Students spend endless hours working on interesting, Conn-specific projects for independent studies, personal research and senior theses — look here for weekly descriptions from your peers and friends. If you want to be featured, email news@thecollegevoice.org.
As growing populations place increasing demands on agriculture, and industrial practices continue to pollute clean water sources, societies around the world are being forced to adapt innovative solutions for efficient water distribution in order to meet their domestic water needs.
Although we are currently blessed with abundant rainfall and full reservoirs throughout much of the Northeast United States, changing weather patterns caused by global warming will likely magnify the flaws of our current water management system, including the use of clean water in sewage disposal, waste caused by leaky pipes and inefficient agricultural irrigation techniques.
In fact, Connecticut issued a statewide drought advisory in 2002 in response to low precipitation levels, encouraging water conservation measures to ensure that reservoirs would not be depleted. Thus, as Connecticut College envisions how we may implement sustainability in all sectors of campus life, it is most necessary to address the ways we manage water in order to nurture intelligent use of this vital resource.
Water conservation was the focus of an independent study I conducted last semester with the help of physics professor Doug Thompson. I explored rainwater harvesting as a sustainable means of meeting the irrigation needs of SPROUT!, the organic garden on campus.
Through this study, the technical, health and financial considerations necessary for implementing a rainwater collection system from the rooftop of the 360 apartments were highlighted. The proposal for the system was brought to the SGA Finance Committee, and SPROUT! received $1,200 funding for the project. They hope to supplement the necessary additional funding with grants from the Environmental Modeling Committee and hopefully begin installing the system as soon as possible.
Along similar lines, I am undertaking an independent study with Denise Pelletier this semester exploring art as a tool for education about water conservation and privatization concerns. Ideally, this project will culminate on Earth Day in a symposium focused on social action and awareness about water consumption habits.
To learn more about sustainable water management, please come to Silfen Auditorium (Bill 106) Wednesday night at 8 PM to a showing of the documentary I made over the summer for my CELS Internship at Ecoversity, an organization out of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
To learn more about water usage at Conn, please come to the Sustainability Teach-In all day Thursday, February 11th.
