The Daily Agenda: UA students won't flush away their futures

Project to save 250,000 gallons of water ... Now, if the people in charge can just get on board ... City moves to take action against predatory towing.

We’re less than one week away from the start of the University of Arizona’s fall semester, with thousands of students getting ready to make their way back to campus.

With those students come even more toilet flushes, adding up to millions of gallons of water every month.

Headed into this new school year, the UA is set to save more than 250,000 gallons of water per year, thanks to a student-led initiative that replaced dozens of the most frequently flushed toilets with high-efficiency models.

The UA is the largest groundwater user in the City of Tucson and, as of 2021, the school’s water use hit 400 million gallons per year, according to the Students for Sustainability’s water-focused committee, Hydrocats.

Students for Sustainability launched in 2008 and now has 100 interns split among six committees that work to pursue institutional sustainability in the school and surrounding community.

Hydrocats decided to focus their efforts last semester on reducing water use on campus, and after talking with UA Facilities Management, they learned that bathroom fixtures — namely, toilets — were the second-biggest driver, said Students for Sustainability director and graduate student Halley Hughes.

Most of the water used by the UA is groundwater from on-site private wells, but with the city’s focus in recent years on reducing its reliance on groundwater, the Hydrocats decided to follow suit, applying for a $51,000 grant last year to update restroom fixtures around campus. 

The group decided to focus its efforts on heavily used older urinals and toilets in the Henry Koffler building, which is primarily used for undergraduate lectures and labs for science courses, according to the grant application.

Henry Koffler Building

But there are a lot of large and populated buildings on campus, and the Hydrocats didn’t just pick the Koffler building at random.

They worked with Facilities Management to analyze toilet fixture counts and flush rate data, collecting data for 20 buildings on campus. After all was said and done, Koffler took top honors.

They focused specifically on urinals with a flush rate of 1 gallon per flush and toilets with a flush rate of 3.5 gallons per flush, working with Facilities Management to replace them with models that reduce water use by 69%. Urinals were replaced with timed models that reduced their water usage to less than one pint per flush.

“Old bathroom fixtures are more likely to have maintenance issues caused by wear over time, such as leaks. Replacing these older fixtures will therefore increase water efficiency by reducing both flush rate and maintenance issues due to age,” project manager and UA student Stella Heflin wrote in the group’s grant application.

The replacement of 38 toilets and 12 urinals has reduced water usage in the building by more than one-third, which the Hydrocats say will reduce the university’s overall water footprint.

In an effort to be fiscally responsible and capitalize on existing incentive programs, the group partnered with Tucson Water through its high-efficiency toilet rebate program, which assists commercial and multifamily customers who want updated fixtures.

The rebate money, which the group received after the retrofits were completed, was given to Facilities Management with the idea that it can help fund future projects.

They also put QR codes in the restrooms that link to a website with information about the retrofit, while also providing students and staff with a new and efficient way to report leaks and problems in bathrooms to Facilities Management. They hope students will take a more active role in water conservation by quickly reporting water waste.

Hydrocats say they plan to continue the project on a larger scale through a variety of funding sources until all buildings on campus are as water-efficient as possible.

Tucson has a range of water resources.

Students for Sustainability’s Hughes said their next goal is to replace toilets in the dorms, which is a bit of an undertaking, since Campus Life functions independently and doesn’t work with Facilities Management on a regular basis. But Hughes said the group is up for the task.

Still, it’s unclear how long it will take to replace the thousands of toilets on the UA campus. According to the Hydrocats’ grant application, while Facilities Management has expressed “considerable interest” in replacing inefficient fixtures on campus, it hasn’t historically made these projects a priority.

“If students are able to advocate for buildings to be retrofitted and help secure funding, barriers for project completion are reduced,” Heflin wrote.

That seems like the diplomatic way to say “we’ll just have to do this ourselves.”

Focusing on apartments: A new committee has been formed to advocate for developers of apartment projects as part of a statewide effort to create more affordable housing, the Star’s Gabriela Rico reports. Arizona’s chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties is the largest in the country. The group says that advocating for multifamily development is the state’s greatest need.

“Arizona has long been known as an affordable place to live, but this has been changing quickly,” said Suzanne Kinney, president and CEO. “As our state faces an alarming shortage of attainable housing, NAIOP is taking steps to be part of the solution.”

Deadly heat in the desert: Santa Cruz County has recorded 12 migrant deaths for 2023, with local data showing that several 911 calls from migrants have come from the same area, the Nogales International’s Angela Gervasi writes. Between late May and mid-July, the sheriff’s office logged at least five 911 calls from a relatively unpopulated, undeveloped area of land several miles west of Interstate 19, between Tubac and Amado. The area is directly west of the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint along the interstate and separated from the main thoroughfare by miles of mountainous terrain.

Say “no” to raises: The Pima County Republican Party is opposing a proposed amendment to the Tucson City Charter that would increase the salary of the mayor and council, according to its blog, the Grassroots Gazette. Recommended by the Citizens’ Commission on Public Service and Compensation, Proposition 413 would increase the mayor’s salary from $42,000 per year to $95,750 (1.25 times the salary set for Pima County supervisors) and council members’ salaries from $24,000 per year to $76,600, matching supervisors’ salaries.

“Incompetence doesn't deserve a pay increase,” the blog says. “Mayor and Council should first fix our homelessness crisis, improve the out-of-control crime problem, and fix our streets.”

The proposed mayoral salary is enough to pay both Caitlin and Curt for a whole year. Say “yes” to supporting local journalism.

Hustle and tow: The Tucson City Council is poised to support imposing regulations on towing companies to limit predatory practices, the Arizona Daily Star’s Nicole Ludden reports. On Tuesday, Council members directed city staff to return soon with an ordinance for adoption based on a draft version reviewed by the council. The ordinance would cap maximum charges, require “clearly visible and readable” signage and require carriers to provide photo evidence of violations and more.

Extending its reach: On Thursday, a federal judge in Tucson approved a class action request in a lawsuit challenging the state’s process for changing gender markers on birth certificates, the Arizona Mirror’s Gloria Rebecca Gomez writes. The lawsuit was filed three years ago by three trans minors and their parents, who said the rules for amending their birth certificates are harmful and unfair. State law currently requires a court order or doctor’s statement verifying a chromosomal count or “sex change operation” to change a person’s gender on their birth certificate. By expanding the case to a class action, the outcome may affect every transgender Arizonan, not just the original plaintiffs.

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