The University's grounds department has taken several initiatives to conserve water on campus, especially during the summer drought. Water is pumped from Lake Mullenix to irrigate certain lawn areas and flower beds on campus. Several wells have been located on campus. Last year, a well near the Athletics Complex was used to irrigate all of the athletic fields, which includes the softball, baseball and soccer fields. This has been a huge savings to the University in terms of maintaining the quality of the fields without the high cost of paying for water.  The grounds department has been using mostly drought tolerant plants in its seasonal planting beds—including begonias, Vinca major, ornamental sweet potato vines, wave petunias, junipers and other drought tolerant plants, all of which require much less watering.