to receive a $650,000 grant to help fund this process).
- We're changing to low-flow fixtures in residence halls.
- Wherever possible, we use Green Seal certified cleaning products.
- Irrigation and landscaping
- In all new construction, our crews are installing low-flow water fixtures and planting drought-tolerant vegetation.
- We're retrofitting our existing irrigation system with low-water-use sprinklers.
- Our landscape staff is trained to identify signs of overwatering and water leaks in the irrigation systems.
- We're connecting our irrigation systems to the campuswide weather monitoring system for improved irrigation control based on campus microclimate data.
- Data is provided by the UC San Diego Decision Making using Real-time Observations for Environmental Sustainability (DEMROES) system, which measures water lost from evapotranspiration and determines whether watering is necessary. Evapotranspiration rates vary with the weather, peaking on sunny, dry, windy summer days. For an example of DEMROES data, see a real-time graph of water loss at UCSD's RIMAC Field.
- Future improvements
Based on Stimulus Package requests for water conservation projects, we will:- Install water-efficient lab equipment
- Expand the reclaimed water system
- Replace turf with xeriscape (landscaping that conserves water)
Additional Resources
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