Waterworks

UNM uses an estimated 900,000 gallons of water every day.

UNM gets water from the City of Albuquerque's aquifer using three private campus wells, its primary source being well No. 7.

Jeffrey Zumwalt, UNM's associate director of utilities, said last month UNM drew more than 21 million gallons of water from well No. 7, with more than half of it going toward UNM-based steam, chilled water and electricity generation. The remaining 10 million gallons were distributed to UNM buildings and landscape, he said. During hot summer months, water use can increase by more than 10 million gallons.

Physical Plant Director Mary Vosevich said landscape irrigation constitutes a significant portion of UNM's total use, and is not calculated separately from general water use.

She said overall water use is declining as water-conserving measures are undertaken, but a balance must be achieved between UNM's Xeriscape and irrigated plant life in order to maintain UNM's pleasant atmosphere and attractiveness.

"I think it's commendable what's been done so far - and while maintaining a beautiful campus," she said. "If our campus was all paved, then we'd have heat issues."

Zumwalt said his office is planning to recycle water the Lomas Chilled Water Plant discards. Instead of going to the city sewer, the "blowdown," water that is too concentrated with minerals for use in the chilling plant will be redirected to UNM's Duck Pond and the UNM North Course. The reused water costs UNM more than $1.50 per thousand gallons to treat, he said.

Grounds and Landscaping supervisor Willie West, who deals with UNM's daily water-conservation struggle, said the two primary challenges UNM is faced with are funding and staff education. He said these challenges have not deterred ongoing advances toward water efficiency.

For under $500, West said his crew replaced all of Johnson Field's sprinklers with more efficient heads.

"We brought our efficiency rating, which is how evenly the water is distributed, from about 31 percent, to more than 60 percent," he said. "Just by doing that nozzling, we saved an estimated somewhere around five million gallons last year alone."

Plans are underway, he said, to centralize UNM's 150 irrigation controllers into one automated system that will respond to wind, temperature and humidity changes in ways that reduce water waste. As the system stands, West said when it rains, it takes his three-man crew the whole day to deactivate UNM's irrigation systems.

Many useful water-saving systems, though, are highly problematic, West said.

Rainwater harvesting, a system of collecting, diverting and storing rainwater, is an excellent way to supplement UNM's water use, he said. But unless it is incorporated into the design of a structure before construction, he said installing a rainwater-harvesting system later is not worth the cost.

West also said Xeriscaping can be overdone.

"As much as we don't like it, it is a recruitment (tool)," he said. "If a kid from Pennsylvania came out here and saw nothing but gravel, he ain't gonna like it."

While West said he is committed to reducing UNM's water use, current water-conservation strategies are misdirected. Instead of focusing so heavily on Xeriscaping, he said policy makers would more effectively conserve water if reforms on agricultural irrigation methods were pursued.

"They need to start making agriculture come into the 21st century," West said. "They're using the same technology that was developed before the 1400s - the exact same systems - and people come complaining to me."