Reducing water usage for a building the size of the UW Tower is no easy task. It took the Tower's operations staff nearly a year to replace every toilet and urinal in the tower with new, low-flush units, but it was well worth it. The project is estimated to save up to 37 million gallons of water over the next 15 years.
The move to newer toilets not only saves water and money for the university, but by standardizing all the fixtures throughout the Tower the operations staff was able to reduce the amount of spare parts kept on hand which also helps cut down on waste generated.
For the hard work in moving the UW Tower to being a more water-efficient building, the UW Tower Operations team was nominated for a Husky Green Award this year. Learn more about the Tower team and the project on the UW Facilities Services blog.
Photo by Facilities Services' Sustainability Communications Intern Lindsey Boisvin. For more information on Facilities Services' sustainability efforts, see the FS blog or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
The Husky Green Awards recognize the top environmental leaders at the University of Washington. Individuals or groups from all UW campuses are nominated by faculty, staff and students. We'll be featuring many of the 2016 nominees on the blog this month. The winners will be announced on April 18, with an award ceremony during the April 22 Earth Day celebrations on Red Square.