In the past few months North Carolina has experienced record water shortages, and officials on the state and institutional level, have struggled to cut back on consumption across the board. In the arena of water conservation N.C. State has led the way by taking creative and innovative steps to cut down on campus water expenditures. Our success in this initiative has resulted from an interdepartmental collaboration that has brought together individuals from all areas of campus.
Consistently, our University has taken measures to conserve water long before those actions were mandated by city administrators. We need to continue this progressive mindset as this drought continues. By remaining open to off-the-wall ideas, sometimes it is possible to stumble across the most effective plan. Even seemingly small things like eliminating the use of trays at dining facilities can have a huge impact in saving water in the long run.
If conditions don’t start improving in the near future, energy conservation officials may recommend that the University move into Stage Three water restrictions. Among other restrictions, this stage would call for the use of paper dishes in all dining facilities. As of yet, there is nothing definite in these plans, but it is reassuring to know we have a plan in place for the most extreme circumstances.
As bad as it seems now, we need to be ready for worse conditions to come. If these do not change before the summer arrives, we could run into some real trouble in terms of water supply. We need to look at other states that are already struggling, like Georgia, and realize the more precautions we take now, the better we will be able to deal with the worst case scenario.
Although the situation may look grim now, hopefully students can look back on this as a defining time in their college careers — one where everyone came together and endured through a difficult time. University officials need to continue the efficient work they have maintained in the past few months in looking for the most efficient water saving methods.
