University of California, Santa Barbara
IN-3: Innovation 3

The UCSB Water Action Plan is a collaboration between UCSB Facilities Management, UCSB Sustainability, and the Bren School of Environmental & Management at UCSB. The Plan itself is a comprehensive water planning document that covers historical water conservation and efficiency efforts at UCSB, as well as consumption, but most importantly, it establishes future water conservation strategies for the University on a 15-year planning horizon. Each recommendation is complete with a full economic analysis, including a defined implementation horizon. The Plan was completed to fulfill the requirements of a Master's Thesis Group Project from the Bren School and after its completion, now serves as the official water guidance document for the University. Additional collaborators on the document include, but are not limited to, the following parties: Goleta Water District; University of California, Office of the President; other University of California campuses; Irvine Ranch Water District; faculty from the Environmental Studies Department at UCSB; and the EPA. A notable component of the UCSB Water Action Plan is that it was designed to be transferable to other colleges and universities. There are over 70 pages of appendices that explain the methodology for determining each recommendation.

Since the completion of the UCSB Water Action Plan in 2013, several of the recommendations have already been introduced. Over $100k in grant funding and matching support from Facilities Management has been set aside for retrofitting the University's restroom fixtures with water efficient products, and UCSB has hired a Water Efficiency Manager, as well as a plumber to focus on preventative maintenance. One of the current projects the University is pursuing, which was defined in the Water Action Plan, was to retrofit the entire campus with flow restrictors for faucets. This project alone will save 2.3M gallons of water annually. The Plan has also increased and formalized education and outreach efforts in regards to water conservation, specifically in organizing a residence hall water competition on campus. There are also formal plans to increase the weather-based irrigation system, as well as to expand the recycled water infrastructure at UCSB, all recommendations from the UCSB Water Action Plan.

The UCSB Water Action Plan has received local, state, and national recognition for its content. At UC Santa Barbara, it received the 2012-13 Leadership & Activities Award for Sustainability Champions from the Office of Student Life. It also received the Best Practice Award for Water Efficiency & Site Water Quality at the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference and was a finalist for the Student Research on Campus Sustainability Award from AASHE.