University of Utah undertakes landscaping work to reduce water usage

<p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>In an effort to conserve water, the University of Utah is implementing landscaping changes across its campus.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The U is</span> <a style=”text-decoration: none;” href=”http://fox13now.com/2015/06/17/university-of-utah-making-changes-to-campus-landscape-to-conserve-water/”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>devoting the summer to make the campus “water-wise.”</span></a> <span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Given the drought affecting the western United States, especially in the nearby state of California, the university wants to cut its water consumption by 15%.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>”We started looking at this more than a decade ago — ways we can use less water — and that’s through a variety of tactics and what we’re focused on right now is areas of landscape that could be converted,” said Shireen Ghorbani, the Director of Facilities Management at U of U.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Over the following summer months, landscaping companies will add more than 30,000 square feet of land better able to handle the dry, sweltering climate.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>”Landscaping is a really important issue here on campus due to the amount of water it can potentially use,” said Stephanie Dolmat-Connell, a manager at the Facilities Management department. “We’re looking for ways we can save on water and have more high-efficient irrigation.”</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The landscaping crews will use everything from rocks and desert plants to woodchips and mulch in order to cut water usage. Some U of U officials estimate the landscaping could reduce usage by as much as 60%.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>”In the long run you can actually save quite a bit of money, there’s less labor to take care of water-wise landscapes,” Dolmat-Connell said.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>Nearly</span> <a style=”text-decoration: none;” href=”http://borsellolandscaping.com/gallery/hardscaping/”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>a quarter of all landscaping projects</span></a> <span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>in the country are done on commercial or industrial property.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>The university’s efforts are large in scope but some Utah residents are hopeful they will inspire locals to adopt water-wise techniques themselves. Patrick Newman, the Director of Programs at Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City, is happy to provide tips of his own.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>”We can still have gardens that are vibrant, full of color and texture — provide all the elements that we want, and we can do it in ways that are much more environmentally friendly,” Newman said.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>He suggested that the first step homeowners can take is to reserve a small section of their landscaping for improvement. Changing the grass or adding a desert plant can help.</span></p><p style=”line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 11pt;” dir=”ltr”><span style=”font-size: 12px; font-family: Verdana; color: #000000; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;”>”If we all do a little bit we end up doing a lot together,” he said. “Even starting small, if we remove a little bit of turf grass, if we all do that, the collective benefits are huge.”</span></p>

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