UT Works to Conserve Water

You won't see any fountains flowing on the UT campus these days.

And you may even see a few brown plants mixed in with the green.

The university is trying to conserve water in this drought.

Most are supportive of the plan, but part of campus may suffer as a result.

Fountains on campus sit still and dry. Where water once flowed, there's algae -- or nothing at all.

UT says that's because it's implementing the same Stage 2 water restrictions as the rest of Austin.

"We're part of the community as well and we want to support what the city is doing," said Laurie Lentz, UT Facilities Services.

Lentz also said that the university doesn't have to follow the restrictions.

They call for watering only once a week.

But when faced with a drought, they want to do their part.

"Everyone is really cooperating wth this. We've had a good response," Lentz said.

UT says it's using hand-watering techniques, rather than irrigtaion, to water flower beds. That way, they can concentrate on hot spots that truly need the water, rather than waste water on the entire bed.

The athletic fields on campus have also taken one for the team.

"We've gone to the one-day-a-week watering schedule here at Myers," said Jeremy King, facilities supervisor.

In fact, King says overwatering can be a big problem.

"You really dont need to water 3 to 4 nights a week; it promotes diseases and weeds and things like that," he said.

So the grounds and fields on campus may take a slight hit, but officials say they'll do what it takes to conserve water for the future of Austin.

Officials say they don't yet know how much water they're saving, but before the cutbacks UT was using 800 million gallons a year.

Right now, UT buys the water from the city -- so it comes from Lake Austin.

But, in 2011, they're making the switch to a reuse water plant for everything but drinking water.

So for irrigation, water plants and fields -- all that's going to be recycled water.