Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	76.41
Liaison	Krista Bailey
Submission Date	Dec. 12, 2023

STARS v2.2

Pennsylvania State University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

3.67 / 5.00

Shelley McKeague
Environmental Compliance Specialist
Engineering Services

"---" 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:

Medium to High

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	897,892,596 Gallons	986,745,387 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	737,462,381 Gallons	896,785,700 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	Jan. 1, 2022	Dec. 31, 2022
Baseline Period	Jan. 1, 2005	Dec. 31, 2005

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:

FY 05/06 was adopted as the baseline for the majority of sections to be consistent with previous STARS reporting. For Water Use, data is reported by Calendar year to be consistent with regulatory reporting.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	13,621	13,795
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	46,683.20	39,043
Full-time equivalent of employees	16,385.76	14,183
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	9,789.40	0
Weighted campus users	43,364.92	43,368.25

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	17,005.97 Gallons	20,678.39 Gallons

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

17.76

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	22,914,465 Gross square feet	18,577,348 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	32.18 Gallons per square foot	48.27 Gallons per square foot

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

33.33

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	7,724 Acres	6,939 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	116,247.10 Gallons per acre	142,202.82 Gallons per acre

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

18.25

Optional Fields

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

Penn State Sustainability's monthly AIR sustainability e-newsletter for Green Team members and others includes occasional tips on water conservation among its topics. In addition, the Green Paws office certification program includes water-related behavior change.

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

Penn State has masterplanned a Campus Reuse System for University Park that could reduce groundwater withdrawals by 300,000 to 500,000 GPD. It has started to install the distribution piping system one pipe section at a time as opportunities present themselves. And it is designing the interior plumbing systems of selected building projects for ease of reuse connection in the future. In summary, 28,000 feet of future reuse piping has been installed, over 5 miles, over the past 13 years.

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

Retrofits that include high efficiency pluming fixtures and fittings are part of the Energy Program. Projects have been implemented at various locations on campus including many residence halls.

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

http://opp.psu.edu/sustainability/water

Additional documentation to support the submission:

---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Vegetative grounds acreage derived from total campus acreage minus calculated impervious surface (using GIS).

Water use includes water used in ag facilities (barns, etc.).

Total water use comes from annual water withdrawal report. Potable water use comes from metered use.