Food and Water Conservation

When asked how many gallons of water he uses a day, Academic Counselor Drew Clinton guessed about 10. However, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the average person uses 80 to 100 gallons of water a day.

A recent focus group explored food and water conservation, but lacked knowledge about this issue. The three group members were asked to estimate the number of gallons of water they use daily.

“Gosh I don’t know, drinking, shower, probably what you think 2-3 gallons a day,” said Pete Lewis, learning specialist with the Office of Student-Athlete Academic Support. “That may be conservative, I don’t know.”

Water conservation is not thought of as a problem because many community members see it as a convenience.

“I think we don’t think of conserving often enough, and we just take for granted what we have,” Clinton said. “There is always water when we flip the switch.”

The focus group agreed that awareness is the first step to conservation.

“I think what we are doing here is a good starting point to make the university aware of how wasteful we are being, not only in the conservation of water, but food as well,” Lewis said. “Situations like we’re having here is the start to answering that.”

Another issue that demands awareness is food conservation. The Office of Campus Sustainability has claimed dining as one of their strategic areas for initiative spring 2010.

According to its Spring Preview newsletter, the office plans to explore ways to decrease the waste produced in dining and food preparation operations by enhancing recycling and exploring how to integrate composting. During the focus group for food and water conservation, participant Anne Rhodes, a learning specialist with the Office of Student-Athlete Academic Support, suggested composting as a solution to food waste.

“I think there is enough sunshine here that with the garden clippings, we can compost leftover food,” Rhodes said.

However, the group didn’t know enough about food conservation issues to fully develop any solutions and felt they needed to be more aware of the situations the community faces.

“I think it all starts with awareness, so the more you can get that word out at least you have people thinking about it,” Clinton said. “It is hard to break old habits, but it’s amazing how much recycling goes on now when 20 years ago, no one knew there was another way besides throwing stuff away.”

The Office of Campus Sustainability hosts lectures and outreach activities on campus to spread the word about sustainability projects and increase conservation efforts.

“It (conservation) can be done, but you have to talk about it and get the word out,” Clinton said. “I don’t know enough about it, and I know there are probably great solutions, but I don’t have the knowledge on how to conserve water and food.”