Lowest campus water usage in decades

PULLMAN – Water use at Washington State University is down significantly for the second consecutive year, reaching the lowest level since WSU entered into a regional ground water management plan two decades ago.

In 2004, WSU used 557 million gallons of water, an 8.3 percent decrease from the 608 million gallons pumped in 2003. In 2005, WSU further reduced water usage to 515 million gallons, down an additional 7.6 percent from 2004. That downward trend also has continued through April of this year, with water usage down 13 percent from the same period in 2005.

Ev Davis, associate vice president for Facilities Operations, said the 2005 water use figure represents a 24 percent decline since 1986, when the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee’s water management plan began requiring monitoring of water usage. In 1986, WSU’s usage was 681 million gallons. 

The last time WSU’s water usage hit a lower level than in 2005 was in 1962, when 499 million gallons were consumed, Davis said. WSU’s highest annual usage was 741 million gallons in 1984.

Davis attributes the reduction in water use to several factors, including: 

* The new Grimes Way Steam Plant which was designed to use much less water than the old College Avenue Steam Plant, which ceased operations in April of 2005. That alone is responsible for a drop in water use of 30 million gallons annually.

* The identification and repair of a number of broken and leaking small domestic water lines in some of the remote areas of the campus has saved more than 11.5 million gallons annually.

* Ongoing efforts by Facilities Operations, Capital Planning and Development, and Housing/Dining Services to install low water usage equipment and fixtures.

* A continuing effort to identify and eliminate water-wasting equipment in campus buildings.

Davis said the decline in water use is all the more noteworthy because WSU has grown steadily during the past four decades, with enrollment more than doubling between 1962 and 2006.  For example, WSU had:

* 7,896 students on the Pullman campus in 1962, 15,481 students in 1986 and 17,638 students in 2005.

* 3,830 employees in Whitman county in 1986, with most on the Pullman campus, and 4,343 employees in 2005. Employee figures for 1962 were not available.

* The total square footage of campus buildings and facilities requiring care, heating and cooling has also grown substantially since 1962, when structures on the Pullman campus comprised approximately 4 million gross square feet of space. By 1986, the total had grown to 8 million gross square feet. In 2005, the total reached 10 million gross square feet. 

Members of PBAC are the cities of Moscow, Pullman and Colfax, the University of Idaho, WSU, Latah County (Idaho) and Whitman County (Washington).