Drought could cause U. water shortage

Despite a drought which is draining cities' water supplies throughout the East Coast, water continues to flow freely from University faucets. Philadelphia has been dry since the last steady rain hit the city August 7, according to KYW-TV meteorologist Craig Weber. Although a few inches fell over the weekend, the region requires 13 inches of precipitation in order to return to a healthy state, he said. Rainfall predicted for later this week should put Philadelphia on the road to recovery. But the Residential Maintenance and Physical Plant departments are nonetheless taking precautions to decrease water use. Lynn Horner, director of Residential Maintenance, said the department is paying particular attention to water leakage problems. "We are making a concentrated effort to respond to any plumbing problem that would cause wasted water," she said, citing examples of leaking faucets and toilets that do not flush properly. Horner said she encourages any students who have such problems to report them to Residential Maintenance. She added that most plumbing problems of this sort should be attended to within the next few working days. Since Residential Maintenance is doing its part to conserve water, Horner asks that students do the same. "We also encourage residents to be aware of how much water they're using and make an effort to conserve it," she said. Landscape Maintenance Superintendent Bill Gross said that the department "wants to do everything we can to keep it all flourishing." This includes removing annual flowers because they have high water requirements, using hoses instead of sprinklers and indefinitely delaying fall planting. Physical Plant has also prioritized keeping plants alive. Trees and shrubs are watered because they are considered the foundation of the landscape. But some flowers and other plants are neglected. Gross said the department is not watering vegetation that requires a lot of water. In order to keep the foundation of trees and shrubs alive, "our troops are running around with hoses," Gross added. These hoses are equipped with special needles that inject water directly into the roots of the plants. This uses less water than traditional techniques because it does not require all the land around the plants to be watered. According to The New York Times, trees require an average of 1,200 gallons of water a day. But with the recent drought, the leaves on many trees are turning brown and falling off prematurely. Gross said the University has suffered minimal losses from the water shortage. But the next two-to-three weeks are critical for the welfare of the University's vegetation, he said. Gross added that automatic irrigation frequency has been cut down from almost daily to once a week. "We've done a lot of positive things -- putting our focus where it should be," he added.