Think you’ve got a big water bill? Think again. An inches-high stack of bills from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) lands every month on Bill Sullivan’s desk. Manager of utilities and power for Cal State Northridge’s Physical Plant Management (PPM) department, Sullivan scours the bills to make sure there are no anomalies, costly meter misreads or potential leaks hidden in the mountain of numbers.

Worrying the water numbers is pro forma at PPM, but the department also is addressing the university’s water usage with the kind of creativity that has brought it national recognition for alternative energy source installations such as CSUN’s 1 megawatt fuel cell plant.

Using incentive monies from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and the LADWP, PPM in fall 2009 completed installation of a Central Computerized Irrigation Control System.

Taking into account elements such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, and wind speed, a campus weather station calculates evapo-transpiration and evaporation rates. The weather station sends messages to irrigation controllers all over the grounds, telling them how much watering the university’s plants and grass need on any given day.

As a designated large-turf area, Northridge enjoys the same special irrigation rate as golf courses and parks. Even so, during fiscal year 2008-09, its water bill was $655,000. “We’ll know in another year how much savings the campus is enjoying from this new irrigation system,” said Sullivan.

In addition, PPM is using MWD incentive funds to purchase and install 270 waterless urinals at Northridge. “This program is a great opportunity to replace some of the oldest fixtures on campus,” said Sullivan, “which can use in excess of 1.5 gallons per flush.”

An analysis of CSUN’s water footprint also is planned. Mechelle Best, assistant professor of recreation and tourism management and a member of the CSUN Sustainability Institute’s core Greening Project, is joining with colleagues, grad students and interns to gather data on the campus’ day-to-day use of water and to perform a supply-side chain analysis of the fresh water used and polluted in the production of goods and services.

“One of the immediate problems I’ve observed both on campus and in Southern California is the lack of catchment to hold water,” said Best, a native of Barbados. “Where water isn’t plentiful, you have to create your own reserve.

“Our discoveries will be broadly shared,” said Best. “Water conservation is critical to this region’s future.”

— Julia Venkateswaran

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