On Wednesday night the Raleigh City Council received an updated report on the drought condition in the area. This new report reflected the impact the rain had on the area two weeks ago.

The report, prepared and submitted by Raleigh Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp, stated that last week, Raleigh was downgraded to the classification of extreme drought, the second-highest level of drought monitoring.

Even before the recent rain, our University took steps to reduce water consumption, but we cannot allow ourselves to think the rain we received over Homecoming Weekend solved our problems. The rain only increased water levels one foot at Falls Lake, an increase of 3 percent, meaning we are still in danger of running out of water. According to the report, Raleigh is 115 days away from running dry.

Here at N.C. State there are many small things the University should be focusing on to promote further water conservation, not just putting signs up explaining restrictions or asking students to report leaky faucets — the newer bathrooms located throughout the University.

The toilets and urinals in newer bathrooms have battery-powered automatic sensors that flush after you have reached a certain distance away from the sensors.

These sensors are highly sensitive, causing sometimes three or more flushes when someone uses the toilet or flushing

when a person walks by a urinal. According to Brad Church, Talley Student Center maintenance facilities technician, each toilet flush uses 3.5 gallons of water, and each urinal flush uses one gallon.

These unnecessary flushes are due to oversensitive sensors on the toilets and urinals. According to Church, each sensor has the ability to have the sensitivity changed. However, he is unsure if they are going to be changed in the student centers.

The University should examine the sensitivity of each toilet and urinal sensor to ensure water is not being wasted — like it currently is. If the University is going to ask students to change their water habits, then the University must do all it can to save water.

Fixing these sensors will not only address this current water shortage but will aid in conserving water for the next time we are in a water crunch.

The University needs to address the small things that have a large impact on water usage, and it all starts in the bathrooms.