Dear UC San Francisco Community:

Earlier this year, Governor Brown declared a drought state of emergency and called on Californians to reduce their water use by 20 percent. While UC San Francisco (UCSF) recognizes the severity of the situation, we already have taken actions that resulted in an actual reduction in our water use from 1990 to 2013, even as square footage increased by 74.7 percent over that period.

Despite this commendable record, more is needed. I am writing today to inform you of the measures the campus is adopting as well as describe the individual actions you also can take to address the current crisis.

Current campus water-saving measures

In January, President Janet Napolitano issued her goal to have individual campuses and the system as a whole reduce consumption of potable water by 20 percent by 2020. UCSF committed to six strategic actions and has just completed its first Water Action Plan that outlines actions toward achieving this objective. These strategies include infrastructure and large equipment upgrades and retrofits. More information about the action items is available at Office of Sustainability–LivingGreen.

However, as stated, the Governor asks the state to reduce water consumption by 20 percent this year. We only can accomplish this through your immediate help in reducing our daily water usage.

How you can HELP:

Join your colleagues across the campus community in saving water in several ways:

· Workers and lab managers should have their labs and offices Living Green Certified as soon as possible to focus on water and energy saving strategies. Whenever possible, use less deionized, distilled or reverse-...