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Shower Better Case Study
Cobb County Showers KSU
With Campus-Wide Savings
Cobb County Water System, a multi-year winner of WaterSense's Promotional Partner of the Year, wanted to
make a big splash for Shower Better Month in October 2014, Kennesaw State University (KSU) in Kennesaw,
Georgia, has a longtime partnership with the utility and a history of sustainability. The university had recently
acquired Southern Polytechnic University, making KSU the second largest school in the Georgia state college
system, and Cobb County saw an opportunity to help the university save water, energy, and money while
enhancing its environmental outreach.
Planning
Kathy Nguyen, senior project manager for Cobb County Water System, pitched the idea in August 2014 to Dr.
Robert Paul, a biology professor who teaches sustainability courses where Nguyen had previously spoken.
Paul provided contacts at KSU's central maintenance and athletic facilities (the university has a separate
maintenance group just for athletic buildings). Recent economic cutbacks had the university looking for ways
to reduce utility bills, so upgrades that could save both water and energy were a natural fit.
Cobb County met with both the central and athletic facility staff in September
2014, along with the marketing/public relations department and Residence Life
representatives. Cobb County Water System offered up to $10,000 worth of free
WaterSense labeled showerheads, if KSU would provide the in-kind labor.
"Surprisingly, we got consent right at that table," Nguyen said.
Showerhead performance was a concern, however. Although Nguyen promoted
the certified performance of WaterSense labeled showerheads, KSU staff wanted
students to test them before committing to a full upgrade. The group planned a
two-week pilot, which Residence Life promoted through social media; the first
100 students to sign up received the new showerheads. "They had 100 percent
satisfaction from the students that tested them," Nguyen said. "In fact, athletics
wanted theirs before the pilot was completed."
Upgrades
Cobb County Water System purchased 3,600 1,5-gallon-per-minute WaterSense labeled showerheads at a
discount through New Resource Group for ail of the dormitories and athletic facilities on campus. Getting that
many showerheads shipped to KSU instead of the county proved a little challenging, since county purchasing
was not used to approving offsite deliveries.
Residence Life wanted to make sure that students were supportive of the switch, so Cobb County Water
System created fliers and signs about the benefits of WaterSense labeled showerheads before the
installation. The utility brought Flo, the WaterSense spokesgallon, to a festival held at KSU during Shower
Better Month, where she and the university's owl mascot created buzz for the upcoming bathroom upgrades.
PHONE (866) WTR-SENS (987-7367) WEBSITE www.epa.gov/watersense EMAIL watersense@epa.gov
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Shower Better Case Study: Cobb County Showers KSU With Campus-Wide Savings
Installations were originally scheduled over
Thanksgiving to take advantage of the empty dorm
rooms, but facilities realized they needed more
time and installed them over the winter break.
When students returned in January, they all had
shiny new water-saving showerheads in their
suites. Since then? "We've only gotten positive
feedback," Nguyen said. "They've been really
happy with them."
Lessons Learned
Cobb County Water System learned a number of
things that could help other organizations
considering similar upgrade programs:
1.	Get a Head Start: The project was on a
tight timeframe in order to promote the
upgrades during Shower Better Month; the
utility could have used more time to
organize. "If we had it to do all over again,
we would have started much earlier,"
Nguyen said.
2.	Find a Champion: Dr. Paul helped Cobb
County find the right contacts at KSU and
encouraged the sustainable upgrades.
According to Nguyen, "It really is about the
relationships you build and time spent
laying the groundwork with people."
3.	Foster and Facilitate Partners: Everyone
had a clear understanding of their roles
and agreed to their responsibilities. Cobb County provided products, facilities coordinated
installations, public relations promoted, and Residence Life worked with students. Nguyen checked in
with partners throughout the process to keep it on track.
4.	Offer Incentives: Part of the reason KSU signed on was because Cobb County purchased the
showerheads. "You have to bring some skin into the game," Nguyen advised.
Asked if they would do anything differently, Nguyen noted that Cobb County could have done more with the
project after it was completed. "We wish we had promoted it more in the community."
Results
In the six months following the shower switch, KSU saved 666,000 gallons of water, or about 28 percent of
the water used in the dorms, and about $6,500 in water bills. Since Cobb County paid about $9,500 for the
showerheads, this retrofit at another university could potentially pay for itself in just one year.
Direct energy savings were not available following the project, however. "We wanted to find a way to isolate
hot water use and measure pre- and post-upgrade, but we couldn't find the right instrument to do so in that
timeframe," Nguyen said. Although the KSU dorms are not sub-metered, Cobb County is planning on looking
at total annual water use before and after the upgrades to measure the longer term savings, as well as
considering a post-retrofit survey of student satisfaction.
Multi-Family Makeovers
Denver Water has brought water savings to students
in partnership with the Auraria Campus—which
includes the University of Colorado Denver,
Metropolitan State University of Denver, and the
Community College of Denver. The multi-year
project included WaterSense labeled showerhead
retrofits.
The utility also launched a Water Challenge in 2014
with condo associations and apartment buildings
that have high water bills. Last year, eight buildings
installed WaterSense labeled toilets, aerators, and
showerheads. Large apartment buildings were
easier to target than individual condos, noted Denver
Water's Jeannine Shaw. "The biggest challenge is
getting enough people on board, because they're
individually owned units," Shaw said. "But neighbors
make a good endorsement."
Sometimes showerhead performance is questioned,
and staff suggest the building install a labeled model
in a common area like the pool or exercise room first
to gather feedback. Denver Water also encourages
building supervisors make showerhead swaps part
of their maintenance routine—for example, swapping
out showerheads when they inspect the smoke
detectors or check door locks.

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