When Yulee Area residents take a shower, they are not alone.
They have shower coaches.
The small, $2.80 timing devices, called Shower Coaches, are suction-cupped to the walls of 86 showers in Yulee, Mallory and Reid, which comprise the Yulee Area.
"I really like them," said Haley Merritt, a freshman Yulee resident."They really help. I definitely take a five-minute shower now."
The timers were placed in the showers to help save water and are sponsored by the committee that oversees sustainability efforts within the Department of Housing and Residence Education.
Sharon Blansett, chairwoman of the Housing and Residence Education Green Team, wrote in an e-mail that the program is designed to educate residents on sustainability issues.
The targeted shower time is five minutes. Every minute spent showering uses 2.5 gallons of water, so a five-minute shower uses 12.5 gallons.
"I'm a lot more conscious of the amount of water I am using with the timers around," Merritt said. "It's something major that you can do, and it's not something I even thought about before."
There are friendly reminders stuck to the residence hall walls. Signs were posted to remind students to conserve water while brushing their teeth and shaving. A student can save three gallons of water each day by turning the water off while brushing his or her teeth, and an additional three gallons when shaving.
Runny toilets, leaky faucets and leaky showers can each waste more than 10 gallons per day if they are not reported.
There are about 520 residents living in the Yulee Area. If each resident cuts his or her shower time from 10 minutes to five minutes, it could save about 6,500 gallons per day.
The Department of Housing and Residence Education did not have an estimate for the amount of water that is wasted or the cost of wasted water.
Blansett reported there has been a good response from students since the project began Oct. 12.
"The fact that they are there definitely helps," said Rainer De Sousa, an international student who lives in Yulee. "I did see that someone stuck one of the shower timers next to a toilet. That was kind of funny."
The Green Team hopes to spread the conservation program to other residence halls.
