Water Conservation on Campus: Focusing on the low-flow Sloan ECOS Exposed Dual FlushRetrofit ToiletsBy:Adam AbramsonJoshua KimStephen MastropietroJohnny WrightENCE215 ProjectBaoxia Mi8 May, 20121Table of ContentsHistory of Water Conservation……………………………………………………………………3Technical Details………………………………………………………………………………..3-4Related Technologies…………………………………………………………………………...4-5Outcomes of Technologies……………………………………………………………………...5-6Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………….7Calculations…………………………………………………………………………….Appendix 12History of the Issue of Water Conservation and Relevance to Society Today8888888 In the United States, the conservation of natural resources did not become a national priority until the beginning of the 20th century when Theodore Roosevelt was elected as a president. Roosevelt firmly believed in and valued the conservation of natural resources, including water. He is responsible for the preservation of many unique natural resources in the U.S. including five national parks and 18 national monuments. Roosevelt was able to achieve this by signing the Antiquities Act in 1906 which allowed him to set aside certain pieces of public land that had natural resources as park land.8888888888 Aside from Roosevelt's efforts to conserve natural resources, there was little concern for water conservation in the United States until about 1970 when water shortages began to occur. It was when water shortages became significant that the initiative to conserve water began.8888888888 Water conservation is extremely relevant to society today. It is an issue that affects not just the United States, but the whole planet. Although some may be led to believe that there is an infinite amount of water, that is just not the case. Ninety-seven percent of all the water on the Earth is salt water and not safe to drink. Three percent of water is fresh water, however only one percent is available for drinking because the other two percent of freshwater is locked in ice capsand glaciers.8888888888 Around the world, there are nearly 1 billion people who do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Without clean water, people around the world continue to die from disease and hunger, are stuck in poverty, and are unable to receive a proper education.8888888888 Half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people infected with water related disease.One out of every five deaths under the age of five is due to water-related disease worldwide. Without access to clean water, it is difficult to grow and even more difficult to preserve and prepare. Hunger will continue to be a worldwide problem as long as finding clean water is a problem. Because there is a scarcity of clean water in developing countries, people are forced to spend a majority of their day trying to find and transport water, which is most likely contaminated. This time spent scavenging for water replaces the time that could be spent receiving an education or working, keeping people in developing countries trapped in poverty.8888888888 All of these problems can be solved by conserving the water the we have, making better decisions as individuals, and supporting organizations such as The Water Project through fundraising and donations. The University of Maryland is one of the largest water consumers of fresh water in the State. The University has made great strides however, to reduce the amount of water it consumed by installing new water saving devices such as low-flow toilets. Through these efforts, water consumption has decreased on campus by 14.4 percent between 2007 and 2009.Technical Details about Sloan ECOS exposed dual flush toiletsThe Sloan ECOS exposed dual flush retrofits installed in toilets all around campus conserve a significant amount of water over extended periods of time (see Appendix 1). These flushing systems work with the use of a battery and a microprocessor. The microprocessor is programmed to flush with either 1.1 gallons of water or 1.6 gallons of water. Typically, if one of the buttons on top of the toilet is not pushed, then the microprocessor executes either the 1.1 gallon cycle or the 1.6 gallon cycle based on time. If the user is in front of an infrared light sensor for three minutes or less, then the 1.1 gallon cycle is activated. If the user blocks the sensor for more than three minutes due to toilet use, then the 1.6 gallon cycle is executed. 3However, the automatic recognition is second in the programming priority line. There is a three second delay before the automatic cycle is executed, giving the user ample time to push a button to override autonomously determined program, thus giving users control to save as much water as possible if they so choose. Based on the fact that people tend to flush a toilet about five times a day, with two of the five (overestimate) requiring the full 1.6 gallon flush and the other three requiring the 1.1 gallon reduced flush, the average flush with the new toilets requires 1.3 gallons of water. Compared to the older model toilets, which are built to flush with 1.6 gallons of water every time as mandated by the National Energy Policy Act in 1995, but tend to average 2.0 gallons per flush (Keating 1), these new toilets are 30-35% more efficient than previous technologies.These low-flow toilets use pressure-assisted technology to flush. In fact, it is this technology that allows the significant reduction in water use to occur. What pressure-assisted toilets do (as opposed to gravity flow toilets) is takes air pressure from pipes and puts it in an enclosed space, causing a buildup due to air compression. When a flush is required, the compressed air is blown out, forcing the water to drain. This technology is more efficient than gravity flow toilets because it utilizes air pressure already within the plumbing system rather thanrelying on the weight of water to flush a toilet. By lowering the amount of water weight required to flush efficiently and effectively, water is conserved without any real excess energy used.From the calculations seen in Appendix 1, the new toilets save 818,000 gallons per year in a single north campus dorm.