THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280252
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
For those who think that water conservation is all wet, the city of Virginia Beach is spreading the word that it's serious business.
The city recently took that message to apartment-dwellers through its Multi-Family Water Conservation Training Program aimed at apartment complex managers and maintenance employees.
Flush with success running similar courses in California, a team of four consultants from CSTI Corp. was hired by the city to teach about toilets, shower heads, leaky sinks and washers (both the kind that go in faucets and the kind that clean clothes).
Despite what one might think, the course - as presented by CSTI owner and instructor John Chapman - is not dry. His material is, well, awash with facts and tips. Try these, for example:
What is the greatest single user of water in a residence? (The toilet)
Which type of washing machine is the most water-efficient? (The front loader, but they cost almost twice as much as top loaders)
What should the flow rate be from a bathroom faucet? (One gallon per minute, but 2 1/2 gallons per minute is acceptable in the kitchen)
Who invented the toilet? (This one you can look up)
Then there's the math: calculating current usage, average daily usage, average daily usage per resident, ULF toilet cost and payback calculation (it varies depending upon how many bathrooms are in the residence). ULF? That's water-conservationese for ``Ultra Low Flush'' - 1.6 gallons per flush vs. 3.5 or 5 gallons for older models.
``My whole intent is to get you to become as one with your water bill and your meter,'' intones Chapman to his students. But before they can drown in a sea of paperwork he bounds into the hallway of the loaned apartment at the Chartwell Apartments where classes were held, two per day for two weeks, bringing the class along with him.
``Wait 'til I get in the other room and start becoming as one with the toilet,'' he says. This guy is kidding, isn't he?
He turns into what should be a bedroom. But no beds here. Just toilets. A room full of them. All ULF. But all different styles and models. Now the work becomes hands on or, more correctly, hands in, as Chapman drops to his knees to demonstrate the various features of the different models.
He invites his students to follow suit. Awkwardly at first, they do so. Before long, everyone is checking out the placement of the holes inside the bowls for flow patterns.
For two hours, with one short break, Chapman bounds into the living room/classroom and out again into the ``real'' bathroom, into the shower stall, back to the classroom, off again, this time to the kitchen, back on his knees, under the sink. It's entertaining, it's high energy, it's fun. And it's all serious business.
Virginia Beach has a quota of 30 million gallons of water per day from Norfolk, its supplier. But consumption is running around 32 million gallons per day. Chapman explained that last year the city paid $1.4 million in penalties for exceeding its quota. Virginia Beach residents average 60 gallons per person per day. But for apartment dwellers, the average is 67 gallons.
Past programs have targeted apartment dwellers themselves but this one targets property managers, resident managers and maintenance personnel, providing concrete advice on how they can reduce water consumption in their complexes and encourage their residents to do likewise. More than 100 students completed the course.
It's one of a number of initiatives born of necessity in the city by the sea, with ``water, water everywhere but not enough to drink.''
In a related development, highlighting numerous other water conservation programs and projects, the city was recently awarded the 1994 Achievement Award of the Virginia Municipal League for its Water Conservation Awareness Campaign. Featuring a Citizen Water Conservation Awareness Committee comprising 30 citizen volunteers, the city's entry included a sample of the committee's projects, including:
``1994: The Year of the Toilet,'' the rebate program that provided citizens with $75 for replacing an old-style commode with a ULF toilet
Water-Wise Demonstration Garden
Well Water Sign Contest
Water Wise Landscape Contest
``1994: The Year of The Total Water Wise Home''
Water Conservation Art Contests in 1993 and 1994 also were described in the entry.
The award was presented to Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf and City Manager James K. Spore at the Virginia Municipal League's annual banquet held Oct. 18 in Norfolk.
Chapman's team, with its traveling toilet tank test show, has departed for New York, Atlanta and California.
They'll be making follow-up phone calls to their students in three months and will be back in Virginia Beach six months from now, said Wanda L. Frink, the city's water conservation coordinator. She added that the city hopes to make the class an annual event for apartment resident managers. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by CAROLE J. ARNOLD,
City of Virginia Beach
John Chapman, owner and instructor of CSTI Corp., shows how much
water is saved by different shower heads and demonstrates a ball and
chain flapper in a water-saver toilet.
KEYWORDS: WATER CONSERVATION
by CNB