KARLA SHIRVANIAN | staff writer

APU receives an award for water and energy conservation but more participation is still needed.

Conservation was the main attraction during Green Week, but prior to Green Week Azusa Pacific University has worked hard to be good stewards of its resources and this effort was acknowledged by the city of Azusa.

APU was recently recognized by the city for making a change in water usage on campus. The school was one of 15 consumers who received awards on Jan. 30 from Azusa Light and Power. A breakfast held at the Women’s Club brought together some of Azusa’s biggest consumers who made significant changes and worked toward conservation.

In October the city made an announcement that there was a stage three citywide drought. The severity of the drought caused an immediate mandate for a 20 percent decrease in the amount of water usage by its largest consumers.

APU was not only able to meet numbers for the first month but exceeded the required number and reduced water on all 20 accounts with Azusa Light and Water. APU met the mandate and reduced water usage enough to receive the award.

The award was presented as a way to thank consumers who had gone beyond the requirements in conservation efforts. In order to qualify to receive the award users had to reduce water consumption by 30 percent in November and December of 2007 in comparison to the 2006 year.

The landscape crew took advantage of the rain and the timers were manually timed and the athletic fields were only watered when necessary.

“The crew has been looking at the weather and cutting back where possible,” Snyder said.

They intentionally tried to conserve water by not watering, leaving some of the lawns to go brown.

The automatic faucets in the restrooms were tested and where the faucets ran too long an adjustment was made to shorten the time and be more water efficient. Top priority has also been given to any leak on campus with quick action to fix problems.

Students played a vital role in aiding the efforts of APU by reducing water usage.

“It not only speaks to Facilities but also really speaks to the students because every little thing that they did let us get to where we are at,” Facilities Management Bill Asher said.

APU’s efforts have not gone unnoticed by students, but there is still a concern about the effectiveness of the efforts.

“I think its good that APU is trying to conserve water but in the mods and dorms people are not really concerned about how much water they use because they do not have to pay their own utility bill,” sophomore accounting major Emily Nelson said.

That is where everyone’s participation and effort is key, according to Snyder.

“If they see problems like a leaky pipe, a running toilet, or sprinkler that is broken they should notify Facilities,” Snyder said.

There are also more day-to-day things people can do to reduce water usage.

“The common sense things you can do are take shorter showers, when you’re brushing your teeth turn off the water, and be good stewards of your water,” Snyder said.

Although the rains have helped, the city is still in a drought and the city still needs the help from its largest consumers, like APU, to continue to reduce water usage.
Although there has been reduction in water usage the problem is not yet solved. There is still a drought, and conservation is still needed, according to Azusa city officials.