Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives

2015 Spring Grant Application Project title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives Total amount requested from TGIF: $2251.15 Amount Requested as:

Grant

Loan (Estimated payback period of loan in months:___)

Sponsoring Organization/Fiscal Agent: The Green Initiative Fund Project Team: Please identify the project leader(s). Name Title and department Project Role Phone Email Relevant experience or knowledge for this project

Serena Tam Water Conservation Project Leader of ASUC Sustainability Team

Name Title and department Phone Email Relevant experience or knowledge for this project

Kevin Wang Intern of ASUC Sustainability Team

Project Leader 650-922-1363 [email protected]

973-887-0133 [email protected]

How did you hear about this grant? ASUC Sustainability Team meetings

Project Description 1. Please give a brief history of this project. Describe the overall goals of the project.

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Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives

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In the midst of one of California’s most severe droughts in history, our team, Berkeley Flow of the ASUC Sustainability Team, is seeking to convert toilets into dual-flush toilets. In doing so, we are requesting funding from the TGIF Grant in order to purchase the retrofit kits necessary for converting the toilets. The primary purpose of the project is to conserve water in a relatively cost-effective, easy way that will bring long-term benefits to our campus. We plan to install retrofit kits that will provide the dual-flush option into existing toilets, starting with the Cloyne Student Cooperative building as the pilot program. We hope to expand this project to other student cooperative houses in the future if everything works out. Potential student cooperative houses include Casa Zimbabwe and Stebbins, which have the second and third largest number of residents after Cloyne, respectively. One of our main goals is to help Berkeley move forward in meeting the Campus Sustainability Goals by 2020. Another goal of this project would be to set a good example for Berkeley students and the general public by showing that our university is taking charge to address the drought. Besides Berkeley students, our project would demonstrate that it is possible for students everywhere to make a big impact on their campus’ environmental efforts. 2. What will be the process for implementing your project? Describe the key steps of your project. We will first have a mini pilot program by installing two retrofit kits into two toilets under the request of the Cloyne house manager. After receiving necessary approvals, we will then work out the logistics of ordering the retrofit kits with the manufacturer. We assume that the approximate start date of the implementation will be early September and completion date December. Following the grant approval, we will order the retrofit kits and have them shipped to us in Berkeley. Our team will post notices in the building’s bathrooms to inform students of the project and the benefits of having dual-flush toilets. We plan to have Cloyne’s Management Team to install the retrofit kits, with each installation taking about 5-7 minutes. The installation time will last for about a week depending on the Cloyne Management’s availability. The following week, we would finish the remaining installations and fix any problems encountered. We will also be taking part in campus public outreach for the project before and after the installation of toilets. Finally, we will measure the water reduction rates by comparing the pre- and post-installation water usage by viewing records through the cooperative’s water provider.

Metrics and Measurability 3. Which aspects of campus sustainability will your project address, and why is addressing these issues important- would your project fulfill a specific campus need or goal? Does your project coincide with any current campus sustainability initiatives? Does your project go above and beyond the requirements already mandated by UC Berkeley? In the average American household, toilets are responsible for 26.7% of total water usage a day, with 400 gallons of water used per day. When viewed in comparison, it is clear UC Berkeley, by necessity of the sheer number of students and facilities, must use a horrific

Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives

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amount of water per day. Dual flush toilets provide an easy and effective solution to drastically lowering the university’s water usage. In comparison to older toilet models, which can consume 3.5 to 5 gallons per flush, dual flush toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. When installed in a residential household, dual flush toilets are estimated by the EPA to save 4,000 gallons of water annually. Thus being installed in even one building, can save thousands of gallons when considering the amount of students that frequent the bathrooms per day. The simplest method to measure the benefits is reviewing monthly and annual water bills through the university’s water provider. The water conserved, thus money saved, can be directly measured by comparing pre to post dual flush installations. The money saved from lower water usage can be redirected to more urgent student and facility matters. Our proposal perfectly complements current UC Berkeley sustainability initiatives, particularly concerning water conservation. Just as the university has installed more waterefficient technologies and encouraged residents to use less water in the Residence Halls, our proposal plans to enact similar concepts on off-campus housing. According to UC Berkeley’s Water Action Plan, Berkeley is on track to reach its campus-wide goal of reducing potable water use to 10% below 2008 levels by 2020. Our proposal, which is primarily concerned with non-university owned buildings, but are still primarily housed by Berkeley students, will go beyond the requirements mandated by UC Berkeley. Our proposal not only pushes Berkeley to achieve its goal before 2020, but also widens the scope of impact to include off-campus housing and the local community. 4. What quantitative and/or qualitative sustainability metrics will your project have? Will there be cost savings for the campus (Please show)? How will you measure and report on these metrics during your project and upon completion of your project? Please also fill out the CalCAP Metrics form for your calculations and submit it separately from your application. The 2011 Campus Sustainability Report contains additional information on campus sustainability.

We plan to use educational and public outreach strategies to help qualitatively measure our project. The qualitative impact will depend on how many people we educate through the various campus events we will be taking part in. We believe that we will reach hundreds of people and educate them about our project, the consequences of the California drought, and ways to reduce water usage. The specific measurements and strategies are elaborated on in the attached metrics spreadsheet. For quantitative measurements, we used an online calculator (http://www.fluidmaster.com/water-conservation/water-savings-calculator) to project the cost savings and water savings of installing a dual-flush system. Our inputs included the following: Toilet’s full flush volume= 1.6 gallons Number of people in the building= 120 Number of toilets= 33 Average flushes per day= 5 Water rate on bill= $3.51 (according to CalCAP) The calculator projected a savings of 3,469,000 gallons of water or $12,176 per year for the Cloyne House. To measure and report on these savings, we will compare the pre- and

Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives

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post-installation water bills, but also continue to monitor the bills on a monthly basis to see that there is substantial water and cost reductions.

Project Education, Outreach, and Publicity Plan 5. What is your plan for publicizing your project on campus and getting the campus community involved? In addition to TGIF, who will you report your information to? Our strategies for publicizing the project include putting up educational posters in the Cloyne Cooperative, updating all student cooperative residents about our project, having an editorial in The Daily Cal about the project, pitching the idea to other student cooperative house managers, and participating in the Green Safety Fair and Earth Week. In these ways, we hope to involve the campus community through education on water conservation and urging students to reduce their water usage in any way they can. Besides TGIF, we will also report information to the ASUC Sustainability Team and the Cloyne House Manager. 6. Do you have any specific outreach goals? If so, how will they be measured and reported? (Leave blank if already answered in the Metrics & Measurability section)

Our main goal is to educate as many people as possible about water conservation and the benefits of installing dual-flush retrofit kits. It will be measured based on the number of people we reach at each event in the section above and continue to keep a log of it. 7. Will students be involved in this project and if so, what roles will they play? Does your project target involvement of a certain section of the student body? Does your project directly benefit the student population? Students’ main role will be the ones who are educated and be more aware of their actions regarding conserving water. It mainly targets students who live in the student cooperatives as they will be the ones actively saving water through dual-flush toilets. It directly benefits the student population of the cooperatives in that there will be more money left over from the savings to allocate towards their other sustainability efforts.

Project Approvals (Projects will not be considered without the relevant approvals). 8. Do any aspects of your project require approval from an entity on or off campus? If yes, please list and explain. (For example, a project which affects campus grounds or buildings must be approved by the Vice Chancellor for Facilities Services) For each described entity, you must submit a completed Project Approval Form. Project Approval Forms will not be counted toward your application page limit.

The Cloyne Cooperative House Manager and President will give us the necessary approvals for the project.

Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives

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9. Are you partnering with any on-campus or off-campus departments, student groups, or organizations, besides your fiscal sponsor? If yes, please list here and include their contact information. The Cloyne Student Cooperative House House Manager: Graham Stanley, email: [email protected]

Budget & Sustaining the Project Long-Term 10. List all budget items for which funding is being requested under the appropriate category. Include cost and total amount for each item requested. Please be as detailed as possible. (Insert additional rows if necessary). If you have price quotes from vendors or additional historical budget information for projects that have occurred previously or are on-going, please submit those with this application. Additional budget documentation will not be counted toward your application page limit. Item

Cost per Item

Quantity

Total Request

$35.00

2

70.00

$39.95

2

79.90

$39.95

31

1238.45

$.60

33

19.80

$.60

30

18.00

$25.00

33

825.00

Equipment and Construction Costs April Pilot Program Retrofit Kits http://www.amazon.com/One2flush-200-Dual-FlushRetrofit/dp/B002CF1XZC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1427764237 &sr=8-2&keywords=retrofit+kit+dual+flush (This price takes into account the regular price, not the limited sale price, which is excluded due to inconsistency) Revised Model of Retrofit Kits http://www.amazon.com/Tap-n-Flush-Revolutionary-ElectronicConverterGuaranteed/dp/B00DRP2UOO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=142740 6410&sr=8-4&keywords=dual+flush+conversion+kit (This price takes into account the regular price, not the limited sale price, which is excluded due to inconsistency) Remaining Retrofit Kits Publicity and Communication Educational Posters in Co-op (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/using-the-libraries/print-scan) Educational Posters on Campus and for Events (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/using-the-libraries/print-scan) Personnel and Wages Installation (Quoted from the House Manager of Cloyne)

Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives

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General Supplies and Other

TOTAL $2251.15

11. If your project is implemented, does it require any on-going funding after its completion? What is your strategy for supporting the project after this initial period to cover replacement, operational, and renewal costs? (Note: TGIF is unlikely to provide funding beyond the initial grant for ongoing projects and we give priority to projects that only need one-time funding or will be supported financially by the campus once TGIF funding is spent.) It should not require on-going funding. Each of the Retro-Fit kits has a 2 year warranty. If the product stops working within 2 years of purchase, the manufacturer will replace it with a new unit. In the case of replacement, operational, and renewal costs not covered by the manufacturer, the Sustainability Team will have funds to take care of these cases. 12. List all non-TGIF sources you are pursuing for funding, volunteer time, in-kind donations, etc. Source/Description

Amount

Date Request submitted

ASUC Sustainability Team ASUC Sustainability Team

$100 $500

3/15/15 4/1/15

Date received / date funding will be announced 4/13/15 8/26/15

Project Timeline 13. Please complete the following table to describe your project timeline. List milestones chronologically. For the “Timeframe” column, please estimate how long each task will take to be completed. (Insert additional rows if necessary). Each one of the following items must be included on your timeline:  Project start date  Target date for project completion  Date by which you will need the first installment of TGIF money

Project Title: Dual Flush Toilets in Student Cooperatives   

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Date by which you expect to have spent all TGIF funds Target date for submitting final project report to TGIF Any significant tasks or milestones along the way (For example: identifying an equipment vendor, begin installing equipment, finish installing equipment, etc.) Task

Timeframe (# of wks to completion)

Estimated completion date

Pilot Start Date: 4/13/15

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5/1/15

Publicity & Outreach: 4/23/15

1

4/24/15

Identifying Equipment Vendor: 5/4/15

1

5/8/15

Arrange for ordering kits in bulk: 5/4/15

1

5/8/15

Order posters for Cloyne: 5/3/15

1

5/6/15

Ship posters to Cloyne: 5/29/15

1

6/5/15

Have kits shipped to Cloyne: 5/29/15

3

6/19/15

Begin installation: 6/19/15

9

8/26/15

Date by which we need 2 installment of TGIF 1 money: 8/26/15

9/4/15

Finish installing equipment: 8/26/15

1

8/26/15

Order posters for campus: 9/9/15

1

9/18/15

Date by which we will have spent all TGIF funds: 9/18/15

1

9/25/15

Other Publicity/Outreach: 10/5/15

4

10/30/15

Target Date for Project Completion: 10/30/15

1

11/6/15

Target Date for Submitting Final Project Report to TGIF: 12/4/15

1

12/11/15

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