Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.36
Liaison Ian Johnson
Submission Date June 8, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Colorado College
OP-26: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.94 / 4.00 Michael Brubaker
Campus Operations & Plant Manger
Facilities Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of water risk for the institution’s main campus:
Medium to High

Total water use (potable and non-potable combined)::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water use 65,710,664 Gallons 92,144,574 Gallons

Potable water use::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 24,634,035 Gallons 48,435,593 Gallons

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 1,548 1,542
Number of residential employees 17 25
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 2,096 1,978.50
Full-time equivalent of employees 691 626
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 0 0

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 1,899,137 Square feet 1,905,096 Square feet

Area of vegetated grounds::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 38 Acres 38 Acres

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year Jan. 1, 2014 Dec. 31, 2014
Baseline Year Jan. 1, 2008 Dec. 31, 2008

A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:
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Water recycled/reused on campus, performance year:
---

Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year:
0 Gallons

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

Landscape zones are irrigated with City of Colorado Springs-supplied non-potable water, a combination of raw water from a local reservoir and treated domestic wastewater.


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

Every building on campus is separately metered for water use by the local utility. Primary irrigation systems are metered separately.


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

In general, Colorado College has phased in efficient water fixtures as older ones have retired. Fixture retrofits have included outfitting existing faucets with low-flow faucet aerators, replacing shower heads, replacing tank and flush valve toilets with low-flow models, and upgrading urinals to current standards. In 2012, while renovating Worner Student Center and Rastall Dining Hall, the College replaced the existing dishwasher with a more efficient one and retrofitted toilets and urinals with low-flow units.


A brief description of any policies or programs employed by the institution to replace appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives:

The Facility Life Cycle Design Guidelines for Sustainability (2010) states that “opportunities for achieving… water reductions should be identified by design and engineering professionals in every construction or renovation project and considered for implementation based on life cycle cost savings, impact on reaching carbon neutrality, and the importance of demonstrating social responsibility by supporting the college core values and taking a leadership role in nurturing the ethic of environmental sustainability”.


A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):

The Colorado College Long Range Development Plan prioritizes the use of drought resistant plant material low flow irrigation techniques wherever feasible. The grounds department uses drought-tolerant xeriscape plants in many campus landscape areas, while limiting grass to activity areas and sports fields. A centralized irrigation control computer provides efficient watering for the campus, and more than 95 percent of campus is irrigated with nonpotable, reclaimed water.


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

Since 2000, irrigation controls have been computer-based, with a controller clock in each zone connected to satellite clocks. Irrigation is dictated by information provided by an on-campus weather station installed in the fall of 2007 at Stewart Field. This station monitors humidity, rainfall, temperature, and wind speed. It also feeds evapotranspiration (ET) data to the irrigation computer, which sets an order and duration for watering in each zone accordingly.


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

The Facility Life Cycle Design Guidelines for Sustainability (2010) requires the installation of low flow water devices in all new construction projects. Furthermore, the College captures water from its bearing cooler and uses it for its flue gas economizer. However, because this water is not metered, it has not been included in the "water recycled/reused on campus" section above.


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