Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.99
Liaison Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-26: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.00 / 2.00 Martin Altschul
Director of Strategic Facilities Initiatives of FMCS
Facilities Management Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of water risk for the institution’s main campus:
Low

Total water use (potable and non-potable combined)::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water use 198,113,000 Gallons 123,907,000 Gallons

Potable water use::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 198,113,000 Gallons 123,907,000 Gallons

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 3,989 3,744
Number of residential employees 0 0
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 10,904 8,894
Full-time equivalent of employees 5,055 4,032
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 132.60 106.50

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 6,835,325 Square feet 6,276,822 Square feet

Area of vegetated grounds::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 146 Acres 120 Acres

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2012 June 30, 2013
Baseline Year July 1, 2004 June 30, 2005

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

FY 2005 was selected to be consistent with earlier STARS reporting


Water recycled/reused on campus, performance year:
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Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year:
---

A brief description of any water recovery and reuse systems employed by the institution:

A rainwater barrel on the solar house is used to water the
student garden. Rain water collection systems are used at two major buildings for toilets, and at one of these buildings, for an irrigation system.

Harvested rainwater is used at Gates & Hillman and the Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC). The Gates & Hillman building currently uses a 10,000 gallon tank for harvesting and supplys 50 weeks of flushing in a year. The CIC building currently uses a 6,000 gallon tank for harvesting and is used for irrigation and flushing.


A brief description of any water metering and management systems employed by the institution:

There are two major types of meters available for tracking the use of water at Carnegie Mellon. One type is meters placed by the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA), and the other is internal meters installed on campus by the University. The number of each of these meters on campus are two indicators of the level of accuracy of information for water use. Using the total number of meters on campus, a meter-to-building ratio can be calculated to indicate the amount of metering coverage there is at Carnegie Mellon. It should be noted that while the meter-to-building ratio is greater than one, this does not mean that each building has a meter. A number of buildings have more than one meter and some meters may track water flow through more than one building.

50% of the University campus buildings have water consumption meters employed.


A brief description of any building retrofit practices employed by the institution, e.g. to install high efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings:

Low and ultra-low urinals are used for all new construction and renovations. Other high efficiency fixtures such as touchless faucets are also used.


A brief description of any policies or programs employed by the institution to replace appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives:
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A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):

The institution uses drought tolerant plants on many of its vegetative (green) roofs.


A brief description of any weather-informed irrigation technologies employed by the institution:

A web based water control irrigation system on one of the campus grounds three irrigation systems is used to automatically adjust irrigation practices.


A brief description of other water conservation and efficiency strategies employed by the institution:
---

The website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The water consumption since 2005 appears to have significantly increased over the years when compared to the FY 2009 data, this is due to a broken meter not accounting for all of the water consumed in 2005.

The number of on-campus residents was obtained from the CMU Factbook 2005~2006 and 2011~2012. Carnegie Mellon does not offer housing for faculty, staff, or graduate students on-campus, campus residents consists of undergraduate and special-degree students.


The water consumption since 2005 appears to have significantly increased over the years when compared to the FY 2009 data, this is due to a broken meter not accounting for all of the water consumed in 2005.

The number of on-campus residents was obtained from the CMU Factbook 2005~2006 and 2011~2012. Carnegie Mellon does not offer housing for faculty, staff, or graduate students on-campus, campus residents consists of undergraduate and special-degree students.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.