Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	72.94
Liaison	Jen Maxwell
Submission Date	Dec. 5, 2023

STARS v2.2

Appalachian State University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

2.01 / 4.00

BJ Tipton
AASHE STARS Data Assistant
Office of Sustainability

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of ”Physical Risk Quantity” for the institution’s main campus as indicated by the World Resources Institute Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:

Low to Medium

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

Total water withdrawal (potable and non-potable combined):

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	98,245,000 Gallons	104,708,166 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	98,245,000 Gallons	104,708,166 Gallons

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2022	June 30, 2023
Baseline Period	July 1, 2010	June 30, 2011

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:

We chose a period 3 years prior to the performance year of 2013/14 in order to have data that is more current and therefore tracked consistently.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	5,566	5,160
Number of employees resident on-site	13	11
Number of other individuals resident on-site	3	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	18,582.30	16,388
Full-time equivalent of employees	3,050.20	2,672.24
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	1,112	1,045
Weighted campus users	16,788.13	14,804.18

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	5,852.05 Gallons	7,072.88 Gallons

Percentage reduction in potable water use per weighted campus user from baseline:

17.26

Part 2. Reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	5,620,710 Gross square feet	4,679,232 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	17.48 Gallons per square foot	22.38 Gallons per square foot

Percentage reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area from baseline:

21.89

Part 3. Reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	374.13 Acres	374.13 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	262,595.89 Gallons per acre	279,871.08 Gallons per acre

Percentage reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds from baseline:

6.17

Optional Fields

A brief description of the institution's water-related behavior change initiatives:

---

A brief description of the institution's water recovery and reuse initiatives:

The Sustainable Development Farm uses captured water as thermal storage in the greenhouse.

Beasley Media Complex- Captures rainwater via a gutter system and stores it in a 3,000 gallon tank. This gray water is used inside the building (toilet flushing).

Field Hockey Fields- Captures rainwater and re-captures and re-uses the irrigation water from the field.

The Holmes Convocation Center has a filtered stormwater catchment system. One reservoir is 2400 gallons and another is 900 gallons.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace plumbing fixtures, fittings, appliances, equipment, and systems with water-efficient alternatives:

Shower heads, sink aerators, and toilets are being replaced or refitted with tamper resistant, low consumption heads and devices. These are standard requirements in new construction. The retrofit project was completed in all residents' halls and has been funded by several sources:
1) State Energy Office Grant in 2009
2) PEPCO contracts - $5.5m
3) PEPCO contract - $16.5m

By the end of 2015, approximately 90% of all fixtures on campus were updated to low flow.
Specifics of replacements:
*Replaced 3 gpm with 1.5 gpm shower heads
*Replaced 1.5 and 1 gpm sink aerators with .5gpm
*Replaced 3 gallons per flush gpf toilets with .6 gpf toilets
*Some urinals have been reduced to 1 pint of water per flush

Website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency efforts is available:

http://www.northcarolina.edu/policy/index.php

Additional documentation to support the submission:

OP22_-_Rainwater_Management__-_Physical_Features_and_Policies_updated_10-2023.pdf

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

99.99% of the water used on campus is potable.
Water captured and used from non-potable tanks is not metered.