Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 79.39
Liaison Yolanda Cieters
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

Seattle University
OP-21: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.58 / 4.00
"---" 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

Total water withdrawal (potable and non-potable combined):
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal 32,581,384 Gallons 36,198,982 Gallons

Potable water use:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 32,581,384 Gallons 36,198,982 Gallons

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Period July 1, 2017 June 30, 2018
Baseline Period July 1, 2008 June 30, 2009

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

Set in accordance with the year Seattle University adopted its Climate Action Plan in 2009.


Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site 1,794 1,845
Number of employees resident on-site 43 32
Number of other individuals resident on-site 0 0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment 6,902 6,520
Full-time equivalent of employees 1,326 1,224
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education 27 0
Weighted campus users 6,610 6,277.25

Potable water use per weighted campus user:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user 4,929.10 Gallons 5,766.69 Gallons

Percentage reduction in potable water use per weighted campus user from baseline:
14.52

Gross floor area of building space:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 2,169,920 Gross square feet 2,142,930 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area 15.02 Gallons per square foot 16.89 Gallons per square foot

Percentage reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area from baseline:
11.11

Area of vegetated grounds:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 20 Acres 20 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds 1,629,069.20 Gallons per acre 1,809,949.10 Gallons per acre

Percentage reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds from baseline:
9.99

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

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

A cistern captures the rainwater off the Admissions & Alumni building and this water is used to irrigate the landscape.


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

Seattle University recently invested in water conservation by replacing the shower heads and faucet aerators in the Xavier, Campion, Bellarmine, Murphy, and Chardin residence halls with low-flow fixtures. Estimates indicate that SU will reduce 25% or about 4 million gallons of water for residence halls per year.

We have also replaced aerators in all public bathrooms on campus to 0.5 GPM.

Seattle University has a Resource Management Plan that codifies water conservation practices in our facilities: https://www.seattleu.edu/media/facilities-services/UPDATED_Seattle-University-Resource-Management-Plan.pdf


Website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency efforts is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

--Reporting year for this credit: FY18 (therefore numbers are different from PRE-4 and PRE-5. PRE-4 and PRE-5 data is for FY19).

--Note that the gross floor area of building space (performance year and baseline year) in this credit OP21 is SU's operational boundary GSF (not the institutional boundary GSF): we exclude leased buildings from our count because we do not receive any utilities-related data for those buildings (that is entirely managed by another company) nor do we control changes or improvements related to the building’s utilities.

--Note that for student residents, we adjusted our numbers for the performance year: the number of students resident on-site in FY18 was 2,094.0. But because the water data we report on in this credit OP21 only includes the buildings that we own and manage (operational boundary; excluding any leased buildings), we subtracted 300 students from the total number of student residents (that is the combined capacity of two residence halls that SU leases and for which we do not report any water data in this credit OP21).
The baseline year numbers for student residents should not change because the two residence halls were not in use before FY10.


--Reporting year for this credit: FY18 (therefore numbers are different from PRE-4 and PRE-5. PRE-4 and PRE-5 data is for FY19).

--Note that the gross floor area of building space (performance year and baseline year) in this credit OP21 is SU's operational boundary GSF (not the institutional boundary GSF): we exclude leased buildings from our count because we do not receive any utilities-related data for those buildings (that is entirely managed by another company) nor do we control changes or improvements related to the building’s utilities.

--Note that for student residents, we adjusted our numbers for the performance year: the number of students resident on-site in FY18 was 2,094.0. But because the water data we report on in this credit OP21 only includes the buildings that we own and manage (operational boundary; excluding any leased buildings), we subtracted 300 students from the total number of student residents (that is the combined capacity of two residence halls that SU leases and for which we do not report any water data in this credit OP21).
The baseline year numbers for student residents should not change because the two residence halls were not in use before FY10.

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.