Assessing Water Consumption on Campus

There has been a long history of socially conscious administrative and academic work within the American University of Sharjah (AUS), that has been contiuously striving toward sustainability. From its initial decade in the 1990s, AUS has worked to develop social, health and environmental awareness and outreach through its Community Services Offi ce
work in the Student Affairs Department and various committees, such as the College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Development Committee in 2007, which was mandated to consider the professional, as well as personal development of faculty and AUS Residential Life Committee for faculty and their family concerns.

In the 2007-2008 academic year, the fi rst environmental committee was formed with a mandate for energy and water conservation and environmental protection measures in operations and facilities of AUS. After recommendations of the committee, a Sustainability Offi ce (SO) was developed, with a Sustainability Offi cer within the Facilities Department.
The offi cer worked with the whole community of AUS to lower water and energy consumption by 12% and water consumption by 39% in those fi rst years. By this point, social responsibility was a part of AUS vision and mission.

The American University of Sharjah successfully applied to be the fi rst university in the UAE to become an Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS- WWF UAE) Verifi ed Corporate Hero in 2013. Since then, SO has developed many successful projects to meter and reduce energy and water consumption and waste in academic, administrative, sports and residential areas. On the academic front, AUS students and faculty often receive sustainability awards for research and coursework, nationally and internationally. The American University of Sharjah Green Team joined the Sustianable Campus Initiative (SCI) in 2014 during its first offi cial year. Since then, the Green Team has been working with the Sustainability Office to gather official data for the Green Campus Audit (GCA) and doing experiments and activities to estimate data that is not available through official channels. In doing this, AUS has been able to develop an understanding of where data is missing and where focus needs to be placed to develop that information. Also, AUS joined the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education(AAHSE) in 2017. It is an American based but global network of universities aimed at sustainability in facilities, operations and academia.

Project Overview

The purpose of the Sustainability Action Project (SAP) undertaken by the American University of Sharjah was to assess and analyse the water consumption on campus. By targeting the activities of families and students that reside on campus, the project aimed to raise awareness and address the specific issue of the prevalence of single use plastic water bottles that have led to the generation of plastic and water waste which is currently not well recycled on campus.

Method

• The implementation of the project involved an initial survey that assessed the overall water use habits of the community.
• Based on the results, a parallel focus group was set up to discuss the environmental impacts.
• Activities targeting AUS community members were designed to decorate re-usable and recyclable glass bottles and to encourage the use of more sustainable practices.
• They implemented a programme to provide drinking water in reusable cooler dispensers which were installed across the campus, primarily in the academic buildings, which in turn effectively reduced the use of plastic bottles from the vending machines.
• In an effort to reduce tap water consumption, the university installed smart water systems and water meters in the washroom facilities of the student center as a trial, to ensure that water consumption was not excessive.
• A post activity survey was conducted to assess behavioural changes.
• The students and faculty generated interest in the planning of the project, which in turn encouraged the university to create a more involved Sustainability Office (SO), who are now an important part of our team.
• During the duration of the project, the SO at AUS and members of the faculty of Arts and Sciences were involved in providing reviews.
• Furthermore, inputs were sought from SCI reviewers in adjusting the project.

Key Outcomes and Learnings

• 100% of the participants who joined the focus group and the activity claimed that they became more aware and were more willing to go a little out of their way in order to become a little more sustainable by using refillable water bottles rather than single use dispensable ones. Many participants also showed interest in joining future sustainability oriented activities and projects.
• Various stakeholders such as students, faculty, and the university administration were involved in the course of the project. This resulted in the project being well-rounded and successful.
• Almost all the students who were made aware of the project were interested in participating or supported the cause. Due to high interest in the project, the university administration became involved and engaged with the project members to provide assistance. The efforts of the university to be more sustainable have continued after the project was wrapped up.
• Project members learned how to conduct audits properly and quantify data, how to efficiently plan a project and all of its aspects, and how to effectively reach out to the community, leading to a more sustainable lifestyle that would ultimately benefit them.
• During the course of the project, gradual behavioural changes in the community’s approach and response towards sustainable practices were observed via surveys and questionnaires.
• Due to the project, the university, as a larger community has become more aware of its impact on the environment and plans were initiated to make campus buildings energy efficient and to develop any new buildings in accordance with established green rating standards.