Budget constraints, leaky faucets drain sustainability efforts
In one incident, a leaky faucet in Memorial Union wasted an estimated 2,520 gallons of water over three months.
Published Dec. 10, 2010
Campus Facilities and the Sustainability Office are responsible for working together to inform students, faculty and staff about reporting maintenance issues and staying aware of sustainability. But, due to tighter budgets, Campus Facilities spokeswoman Karlan Seville said the department is relying more heavily on students to report maintenance problems.
Both offices print materials and use MU Info to encourage people to use less water and energy and to report leaky faucets, Seville said in an e-mail.
It is Campus Facilities' main job to keep up with maintenance problems across campus and a vast amount of requests come in each month, Assistant Custodian of Records Marsha Moore said. Campus Facilities receives roughly 2,500 work orders each month to service campus facilities, such as Memorial Union and the Student Center. Residential Life, which oversees residence halls, sees about 1,500 requests a month.
Seville said the Customer Service Center, which receives and dispatches work orders for Campus Facilities, received more than 2,700 work order requests through e-mail, phone and its website in September. In October, this number was more than 2,300 calls and in November this number was 2,215.
"We do not have the staff available to 'sweep' the campus, with the volume of work requests we receive," Seville said. "We rely on custodians, building coordinators and building occupants to report any issues that they see and believe this works well."
The leaky faucet
Relatively small, unreported problems have proved to be a larger concern for Campus Facilities than one would expect. In the case of one incident, a faucet leaked for at least three months on the second floor of Memorial Union’s north tower in the women's bathroom. Over that time period, the faucet wasted an estimated 2,520 gallons of water. This estimation was determined by sampling the rate of the leak at various points after the problem was reported.
Dozens of people use this bathroom every week, which is located next to the Center for Social Justice, The Maneater and various conference rooms.
Ross Obernuefemann, project leader of Sustain Mizzou's Stream Team, said he was surprised the leak went on for so long. He also said a higher value should be placed on water and that students must break the misconception that clean water is an unlimited natural resource.
"I was in the same situation last year," he said. "I came across a leaking water fountain in Anheuser-Busch. I reported it to the Head of Natural Resources right away."
Reporting problems
People often disregard issues because they assume others will report the issue, which exacerbates the problem.
It is up to a person's own initiative to report problems such as leaky faucets, Student and Auxiliary Services spokeswoman Michelle Froese said.
"It's more cost effective for everyone to go to Campus Facilities," she said. "That's what they're there to do."
According to Campus Facilities, response times to problems are quick, and after The Maneater filed a request for the faucet, an automated e-mail was sent back saying the faucet would be fixed within one business day. However, three days later, the faucet was still running. Water to the faucet was shut off in about four business days, but it was not permanently fixed until the week after, because Campus Facilities needed to order a new part.
"Maintenance generally responds to work orders immediately for emergencies," Seville said. "Within one day for level two issues, and as time allows for level three, usually within the work week of a call to the customer service center."
A leaky faucet would be considered a class two issue. That means a leaky faucet would not be as important as a broken pipe that could cause flooding, a level one work order. It also means that the faucet was fixed after all level one issues and all reports of level two issues submitted before it.
"The problem is getting people to recognize and do something about less dire issues," Sustainability Coordinator Steven Burdic said. "A broken water main needs immediate attention. A leaky faucet taken many times over can be as big a problem over time, but it is more difficult to get people to recognize it."
Obernuefemann said students, faculty and staff need to learn how to conserve water and the first step is to unite in the sustainability effort.