&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
(4204)
EPA832-F-00-007
March 2000
www.epa.gov/owm/genwave.htm
WAVE Partners:
Educational Institutions
Water_Alliances for Voluntary Efficiency (WAV?) is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) long-term effort to prevent pollution and reduce demands on the nation's
water and energy resources. WAVE is a voluntary partnership that encourages commercial busi-
nesses ancLinstitutions to examine water usage and'implement water efficiency programs. Since
its inception in 1992, the WAVE program has helped the lodging industry increase water efficien-
cy. WAVE is now seeking to promote these same principles in educational institutions such as
schools, colleges, and universities. '
How Can IVIy School, College, or University
Become More Water Efficient?
Many schools, colleges, and universities are taking a serious look, at their water use and are find-
ing significant opportunities to cut costs and improye services through water efficiency. There are
many opportunities to reduce water use in educational institutions—laundry facilities; bathroom
fixtures such as toilets, showers, and faucets; landscape irrigation; heating and cooling; food serv-
ice operations and cafeterias; laboratories; and sports facilities. By installing water-efficient
equipment and integrating water efficiency practices into everyday operations, a 30 percent
reduction in water consumption is possible. These cost-effective practices conserve energy and
valuable natural resources and can significantly reduce your institution's water, sewer, and ener-
gy bills, and chemical and maintenance costs. Schqols, colleges, and universities can also use
their unique position as educators to help promote water efficiency to the students and the com-
munity by example and through educational campaigns.
In most cases, increasing water efficiency is simple, to do and quick to pay off. Choose the water
efficiency practices that are economically viable and offer the greatest rewards for your facilities.
JMVE
Water Alliances For
Voluntary Efficiency
How Can I Determine
Which Efficiency
IVIeasures Are Best
for Me?
WAVE*Saver, a windows-based soft-
ware package available from EPA,
enables physical plant engineers and
managers to survey water use and
identify specific water saving opportu-
nities. The program includes full-
motion video demonstrations, color
photos and graphics, and online tutori-
als. WAVE*Saver allows you to track
water use throughout your institution,
including laundry operations, irriga-
tion, and cooling towers. You can then
identify and evaluate a variety of water
efficiency measures to save water in
Number o( identical lesttooms ol this- type in fhi?.bwadirtg: }S_ ^"
Residence Unit ' t rUniU^Resliopra)..
4 WAVE'Saver Fixed Data Input Screen
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those functions. WAVE»Saver has tracking, budgeting, and
forecasting features, and also includes an automated fea-
ture to make completing and submitting efficiency reports
as simple as printing. Operating instructions are included
in the "help" feature on the CD-ROM, making a paper
copy unnecessary.
Water Conservation Goes
to College
Interested in learning how to save $235,000 each year in
water costs? That is how much Columbia University esti-
mates it saves through one of the largest water-efficiency
upgrades ever attempted at a university. Even with the cost
of hiring an outside firm to design and implement all
aspects of the xvork, Columbia cut its water bill by 25 per-
cent and realized a payback period of only 1.8 years.
Columbia University, located on a 30-acre campus in
Manhattan, New York, serves more than 10,000 undergrad-
uate and graduate students. The university's water-efficien-
cy upgrade focused on domestic water use, including
replacement of toilets, showerheads, and faucet aerators
with high-efficiency models. Columbia also installed a
cross-campus water-pumping loop, which allows it to con-
trol water pressure and flow to each campus building. With
tho loop installed, the university can more closely monitor
water consumption and can eliminate all water storage
tanks on campus, making annual tank cleaning and flush-
ing unnecessary. Overall the loop has drastically reduced
tho number of leaks and the amount of system mainte-
nance required, resulting in further savings. Using the
annual savings from these projects, the university has
financed additional energy conservation projects with
longer payback periods.
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Efficiency Measures
3/7(00 Sits: College
{Domestic
JToilet
j Replace with ULFT
Silver Science BuOdbis-Restnom General Rood-
Payback: 2.30 years
Annual Savings: $731.97
MatWistallCost: $1680.00
Qty S
Silver Science Building-Restroom General Restr
Payback: 0.19 years
Annual Savings: $4236.84
MatUInstallCost: $3360.00
Qty 16
|UrinaI
[Replace witji Waterless Urinal
Silver Science BuUtlirqj-Restroom General Restr
Payback 1^3 years
__J
I
_J
ooms Annual Savings
Wat.r: $698.51 (1 12.6625 KOal)
Erergy: $0.00 (0 kwhs)
Treatment: $33.46
O&M Cost: $0.00
Water; $4043.14 (652. 1198KOal)
Energy: $0.00 (Okwhs)
Treatment; $193.70
O£M Cost: $0.00
__J|
1
Water: $2611.94 (42 1.2799 KOal)
a
j!
1
i
. 6
: -1
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4 WAVE»Saver Efficiency Report Screen
i i I > (i i (
"Using water efficiently helps to address a
' t t> ' V i
number of issues that facility managers face.
I
Water conservation measures helped us
reduce maintenance, energy, and wafer
costs by pinpointing high usage areas,
replacing bathroom fixtures with low flow
models, reducing leaks, and improving
metering. At the same time, we helped meet
our environmental goals."
Tony Troccnia
Assistant Vice President of Facilities Operations,
Columbia University
How Can I Join?
For more information on how WAVE can help you identify water efficiency measures to meet your needs, call 202 260-
7288. You also can write to the WAVE Program at U.S. EPA (4204), Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWK
Washington, DC 20460; or visit our Web site at . Join WAVE today and make the com-
mitment to take a leading role in conserving our vital water resources while saving money. ;
Printed on paper that contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber.
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