A Way Forward For Water

The King Library hosted a panel discussion a few months ago called "A Way Forward for Water: Understanding Water Supply, Use, and Reuse" that was part of the SJSU Sustainability Matters Lecture Series.

There was some interesting local water information that I wanted to share with all of you.

Santa Clara County receives 30% of its water from local natural groundwater from reservoirs, 55% of its water is imported from outside areas, 5% of its water is from recycled water, and 10% is saved from conservation.

90% of King Library's water usage goes to flushing toilets.

At the time the King Library was built, it was dual-plumbed for both regular water pipes and recycled water pipes...but there was no pipeline in existence yet to actually bring recycled water to the library site.

When City Hall was built a few years later, the pipeline for recycled water was built along with it.

Construction to connect the King Library to the City Hall's recycled water pipeline is targeted to be completed by mid-summer.

Once connected, the King Library would save about 5 million gallons of potable water per year by using recycled water to flush toilets.


Regarding drinking water on campus, the SJSU Sustainability team has conducted several blind water taste-tests at different campus events throughout this academic year.

After sampling water from all three identical numbered dispensers, testers would vote for the dispenser containing the water they thought tasted best.

The water types tested included campus tap water, bottled water (Crystal Geyser), and reverse osmosis filtered tap water.

Katherine Cushing, the SJSU Director of Sustainability, shared with me some preliminary data from the water taste test events.

The preliminary data show that 55% of taste testers prefer the reverse osmosis filtered tap water, 38% prefer the bottled water (Crystal Geyser), and 7% prefer campus tap water.

In order to reduce plastic bottled water sold at campus events and dining services, the Sustainability team are collecting signatures on a "SJSU Take Back the Tap Pledge" petition.

The pledge asks the campus community to support policies that promote/protect local access to clean water, limit/eliminate use of botttled water on campus, assess retrofitting reverse osmosis filters on existing campus water fountains, and provide all new incoming freshman with reusable water bottles. If you're interested in signing the pledge, Katherine sent me a form and I can provide it to you.


Green Tip of the Week: Consider how you can use water wisely and conserve our water resources.

Do you use a reusable/refillable water container at the library?

Did you know if you shorten your shower by 5 minutes you can save 15 gallons of water?

Have you considered planting drought-resistant plants in your yard?


Here are some water savings tips from the Santa Clara Valley Water District:
http://www.save20gallons.org/tips.html

Here are some helpful water conservation tips from the City of San Jose's Environmental Services website:
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/esd/water-conservation/residents/resident-actions.asp

Here is information on recycled water:
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/sbwr/

(Thank you to Tung, Katherine, and Jennifer for helping me with the water information and statistics.)