Every year Gonzaga is a top commercial water user in Spokane, and this year the University rose from No. 4 to No. 3. The Pacific Northwest Inlander creates an annual list of the Top 10 water consumers in Spokane. Gonzaga falls just under Providence Sa- cred Heart Medical Center and the City of Spokane Wastewater Treatment Plant. Airway Heights, a small city with 4,500 residents, was No. 3 last year, but drastically dropped its water consumption, which took them off the list entirely.
Gonzaga used 134 million gallons of water from June 1 2008 to May 2009, up from 116 million gallons the previous year, according to the In- lander. "We are like a small city," said Ken Sammons, director of plant ser- vices, regarding the amount of water Gonzaga consumes.
Sammons noted that there are approximately 3,000 people living on campus, more than 6,000 people on campus daily and 120-acres of ground. He also mentioned camps and over 10,500 "guests" on campus. Because of these numbers it is not excessive for the University to use the amount of water it does, Sammons said.
The University has also been increasing enrollment each year and buildings have been added such as PACCAR, Tilford and Coughlin Hall.
The increase in buildings and especially the increase in people only fuels the University's water usage.
Sammons refuted the increase cited by the Inlander. He said that they may not have looked at the right or final account of water calculations.
"We actually reduced water use by 7 percent," Sammons said. "Despite any growth, I think that shows we've been making progress."
Plant Services has been doing what they can to reduce water usage through upgrading technology. They have been putting in low-flow shower heads and changing out old sprinkler heads for newer and more efficient ones.
The biggest change they are making is the use of a new computer program called RainBird, started a couple weeks ago, in hopes that they can get sprinkler systems more centralized and controlled by one computer versus many control boards. This way Grounds Supervisor Tim Hatcher can turn off the sprinklers from his home if it begins to rain. This should help de- crease the number of gallons consumed, but will take some time to get fully up and running.
The use of sprinklers when it is raining has been a consistent irritation for some water-conscious students.
"It seems like in some aspects they are [doing a good job conserving water], but they're not carrying that throughout, like watering the grass on nights that it rains," junior Dylan Kinsella said.
The goal of the RainBird program will be to significantly reduce this problem. The irrigation systems do use the most water, but with sand-based fields that use more water, expansion of grounds and the goal of keeping the campus looking nice and green, the grounds team does not think that this is an unreasonable amount of water use.
Purchasing Manager Steven Lunden, who also oversees grounds and maintenance operations, stressed the importance of keeping the campus looking appealing.
"First impressions are really predicated on what the campus looks like," Lunden said. "We are cognizant of how much water we use," Hatcher said. "We're trying to be as efficient with it as we can."
Be the first to comment on this article!