Conserving our precious natural resources is one of our core values. With the City of Santa Cruz adopting a stage one water shortage alert, I want to remind everyone in the campus community to ensure they're minimizing their water use.
While rains helped to end the most stringent water restrictions, we should all continue with a water-saving mindset, given the uncertainty of what this winter will bring and the cyclical nature of droughts.
Small decisions every individual makes around water conservation, both on campus and within our community, greatly help conserve our water resources. These decisions can be as simple as being mindful of water usage in our daily routines, to alerting the campus when of a potential leak within or outside our buildings.
Please report any leaks—no matter how small—by going to fixit.ucsc.edu.
A few water-saving tips:
- Turn off the water when soaping your hands, shaving, brushing your teeth, and washing dishes.
- Shorten your showers.
- Don't let dishes sit out, since dishes with dried-on food are harder to wash.
- Run full loads in the laundry or dishwashing machines.
- Encourage your peers to be water efficient and aware
More ideas about conserving water are available online.
The city’s stage one restrictions include:
- No landscape watering between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. (exceptions include drip irrigation, soaker hoses, watering cans).
- Hose nozzles required.
- No washing down hard or paved surfaces (exceptions include health or sanitation hazards).
- No initial filling, draining, or refilling of swimming pools.
You can learn more about conserving water and our water supply online.
