Earth Day

March 26, 2020

Spring into Water Conservation with The Green Team

As March rolls around, it’s an encouraging sign of spring to see patches of green return. And speaking of green, we’ve got a fabulous Green Team at Rockwood South Hill! The Green Team is comprised of residents and key staff members.

The Green Team’s purpose is to help educate residents and staff on environmental matters in our immediate community and beyond, and help Rockwood with developing sustainable design and conservation practices. Each month, a resident or team member writes an article for The View newsletter. Topics have included recycling, composting, mulching, water-wise plants, container gardening, reusable food containers, and LED lightbulbs. Since 2007, The Green Team has tackled many environmental issues around our community. The group’s 2020 focus is water conservation.

In the January newsletter, The Green Team shared that the average American uses 176 gallons of water per day, for a total of 64,240 gallons per year. In the February issue, we learned that during non-irrigation seasons, our Rockwood South Hill campus uses an average of 1.2 million gallons of water per month. When irrigation is needed, water use jumps to 6.8 million gallons per month. One way to reduce our water use during summer months is to reduce the amount of lawn we maintain and implement xeriscaping — landscaping that doesn’t require additional water to be beautiful. The Green Team is working with the Landscaping Supervisor to identify areas on campus where we might reduce irrigation by modifying the landscaping.