Editorial: UCLA must speed up water conservation efforts

California’s first-ever water mandate announced last week raised alarms that water conservation isn’t happening fast enough in the state – including at campuses like UCLA.

UCLA has already started taking important steps toward reducing its water usage in the long term. But California’s water shortage is in an emergency state, and the university needs to approach existing and future water conservation efforts with a heightened sense of urgency.

It is true that UCLA is already taking commendable steps to reduce water consumption in landscaping, which Gov. Jerry Brown’s water order focused on.

UCLA is evaluating all ornamental turf on campus that isn’t used recreationally and has plans to replace more than 73,000 square feet of turf in at least four different areas from near Murphy Hall to Veteran Avenue with drought-tolerant plants, said UCLA Chief Sustainability Officer Nurit Katz. This doesn’t include the 7.7-acre Intramural Field, which is already being replaced with artificial turf to nearly eliminate its water usage and save about 6.5 million gallons a year.

UCLA will also install drought-resistant plants with all its new buildings in construction, a practice that began with the opening of the South Campus Court of Sciences Student Center three years ago.

But UCLA has been slow in meeting its own University of California water mandate that has already been in place since January of last year. Campuses are supposed to reduce their water use by 20 percent by 2020, but UCLA has only managed to eliminate 9 percent so far.

There are some campus spaces like Royce Quad and Dickson Plaza that officials have not yet considered or drafted plans for making more sustainable. UCLA is looking at replacing Wilson Plaza with artificial turf, but hasn’t yet made concrete plans. The campus would also benefit from replacing all exotic foliage on the Hill and tightening landscaping water use. Broken sprinkler heads are apparent all over the Hill, wasting even more water there.

But if Brown expects colleges like UCLA to be among the key parties required to reduce water usage, he shouldn’t leave them high and dry in terms of funding. As far as UCLA knows, the university won’t receive a cent from Brown’s most recent water order. While UCLA has the funds needed to complete several water-saving projects it has in the works, the financial benefits of cutting water use don’t pay off those projects so quickly.

Regardless of whether the state provides any water conservation support for its largest public research university, the time UCLA has to fulfill the UC’s own water reduction mandate is running out. At this point, every possible option for cutting landscaping water use must be given serious consideration. Neither the university nor the state can afford to miss out.