With the local weather still stubbornly dry, many students are conserving water to the tee. Whether it's cutting back on showers or waiting three times to flush, every little drop helps.
But despite all the rain dances and water prayers, Charlottesville remains dry. And citizens aren't the only ones beginning to wilt -- without their livelihood, trees around Grounds just aren't too, well, lively.
But now there's hope for the trees too. With the recent implementation of a program called Share a Shower with a Tree, Lawn residents are starting to recycle water in a whole new way.
When Pete Anderson, the architect for the University started to notice the unhealthy vegetation around the Lawn, he and his wife came up with an idea.
Spinning off one of the conservation efforts they have been practicing in their downtown home of using shower water to flush their toilets, Anderson talked to a few students about reusing their shower water to feed the thirsty trees.
According to Anderson, the amount of time it takes for bath water to warm up is enough to fill up a bucket -- and then some. With the average bucket capacity being about three gallons, trees should be able to get quite a drink.
After Anderson ran his idea by fourth-year College student and Lawn resident Steven Reinemund, the idea quickly bloomed.
"Normally this would take about three months to do," Reinemund said. But in the face of the crisis, it happened in a matter of weeks.
"This is another great example of students and administration working together in a crisis situation to get a problem solved quickly," he said.
When fourth-year College student and head Lawn resident Jasmine Yoon contacted housing to see if the idea was feasible, they speedily sent buckets for the purpose. And Lawnies seem to be helping out. In fact, Reinemund locked himself out of the bathroom last Thursday as he attempted to "share a shower" himself, Yoon said.
The Charlottesville community watches the reservoir percentage continue to drop, and whether it's recycling shower water to flush the toilets or using the bucket method of the Lawnies, every little drop counts.
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