When people think of conserving resources, the main thing that comes to mind is the quick-draining oil reserves. We use oil so frequently, and there is a limited amount on the planet, which is why alternative energy sources are very important.
However, another resource that is potentially in danger of being fully depleted is the earth’s fresh water supply. Everyone needs water to survive; that’s just basic knowledge. Water is an essential part of everyday life, from providing a source of energy in terms of water-propelled machines to being necessary for survival.
As environmental preservation sweeps across the US, people are starting to take action and spread the word about conserving water.
Steps to spread the word about conservation are happening at Keene State College as well.
Around the Owl’s Nests dorms, there are signs with all kinds of information regarding conservation of water. The signs each detail some of the changes the college has made in the bathrooms in order to decrease the amount of water used by the residents on a daily basis.
This includes installation of low-flow faucets for the sinks which let less water flow through the faucet when the water is turned on.
More water-efficient toilet handles are also installed, which flush different levels of water depending on direction. When the handle is pulled upwards to flush, the toilet flushes about .6 gallons less per flush.
This adds up over time, and logically is far smarter than using a regular flow toilet.
Another detail outlined by the sign is that preheating the shower uses about 1.5 gallons of water. By that logic, if a person takes a shower every day for a week and preheats the shower for a minute beforehand, about 10.5 gallons of water are wasted each week by a single person.
Now it must also be taken into account that more than one person is potentially running all that extra water each week.
It makes sense then why having each person not run the water for all that extra time could preserve water.
To really display how much water is used when someone takes a shower, a visual display was set up in the lobby of One Butler Court. The display was a table with a large number of one gallon buckets set up around it.
The sign on the display explained that the buckets were a visual representation of how much water is used when someone takes a half an hour-long shower.
A half-hour shower uses about 45 gallons of water per person. This varies from shower to shower and depends on what kind of shower head the shower has, but for the equipment installed in Butler Court and the Owl’s Nests that represents the average.
There are about 434 residents living in the nine Owl’s Nests, and about 216 residents living in One Butler Court, for a total of about 650 people between the 10 buildings.
Say each person takes about a 15-minute shower every day. The amount of water used per day at that rate would be around 14,625 gallons.
That is just in a single day, in one corner of the residential buildings. There are also all the other dorms using water every day. All that water waste eventually adds up.
Now, obviously 14,625 gallons isn’t the exact amount that is used every day.
Not every person showers every day, and not every shower is for 15 minutes.
There are a lot of other factors that could affect the count including how much water each showerhead uses specifically, the exact number of residents and how many showers each person takes every day.
What doesn’t change is the fact that if each person lessens the amount of water they use daily even by a slight margin, it would make a huge difference in the conservation efforts on campus.
This, in turn, will help conserve water worldwide.
David Padrazo can be contacted at
dpadrazo@keene-equinox.com