Campus water use reduced: Town wants to drink up savings

BY Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on April 06, 2007

Water conservation measures at the University of Massachusetts have been so successful that consumption on campus has declined by 38 percent since 2004, said Town Manager Laurence Shaffer.

The reduced usage has implications for the financial relationship between the town and the campus, as well as for Amherst's future water needs and the potential for economic development.

In 2004, UMass hired a company to survey its water system, said Robert Pariseau, Amherst's director of water resources. The company fixed leaks, installed new water-saving toilets, sinks and showers, and put in new meters or repaired old ones, he said.

In addition, the campus stopped using drinking water to produce steam in its power plant, Pariseau said. The campus now uses wastewater from Amherst's treatment plant, and the new power plant under construction will do the same when it opens, he said.

In 2004, UMass was using 59 million cubic feet of water a year, but in 2007 consumption will decline to 37 million, Shaffer said. The campus paid the town $1.3 million for water last year, but is expected to pay only $900,000 this year, even though rates have gone up, he said.

Shaffer has cited this $400,000 savings to justify his contention that UMass can afford to pay Amherst $300,000 more toward the cost of providing fire protection and ambulance service to the campus, he said.

'I continue to be confident that we'll have an agreement,' he said.

Another issue on the table is the town's desire to see new businesses arising from faculty research locate their offices in Amherst, he said.

UMass has used about 40 percent of Amherst's water, which comes mostly from a reservoir in Shutesbury and wells in the Lawrence Swamp in South Amherst, Pariseau said.

'This eases the pressure on us to develop new sources of water,' he said. 'We just about ran out of sources, and any new sources would probably be out of town and very expensive to develop.'

Although Amherst's water fund is taking in less money because of UMass conservation, it is also avoiding big capital expenses, Pariseau said.

The greater water security also has an impact on Shaffer's plans for economic development to diversify the tax base, he said. Some critics have argued that Amherst doesn't have enough water to sustain an increase in commercial development.

'Water shouldn't be relevant, unless it was a large consumer coming in,' Pariseau said.

In 2000, UMass began looking at energy efficiency as part of a statewide initiative, said campus spokesman Edward Blaguszewski.

In 2004, the campus signed a 10-year, $42.7 million contract with a Milwaukee firm for an energy and water conservation project. It was estimated to save 25 percent of the campus's annual energy costs, which were about $19 million before the project.

At about the same time, town officials approached the campus to urge water conservation after a series of summer droughts, Blaguszewski said. 'It's a good and right thing to do anyway, and we're being good partners with the town,' he said.

In addition to water conservation, the UMass project includes lighting upgrades, chiller replacements and repairs to more than 4,000 feet of steam lines, he said.

'The university believes it's a good idea to save energy and conserve water,' he said. 'That means we're being good stewards of our natural resources. It saves the university money, and that's being a good steward of taxpayer resources. I think we've performed well in that area.'