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Student develops water conservation method

October 4, 2012

Not all stickers urging students to save water and energy were put in dorm rooms by the Residence Halls Association.

The water conservation “mirror clings,” which adhere to each residence hall bathroom mirror, introduced this year were really the brainchild of a first-semester mechanical engineering freshman.

Steven Brickel, now a sophomore, came up with the water conservation idea in his Introduction to Sustainability class last fall and worked with Diane Barker, sustainability officer for Campus Living Services, through the spring to make his plan a reality.

In his introductory Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies course, Brickel was required to write a proposal to implement something that would help campus in a sustainable way.

“It started off as stickers because all around campus they have ‘save energy’ stickers and ‘why waste?’ stickers on the lights,” Brickel said. “So, we thought, ‘If the lights have them, why doesn’t water?’”

He continued to work on his water conservation project through his sustainability practicum course, and with Barker’s guidance, received final project approval from the university in April.

“Diane was a huge role in this,” Brickel said. “Without her, I could not do it at all.”

He said throughout the approval process, Barker acted as a guide rather than a partner — letting him contact everyone on his own and not telling him exactly which steps to take.

“She really wanted it to be my project,” he said.

Diane described her role in the project as simply helping Brickel develop his concepts and working with him so he would know what would be an acceptable project to work with Residence Halls Association sustainability.

“As a result of all of that, I got to know Steven pretty well,” Barker said. “He has a lot of passion.”
The mirror clings were assembled and attached to each residence hall bathroom mirror in the summer.

English sophomore Lindsay Shafer said she and her roommate use the sustainability reminders as practice for when they move into their apartment next year.

“We try to be good about it and turn off a lot of our stuff anyway,” Shafer said.

Although some students living in the dorms abide by the mirror cling’s recommendations, others do not.

“I would say the majority of people probably don’t pay attention to them anyway,” said criminal justice sophomore Jessica Mitchell. “It’s something that we’re used to seeing, and once it’s been there for so long, you kind of block it out.”

Water conservation might have been Brickel’s goal for the project, but his efforts also landed him a job as Barker’s residential and hospitality services sustainability aide.

“Last year, I had a vacancy come about from a student worker,” Barker said. “I invited (Brickel) to interview for the job … and he’s now working in my office as a student.”

She said he’s a very hard and dedicated worker and really represents students’ roles in sustainability.

“We’re very pleased with Steven and his work,” Barker said.

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