On May 16, the contractor of the bathhouse at the Zhong campus of Taiyuan University of Technology reported that the "water-saving control system" installed by the school had caused him to operate at a loss.
The owner of the bathhouse, Master Chen, said that before, students paid 3.5 yuan each time they took a shower. After the installation of the "water-saving control system", the bathhouse began to operate at a loss. Initially, students started using water-saving cards, and the price for taking a shower was changed to 0.23 yuan per minute. The student who used the most water spent 10.38 yuan. Many students complained about the high price, so after an investigation, the school leadership adjusted the shower price to 0.09 yuan per minute.
When the reporter looked at the computer records in the bathhouse, he saw that students' average shower cost over the past few days was one or two yuan, with the lowest being less than two jiao. Master Chen said: "With the current income, I can't even cover the water fees, gas fees, and rent, let alone the decoration costs when I contracted the bathhouse."
In order to reduce losses, Master Chen decided to "open the bathhouse with limited hours." So, he posted the aforementioned notice.
During the interview, some students told the reporter that since the school installed the "water-saving control system," they have started to save water. However, the limited opening hours of the bathhouse indeed brought inconvenience to their lives.
The reporter contacted Director Chen of the Property Center at the Zhong campus of Taiyuan University of Technology by phone. Director Chen stated that the "water-saving control system" is still in the trial operation stage, and some problems may arise. Regarding Master Chen's statement, Director Chen said that the school has verified it, and the contractor is indeed operating at a loss now. He said that the issue has already been reported to the school leadership, and the school will carefully consider this matter. The school, while achieving intelligent water saving, will certainly not allow the contractor to operate at a loss.