Water Quality
Environmental Health & Safety works closely with ECU Facilities Services and the Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC) to provide quality water to our campus community, while being careful to properly manage the usage of this finite resource. The EPA places stringent requirements on GUC to ensure quality drinking water is provided to campus. GUC ensures compliance with these requirements through a comprehensive testing program. Once on campus, it is up to ECU to manage the water distribution system. Facilities Services maintains the distribution system and works with EH&S to test and manage usage. Recently, EH&S reached an agreement with GUC to conduct additional testing on campus to ensure good quality water on campus.
Water conservation is a key component of usage management. ECU has installed low-flow showerheads in residence halls and a state-of-the-art lawn watering systems and only waters plants/grass when they need it. In addition, ECU manages usage through ensuring that the appropriate quality of water is used. Although drinking (potable) water must be provided to our buildings for human consumption, we can use non-potable water as process water that will not be used for human consumption. For example, we have installed wells at both campuses that utilize groundwater from various aquifers to provide process water for our cooling towers and lawn watering operations. This requires consultation and permitting with the NC Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ), but decreases the campus draw on the community’s drinking water supply. NCDEQ considers it a responsible method for properly managing the community’s drinking water supply and the region’s groundwater.
Below are several links to further understanding of ECU’s commitment to quality water on campus.