This past March and April, water conservation projects were completed by the Facilities Management Plumbing Shop in TB 183, Poultry House X, and Poultry House Y room 3. The team installed new water emitter systems in the three buildings. The new systems provide water when it is needed by the animals, rather than water constantly flowing. James Medeiros, Gary Fitzpatrick, Chris Persons from the Plumbing Shop worked to install this new system. It took some planning and creative thinking to route and support these lines systems.

Each of the three buildings had unique challenges regarding running the new piping systems. These buildings also house animals, and there were schedules and deadlines to meet to make sure the animals were not being affected. The existing system design allowed flowing water constantly for the animals. Getting the right amount of water to the animals while not wasting water was key to the new design. The new on-demand watering system replaced the constant flow, single-pass, watering system that used about three gallons of water per minute. This may not seem like an issue but that quickly adds up to 4,000 gallons of water used each day! Water will now only flow when needed, resulting in significant savings, while still providing fresh water to the animals.  

James, Gary, and Chris worked with the staff at each location to understand the needs specific to each building before proceeding. Kristy Portillo, Department of Animal Science Avian Facility Manager, was impressed with their ingenuity saying: “They did a fantastic job installing the new water lines and even came up with some very innovative ideas to hang the water lines on the cages. Please thank them and send my extreme appreciation-Much thanks!”

This has been identified as an ongoing item that would help the university save water as we plan for drought conditions. With this improvement to these buildings, the university will save thousands of gallons of water each week. Great job to the Plumbing Shop staff!