University of California, Santa Barbara
IN-26: Innovation C

Amid a historic drought in California, Governor Jerry Brown declared a sweeping and comprehensive water reduction goal in January 2014; urban water districts were to achieve a combined 25% reduction in potable water consumption by March 1, 2016, measured against aggregated water use for the combined districts for calendar year 2013. Water districts were assigned percentages based on established conservation efforts and per capita consumption numbers, awarding those with robust efforts and low per capita consumption numbers with lower reduction targets. Goleta Water District, UC Santa Barbara's local water purveyor, was assigned a 12% reduction. UCSB saw this as an opportunity to support Goleta Water District in their conservation endeavors and voluntary adopted the 12% reduction goal for the campus, along with the immediate timeframe. The adoption of this goal was a first for the University, never had the campus established such a goal with a short timeframe. However, as the March 1, 2016 deadline quickly approached, UCSB not only met, but exceeded the voluntary 12% reduction goal with a 15% reduction in potable water use. UCSB utilized a multi-faceted approach to achieve this goal, but most importantly first took the risk of adopting such a demanding goal. Recent conservation efforts have been made in all water use sectors on-campus, academic, administrative, and residential buildings, landscape and irrigation, and industrial applications. UCSB's ability to divide conservation and efficiency projects between sectors has allowed the campus to develop a robust and permanent water conservation program. Sweeping upgrades to more water efficient applications in labs, the continued expansion of the recycled water infrastructure, and the replacement of old water-intensive mechanical equipment with new efficient models are just some of the strategies that have been utilized to achieve this reduction. In many ways the adoption of this goal helped to push our programs beyond their current limits and boundaries, and encourage us to reach higher up the tree in regards to water conservation and efficiency efforts. The adoption of a voluntary water goal with a short timeframe has not been done by another institution of higher education in California. When the goal was adopted by the campus, it was uncertain whether it was achievable or not, but the campus accepted that the risk of not adopting the goal and the message it could potentially send to the local community was far greater than the campus adopting the goal and not achieving it. In addition, the desire to adopt such as goal was, again not so much to achieve it, but to exemplify that we are united with our local water district's conservation efforts and the efforts of Californians statewide. The partnership between colleges and universities and local agencies is essential for successful programs, and UCSB believed this was the perfect way to demonstrate our relationship with Goleta Water District. In addition, UCSB has long believed that behavior modification is essential to achieving long-term savings from conservation and efficiency programs, and the campus saw the voluntary adoption of a water goal as a means to solidify this belief and remind our own campus community of our obligations to save water. Risks, especially around establishing goals, are difficult for colleges and universities to accept, but to get beyond our current programs and practices, taking these risks are necessary. The adoption of this goal is a prime example of how a college or university can utilize a calculated risk as a driver to improve their programs and practices, and achieve impressive results.

To date, UCSB has realized a 54% reduction in potable water use from its three year baseline (1996/97-1998/99).