California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
The severe California drought has caused mandatory water restrictions across the state, especially for homeowners. An interesting factor frequently left out of the debate is the colleges and universities that reside in the state. Out of all of the entire Cal State University system, Cal Poly Pomona uses the most water. The university sites their agricultural programs as one of the biggest uses of water on their campus.
In 2014, Cal Poly Pomona used 633,958,424 gallons of water, more than three times the average water use by the Cal State University’s 23 universities and chancellor’s offices. They used 170,444,952 gallons in 2014.
About two-thirds of Cal Poly Pomona’s water usage is for the school’s agricultural programs, spokeswoman Emily Velasco told Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. What most people don’t know is that the university’s water is reclaimed.
In addition to helping meet Governor Brown’s 25 percent water cutbacks during the California drought, Cal Poly Pomona has invested $100,000 to improve the agricultural school’s irrigation system. They will also look into using reclaimed water for chiller systems used to cool buildings. Instead of refrigerating drinking water, they want to begin using reclaimed water for this progress.
New buildings will feature low-flow toilets, while older buildings are being retrofitted with the same water-saving technology.
The university’s biggest water-savings initiative will be a $3.3 million reverse osmosis plant. Cal Poly Pomona believes that once it’s set up this fall, the university would pull water from well water and only tap into the Metropolitan Water District’s water when absolutely necessary.
“If we can save more than 25 percent, we’ll do it,” Mark Miller, Cal Poly Pomona’s facilities management services told Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. “Whether that’s on domestic (quality of water) side or reclaimed side, that’s irrelevant.”
