Following a 2022 Utah Legislature mandate, the university has changed the way it landscapes the campus.
Over the past four years, the University of Utah has reduced its annual water consumption by 55 million gallons – enough to fill more than 83 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Sustainability experts say that drastic drop is proof large institutions can play a key role in water conservation across Utah.
Water conservation “has been a really big priority on campus,” said Lissa Larson, the associate director of sustainability and energy at the U.
Larson pointed to a bill passed in the 2022 Utah Legislature, HB121, which mandates water use protections on state government facilities — such as the U campus — to swap out irrigation for water-wise landscaping that then uses drip irrigation.
HB121 requires state agencies to decrease water use by 25% by 2026. The U is on track to meet this goal by swapping out thirsty Kentucky bluegrass for more drought-tolerant plants, upgrading new irrigation systems for more controlled water use, seeking out and fixing leaks, and installing waterwise fixtures in new buildings.
The measures have reduced water use on campus from 376 million gallons in 2020 to 321 million gallons in 2023, according to the U’s sustainability office.
How the U. saves water
The U. has created a landscape master plan that includes increased water sustainability on campus and incorporates water-wise landscaping to reduce unnecessary water use, said Ali McKelvy, landscape architect at the U.
“The [plan] is something that the university does every 10 years,” she said. “It is an opportunity for entities – in our case, the university – to think about our future. How do we want to grow? How do we want to have a physical infrastructure that supports our goals as an institution?”
Over the past five years, McKelvy and her colleagues have started swapping turf that uses a lot of water with biograsses that work better with Utah’s dry, semi-arid climate, she said.
Once established with a watering schedule, the grass becomes self-sustainable with minimal maintenance.
“When we get funding available, we will identify areas that have turf that isn’t being used by students,” McKelvy said. “We’re finding those areas, and we’re replacing them with low-water use plants.”
The U. did not want to get rid of all high-traffic grassy areas, she said, because students use those spaces to relax between classes.
“[There’s a] balance of what green space looks like on campus, because having grassy areas is a part of student enjoyment,” Larson said.
In addition, the U. is saving water through its irrigation schedule, said John Walker, campus ground supervisor. The waterwise irrigation schedule encourages biograsses to go dormant, meaning campus lawns will survive Utah’s summer heat and become green and lush again with cooler temperatures and rain.
“We rely on an awesome irrigation team to make sure the work gets done, make sure [sprinkler] heads get fixed, make sure the system’s running how it’s supposed to be running,” Walker said. “The irrigation techs out in the field are checking on it, making sure it’s running how it should be, getting that feedback from them so we can make those tweaks in the software, and … we save water where we can.”
The U., he added, also implemented a smart irrigation system, called WeatherTrak, in 2018 that reduced outdoor water usage by 25% while saving on labor and maintenance costs.
“We can see this flow sensor is reporting this amount of water used,” Walker said. “We didn’t have that kind of capability before. Things talk to each other a little bit better and work together better with our irrigation system.”
The system, Larson said, sends automatic alerts when a sprinkler breaks or another water-related issue occurs on campus.
“That is the beauty of having these automatic shutoff valves,” she said. “It can … send tickets immediately to irrigation staff saying, ‘Hey. Come fix this.’”
Water savings on campus have come from both outdoor and indoor conservation, Larson said. Construction uses a considerable amount of water due to activities like mixing concrete, suppressing dust and cleaning equipment. If not managed efficiently, this can stress water conservation, according to Bluebeam, a construction software company.
According to the University of Utah, student enrollment increased by 5% in 2024 over the 2023 fall semester, leading to the need for more housing. The campus is expected to grow by 5,000 new student housing units by 2030 for incoming first-year students, according to @theU, bringing with it more construction.
Larson said her team is working to make those new buildings more water-wise.
“There are water-sense fixtures that are required, and toilets [that] flush less with water. So, as … the university grows and buildings are installed or torn down, things naturally become more efficient,” she said.
To inspire the community
Since Gov. Spencer Cox signed HB121 into law in March 2022, the U. has decreased water use by 15%, and is on track to meet the goal of 25% by 2026, as the law requires. But officials want to continue conserving water on its campus and would like the Salt Lake community to adopt the same mindset, Larson said.
McKelvy said her team wants students to be involved and heard regarding water conservation on campus and Utah in general.
Larson said the future of water conservation lies in students actively participating or sharing their ideas.
“Supporting that big picture of sustainability on campus is also addressing our community,” she said. “Our choices around pollution, energies, et cetera, also impacts all of Salt Lake Valley.”
