We Are Not Immune to the Scourge of Leaky Sprinklers

I don’t know if I’m just (un)lucky, but it feels quite often that I come across a broken sprinkler head gushing concerning amounts of water onto the adjacent sidewalk. I saw two within 30 minutes of each other in different places on campus last week. Every time, I wonder how long it’s gone unnoticed (or unaddressed).

Fortunately for my easily-pacified conscience, “doing something about it” is as simple as calling the Caltech Non-Emergency Security number (626-395-4701) and informing them that there’s a leak at whatever location you describe. (They’ll also ask for your UID to verify you’re Caltech-affiliated, so have your ID card ready if you haven’t memorized those “wacky digits on the back.”) They always tell me they’ll send someone to check it out.

Since I’m usually in a liminal space and/or state when I find these leaks, I’ve never bothered to stick around to see if any security staff actually did show up.

This is neither a criticism, condemnation, crucifixion nor cancellation of anyone. I have negative time to do actual reporting on this phenomenon, let alone point any journalistically-backed fingers; I just hope this article will bring the issue to the right person’s attention.

Frequent purveyors of the late-night campus aesthetic are well acquainted with the automatic sprinkler systems covering basically everything green. Sustainability-savvy readers will recall that all water used for irrigation is recycled from the chilled water air-conditioning systems utilized throughout campus. In this objective reporter’s view, Caltech’s overall resource consumption scheme is about as good as it can be, given the general unwillingness of the Institute to divert resources away from research toward sustainability measures. Those priorities are evident in Caltech’s 2023 Sustainability Report, published at sustainability.caltech.edu in April 2024. (Shoutout to Max Christman for his awesome work on communicating these statistics and Institute outlooks!)

In terms of energy, the report’s stated ”Goals for Viability” are to “Identify and recommend sources of high quality, reliable and environmentally preferable energy to support research and education while working with the campus community to improve efficiency and reduce demand.” For land use, the report touts the new Resnick Sustainability Center as a “beacon for sustainability research and sustainable design.” I think that statement sums up the situation perfectly. After all, actually practicing what we preach (and research) is simply not viable… not in this economy! We’ll do the research here, and leave the demonstration to other places.

But to return to the topic at hand — water — the report’s stated goal is simply to “responsibly steward water resources by focusing on efficiency, cultivating climate adapted landscape, minimizing potable water use, and maximizing use of reclaimed water.” As far as I can tell, we’re doing quite well on this front. Irrigation water use has dropped 45% since 2022 — the lowest in recorded history of the Institute, according to the report. (Granted, this is due in part to some equally record-breaking amounts of rainfall, but still.) Looks like all we need now are some more plumbers!