The ripple effect

When you think of a college chemistry lab, you may picture bubbling beakers and flickering Bunsen burners as students conduct experiments to heat and cool gasses or form new chemical compounds. Even if the intended outcomes are different, something many of these experiments have in common is that they require water, and lots of it.

David Connors is part of the team behind the pump system in Georgia State chemistry labs that reduces water use by over 99 percent.

The numbers are surprising. A team at Georgia State analyzed how much water was being used in their chemistry lab courses and found, on average, a class with around 40 students was using 18,358 liters per hour — about 4,847 gallons. To try to reduce usage, a pair of faculty members implemented an innovative new pump system that recirculates water and is making waves in labs across campus.

“What we built is a simple pump at every station that pulls from a container of water instead of requiring a continuous flow of potable water from the sink,” says David Connors, a senior lecturer in the Chemistry Department. “And importantly, it doesn’t add any extra work for students. The daily process is the same as hooking up to the sink. It may actually be less work, overall.”

Before the pumps were installed, a typical GSU Chem 2100 lab was using about 100 gallons of water per student per hour.

Connors has been at GSU for more than a decade and spends his days teaching organic and general chemistry lectures and leading lab courses.

The new closed-loop pump system he helped implement at Georgia State has reduced water usage by a whopping 99 percent. With 575 chemistry students actively working in labs over the past year, this seemingly simple idea is having a significant environmental effect.

Designing the Solution

Connors saw the closed-loop pump system in use as a grad student in New York and wondered if it could be implemented at Georgia State. He decided to recruit fellow chem colleague Thomas Robilotto, a senior academic professional who teaches chemistry courses and directs daily operations for the organic chemistry labs.

“All that potable water used to come from the taps. So, imagine 50 students with 50 taps going at once,” Robilotto says. “Now, each student has access to a one-liter container, which also benefits our facilities and infrastructure by reducing water pressure issues, spills and flooding.”

Last year, the pair reached out to GSU’s Office of Sustainability to apply for grant funding to create a pilot study on the pumps.

With a modest grant of around $3,800, they configured the setups for the Chem 2100 lab modelled after an approach used at the University of Alberta. After looking at the numbers over time, even they were surprised at the amount of water the system was able to save.

“This 99-percent reduction in water use is real, sustained savings that we’re very proud of,” says Jennifer Wilson, director of sustainability at Georgia State. “And because of the energy-water nexus, it also reduces energy use by recirculating water instead of wasting treated, potable water down the drain.”

Measuring Every Drop

As part of the pilot, the chemistry team recruited Golden Uzoma (B.S. '26), a biology student and teaching assistant graduating this spring. She studied the effect of the recirculating pumps across multiple chemistry lab exercises to track how much water could be saved.

“My role was to run distillations first without the pump, as a control, measure water pressure and how much water was used, and then repeat the same experiments with the pump using the same chemicals, so the only variable was the pump,” Uzoma says. “Then I compared the averages for water usage and time.”

Uzoma’s research estimates that using these water-saving pumps reduces water usage by more than 3.7 million liters per year in the Chem 2100 laboratory alone.

“In perspective, these pumps are smaller than my hand,” Uzoma says. “And we were able to save so much water while keeping the experiments the same.”

Another surprising finding, according to Uzoma, is that the experiments consistently produced more of the desired substance using fewer resources.

“In perspective, these pumps are smaller than my hand, and we were able to save so much water while keeping the experiments the same.”
– Golden Uzoma (B.S. '26)

Over the course of the study, Uzoma got to follow the project from idea to execution. She also presented her findings at the 2025 Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference and is considering publishing her work.

“Being part of this project really changed how I think about sustainability, but also how I see myself as a student,” she says. “It pushed me to get involved in research, try new things and realize I can contribute to meaningful work on campus.”

The pump project was so successful Connors and Robiliotto applied for a second grant which was funded to expand the project to more chemistry labs on Georgia State’s Atlanta Campus.

“What started in our second-level labs is now being used in our first-year labs, too,” Robilotto says. “We currently have around 150 pumps in operation. They’re actually relatively cheap. If one breaks, you just need to spend $30 to buy a new one.”

Though it’s unclear how widely systems like this are used on campuses across the U.S., Georgia State’s approach shows how even modest changes can be part of a larger effort toward sustainability in science.

“We could all do things to be more sustainable every day, right?” Connors says. “It can be hard to make a change because that can be disruptive if things are running smoothly. But as you can see, even the smallest change can create real, wide-ranging impact.”

Students Supporting Sustainability

Students at Georgia State played a big part in the project to reduce water use in campus chemistry labs.

A $3,800 grant that made the pump project possible was funded by the $5 Student Sustainability Fee, which each student pays as part of their tuition. Students also serve on the committee that chooses which internal grant projects will receive funding. Director of Sustainability Jennifer Wilson says the project was a hands-down favorite of both staff and students.

“It’s really powerful for students to see the impact at work in their classes,” Wilson says.

The team has added new stickers to the lab equipment that read “Paid for by your Sustainability Fees” so students realize they’re part of the change.

“Through this process, we realized a lot of students just aren’t aware of the environmental impact of what they do in the lab,” says Senior Academic Professional Thomas Robilotto. “So, we really hope this project can help make that connection clearer.”

Robilotto and Senior Chemistry Lecturer David Connors are now thinking of ways to spread the word and plan to share the project details as a model of water conservation best practices that can be replicated at other universities and in other labs across campus.