Contact Information:
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
Hoping we start the New Year with conservation in mind, Saint Michael's Sustainability Coordinator Heather J. Ellis offers the following tips to conserve water for apartment dwellers and home residents alike:
Habit Changing Suggestions (Cost: no money, just effort!):
1. Take shorter showers. For every minute you reduce your shower by you can save approximately 2.5 gallons. You can take this one a step further and install a device on the showerhead that allows you to turn off the water between rinsing.
2. Turn the water off when brushing your teeth, shaving, washing dishes, etc.
3. If the kitchen has a garbage disposal, minimize its use. Take it one step further, and instead of putting food scraps down the disposal, start a compost pile or look into local compost facilities where you can bring food scraps and other acceptable materials.
4. Place a bottle full of water in the toilet tank. The amount of water this displaces will substantially reduce the amount of water used in each flush.
5. Always be on the lookout for leaky pipes/faucets, no matter how minor they may seem. If you have the time, and have access to a water meter for the apartment, check the meter over at least a two-hour period when no one is using any water; the readings should be the same.
6. If your landlord allows, put a rainwater catchment system--as simple as an open garbage can Âoutside, and use this water to water plants or wash your car.
Installing new Technology (Small cost, but big payoff):
1. Install--with approval from landlord of course--low-flow showerheads and faucets.
2. Purchase a low-flush toilet. Replacing old toilets with low-flush toilets can produce a 30 percent reduction in water-usage!
For information about Saint Michael's sustainability program, visit
www.smcvt.edu/sustainability.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's
Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009
U.S. News & World Report rankings.