The sidewalks have been properly watered

Cleveland State overlooks a simple sustainability initiative

By Nathan Parin

In elementary school, I remember learning that it was not good to waste water. My teacher taught us all kinds of tips, like turning the faucet off while you’re brushing your teeth, taking shorter showers, filling up a watering can instead of just spraying plants with the hose. 

I’m sure we did something fun to associate saving water with positivity, because I came home, told my mom all about it and we started doing it. 

I’m sure this sounds familiar to a lot of people because many of us learned about the importance of conserving water from a young age. What we didn’t know, at the time, was that we were contributing to sustainability. 

Being conservative with water is an elementary-level skill we all learned, so imagine my surprise when I came to college and witnessed our lackluster water conservation skills. 

Every institution creates excess waste and misuses energy; it’s expected. However, Cleveland State University does need to improve, mainly on our sprinkler system. 

If you have ever been on campus during nighttime when the sprinklers are spraying, you will notice water everywhere but mostly on the sidewalks and buildings instead of the plants that they are meant to water. Concrete has no need to be sprayed nightly and excessively. 

There is a simple solution to the problem: just move the sprinklers or change the angle at which they can spray. This way, they don’t go onto the sidewalk and buildings and only spray the plants they are meant to. 

Another issue with the sustainability of Cleveland State’s sprinklers are how they continue to run after or during rainfall. 

There has to be a way to turn them off on the days that it has already rained, yet we still run them, raising our water bill and wasting water instead of practicing the principles of conservation so deeply ingrained in us from childhood. 

There is no reason our sprinklers should be wasting gallons upon gallons of water on the sidewalk. Our tuition is paying to spray the sidewalks instead of providing student programs, adding new classes and creating better resources for our student’s academics. 

If the sprinklers were modified, they would be more sustainable, and our tuition would be better spent on students — not wet pavement. 

It is our university’s duty to make sure that we are doing the best we can, not only for our current students, but our future students as well. Planning for the future of our planet and our school is the only way we can sustain ourselves and the future of Cleveland State. 

Small modifications to sprinklers will save a lot of money and resources for our future and help secure a brighter one for those who come after us. We will not be able to do so if we continue spraying sidewalks and buildings instead of our flowers, trees and grass. Make Cleveland State’s future bright once more.