Students at Two Triangle Universites Battle it Out in the "Shortest Shower" Competition 

Two of our local universities have come up with a great way to combat the significant drought in our area.  In the tradition of heavy competition between the schools, the Tarheels and the Wolfpack are battling it out - to see who can use less water.

Daily water use had dropped by about 4 gallons, per student, per day at both UNC Chapel Hill and NC State since the contest began in November, when the Wolfpack beat Carolina during the end of the football season. 

The competition is set to end on Feb 20th, when the two schools meet up again on the sports fields, this time in basketball.

There are water meters on each residence hall, which makes gathering the data for the competition fair. 

The winning school must have two of these three criteria:  Largest decrease in gallons of water used per student, per day; lowest amount of water used per student per day on final day of reading; and/or total percentage reduction in number of gallons of water used.

The baseline data for the competition:

UNC-Chapel Hill: 34 gallons of water used, per student, per day

NC State: 31 gallons of water used, per student, per day

And here's the most recent updates posted by the schools: 

January 15th Update:
1) Decrease in gallons of water used: UNC-4 NC State-4
Leader: Tied
2) Average water used: UNC-30 NC State-27
Leader: NC State
3) Percent reduction in water usage during challenge: UNC-12% NC State-13%
Leader: NC State

February 1st Update:

1) Decrease in gallons of water used: UNC-13 NC State-11
Leader: UNC
2) Average water used: UNC-21 NC State-20
Leader: NCSU
3) Percent reduction in water usage during challenge: UNC-38% NC State-35%
Leader: UNC

Not sure if the significant increase in reduction may have something to do with Winter Break, but it's obvious that these two universities have found a focus with their students that has caused a significant decrease in usage.  The dining halls no longer use trays to cut down on dishwashing.  Students are taking shorter showers and fewer trips to the laundry room, and are reporting drips and leaks. 

Between the competition, and a campus-wide focus on reducing water usage, this seems to be a very successful campaign.  Maybe we should start some water-saving competitions in our homes....  Egg timer for showers, anyone?

Is there anything your local schools or businesses are doing that make saving water an exciting challenge? 

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