PPD: We are not 'water wasters'

UNM’s water usage is down thanks to new waste-reducing measures, according to Physical Plant Department representatives.
Willie West, grounds and landscaping manager of Environmental Services, said overall water consumption on main campus has declined over the past 15 years. He said there’s a 21 percent reduction from 1993-2007.

Mary Vosevich, director of the Physical Plant Department, said that reduction is actually closer to 30 percent.
“We’ve been accused of being horrible water wasters, and the data demonstrates just the opposite,” she said.

John Fitzgerald, Utilities Operations manager of the Physical Plant Department, said the UNM campus drew the 287.9 million gallons it used in 2009 from a combination of well and Albuquerque city water.

Vosevich said energy-efficient buildings are helping reduce that number.

“New buildings built on campus have been designed to reduce energy consumption and conserve resources such as water,” she said. “Any remolding work, any retrofitting that we’re doing, any new construction — all the buildings have to have low-flow fixtures in them.”
Vosevich said UNM began using new fixtures after Gov. Bill Richardson started requiring new facilities to meet certain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. She said some of UNM’s infrastructure is outdated and inefficient, such as the computer system that controls irrigation.

“Sometimes you will see sprinklers running, and it could be raining,” she said.

Bruce Milne, director of the Sustainability Studies Program, said having grass and other green areas on campus is aesthetically pleasing, even though it requires water usage.

“It creates a very nice environment,” he said. “We have a beautiful looking campus, and, of course, we need water to do that.”

Vosevich said UNM doesn’t have the technology to monitor how much water is used for irrigating UNM’s landscape, even though the technology exists elsewhere, but she said changes to UNM’s landscape have been designed to curb water use.

“Over the years, we have taken out areas of turf on campus, because it’s water intensive. It’s maintenance intensive, so you won’t see little strips of turf that run along the sidewalk anymore,” she said.