Soapy tradition discouraged

In the “Doing Stanford — all year long, Traditions” article on Sept. 19, The Daily lists “Fountain Hopping” and a “bubble bath” as traditional April activities. As the manager for Stanford’s Water Conservation Program, I want to make sure The Daily readers know that putting soap in the fountains wastes thousands of gallons of domestic water. This is not a sustainable activity and The Daily should not be promoting it.

Stanford University has spent more than $1.5 million in the past five years on water conservation. Each year, we spend a great amount of time reviewing water use and water waste. Soaping fountains is high on the list of wasteful practices. Although it may be entertaining to a few, last year’s soapings at various fountains took staff away from other maintenance and wasted almost 100,000 gallons of potable water! We encourage the Stanford community to enjoy Stanford’s fountains but PLEASE NO SOAPING!

Marty Laporte

Manager of Water Resources and Environmental Quality, Stanford Utilities Department