Waste Not
Mar 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By Mike Kennedy (mkennedy@asumag.com)
Schools and universities can take steps to conserve water and energy in their facilities' bathrooms.
Going with the (low) flow
Harvard University has made many of its bathrooms more efficient in the last year by installing new sinks and toilets that use less water.
The university's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which oversees Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Division of Continuing Education, has put in 900 new low-flow sinks and 675 dual-flush toilets.
Aerators on the sinks reduce water flow to 0.5 gallons of water per minute compared with 2.2 or 2.0 gallons per minute used by the old sinks. That is a 75 to 77 percent drop in water use, the university says.
Dual-flush toilets use different amounts of water to flush waste. The units installed at Harvard use 1.1 gallons when a user pulls the handle up to flush liquid waste, and 1.6 gallons when a user pulls the handle down to flush solid waste.
Similar upgrades have taken place in the university's residence halls and libraries.
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