Sustainability Fund: The business case for plumbing

The Business and Economics (BEC) and David Strong buildings will get new low-flow toilets, urinals and faucets this summer, thanks to UVic’s Revolving Sustainability Fund (RSF). The proposal was put forward by Dr. Basma Majerbi, the operations chair at the Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation and the lead of the greenBEC Sustainability Action Team.

“This will make a meaningful impact on progress towards the university’s 20 per cent water-use reduction goal,” Majerbi says. “Also, it will help us fulfill UVic’s commitment to implement projects that have a short expected payback period.”

“The Capital Regional District did a free campus-wide water audit,” explains Dan MacKinnon, UVic sustainability coordinator. “What they found helped us identify opportunities for water fixture upgrades and made it clear that projects like the one proposed by Professor Majerbi would lead to significant water and cost savings.”

UVic’s RSF will pay the $32,600 cost to replace 13 urinals, 38 toilets and 26 faucets, saving the university about $7,000 per year in water costs—not to mention almost 3,000 cubic metres of water. That’s enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool and let the athletes shower afterward.

“The $250,000 RSF was established last year as a priority initiative in the Sustainability Action Plan for Campus Operations,” says MacKinnon. “The fund gives students, staff and faculty an opportunity to pitch their own ideas and help to reduce utility costs and the carbon footprint of our campus.”

Application details are available at www.uvic.ca/sustainability.