Eastern Kentucky University carries a top ten ranking nationally in its efforts to conserve water on the Richmond campus. EKU is listed fourth among colleges and universities in the 2018 Sustainable Campus Index.
Eastern tied with nine other institutions in the index published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. EKU has reduced water consumption by more than 43% from its baseline year. Eastern Finance and Administration Business Officer Steve Caudill says much of that has come through steam line repairs. “The more you leak, the more water you have to put back in to create that steam and so, anytime you can shore that up and improve those steam lines, so you get that return, that water to come back, and reuse that, that’s going to improve that,” said Caudill.
EKU’s high ranking is partly tied to the use of a permeable parking lot. Steve Caudill says that could be the templet, moving forward. “We’re probably not going to go back and dig up any of our current parking lots and put down permeable parking lots, mainly because of the cost associated with that. But, in these areas where we’ve put new parking lots in, I think if were to ever do new parking lots in the future, we would obviously look at that,” explained Caudill.
Eastern’s commitment to rainwater management includes a simulated wetland on the north side of campus to harvest rain water from the rooftop and area surrounding the Science Building.
