| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 81.02 |
| Liaison | Sam Lubow |
| Submission Date | June 29, 2016 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Stanford University
OP-22: Water Use
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
6.00 / 6.00 |
Moira
Hafer Sustainability Specialist Office of Sustainability |
Level of ”Physical Risk QUANTITY” for the institution’s main campus as indicated by the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:
Total water use (potable and non-potable combined):
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total water use | --- | 1,325,797,088 Gallons |
Potable water use:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Potable water use | 583,149,776 Gallons | 954,678,384 Gallons |
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Year | Jan. 1, 2015 | Dec. 30, 2015 |
| Baseline Year | July 1, 1999 | June 30, 2000 |
A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:
The formal water conservation program at Stanford was founded in 2001; the Water Year prior (WY2000) was selected as the baseline to represent pre-conservation water use levels. This baseline is used internally and externally to show the campus’ progress in water conservation over the lifetime of the program.
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 11,402 | 9,363 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 1,768 | 1,768 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds | 0 | 0 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 15,887 | 12,151 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty) | 12,879 | 8,012 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 0 | 0 |
| Weighted campus users | 24,867 | 17,905 |
Potable water use per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Potable water use per weighted campus user | 23,450.75 Gallons | 53,319.09 Gallons |
Percentage reduction in potable water use per weighted campus user from baseline:
Gross floor area of building space:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Gross floor area | 14,919,236 Gross square feet | 12,386,396 Gross square feet |
Potable water use per unit of floor area:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Potable water use per unit of floor area | 39.09 Gallons per square foot | 77.07 Gallons per square foot |
Percentage reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area from baseline:
Does the institution wish to pursue Part 3 of this credit? (reductions in total water use per acre/hectare of vegetated grounds):
Area of vegetated grounds:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Vegetated grounds | 7,016 Acres | 6,998 Acres |
Total water use (potable + non-potable) per unit of vegetated grounds:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds | 0 Gallons per acre | 189,453.71 Gallons per acre |
Percentage reduction in total water use per unit of vegetated grounds from baseline:
A brief description of the institution's water-related behavior change initiatives, e.g. initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices such as signage and competitions:
Stanford Utilities offered various classes to residents on topics including Weather-based Irrigation Controllers (basic functionality and the benefits), Water Conservation 101 (in partnership with the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency (BAWSCA)), as well as supporting BAWSCA’s landscape classes throughout the spring and summer. Stanford Utilities sent out monthly bill inserts to single-family residents with messaging and information on programs geared towards water conservation and efficiency, especially during the drought. There has been a concerted effort to keep the campus community informed and educated during the drought and mindful of what actions they can take. Monthly “Report Cards” were sent to facility managers with information on their groups’ water use compared to a baseline of 2013 water use – with details on high usage areas. Campus decorative fountains were shut off in early 2014 in response to the drought, along with signage explaining the driving factors behind shutting them off.
The Office of Sustainability has launched a number of water conservation campaigns in the past several years. In 2016, the campus-wide campaign aimed at educating students, staff and faculty on some of the measures taken to reduce potable water consumption and engaged individuals in the effort by asking them to “Take the Shorter Shower Challenge.” Nearly 1,000 people pledged their support of the campaign. As part of the campaign, Sustainable Stanford partnered with the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation to hang shower timers in all of the campus rec center showers, and signage was displayed in each facility, including on workout machines with digital screens. Shower timers were also available in each of the freshman residences and promotional messaging hung in every shower in those buildings. One of the complexes had its own “Water Wars” competition to see which building could reduce its average shower time the most, with results posted on all the bathroom doors weekly. Sustainable Stanford promoted the campaign and included water efficiency information in its monthly newsletters, as well as advertisements in the daily campus-wide newspaper. The university also regularly participates in the National “Fix a Leak Week” effort, and held its annual Earth Day celebration during the Shorter Shower campaign, at which hundreds of community members were engaged in conservation at a number of information tables run by sustainability partners across campus.
A brief description of the institution's water recovery and reuse initiatives:
STANFORD ENERGY SYSTEM INNOVATIONS
Stanford's cogeneration plant ran water through cooling towers for approximately 18 cycles. However, Stanford's cogeneration plant was decommissioned and replaced with a heat recovery system in April 2015, called Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI). Because the new energy system recovers heat from the chilled water loop, the need for evaporative cooling towers is reduced. SESI was predicted to reduce total campus potable water consumption by 15% and after the first full year (May 2015 – April 2016), those savings have been realized (as compared to the same months in 2013/2014).
INDOOR USE OF RECYCLED WATER:
Cooling tower blowdown at the Central Energy Facility provided water for toilet and urinal flushing in the Science and Engineering Quad and Graduate School of Business, as well as several School of Medicine buildings through March 2015.
IRRIGATION WITH SURFACE WATER:
Over 85% of Stanford's irrigation water comes from
non-potable irrigation (lake) water collected in two campus reservoirs. Landscaped areas are irrigated via the university's lake water system which allows Stanford to preserve potable water mainly for use in research, academic, and academic support facilities.
REVERSE OSMOSIS REUSE AT SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Reverse osmosis (RO) wastewater is captured and reused for quenching (reducing the temperature) of the 180F wastewater from washing equipment. RO reuse is expected to save around 180,000 gallons/year.
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace plumbing fixtures, fittings, appliances, equipment, and systems with water-efficient alternatives (e.g. building retrofits):
Over the past 15 years, Stanford has replaced more than 13,000 academic and student housing bathroom fixtures with water-efficient models, including low-flow showerheads, sink aerators, high-efficiency toilets and urinals. Almost 90% of the academic and student housing inefficient toilets have been retrofitted.
Some specific projects to replace appliances and equipment include:
(1) Stanford Utilities has partnered with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to provide 367 rebates to Faculty/Staff residents for installing high-efficiency toilets or clothes washers and over 200 water wise house call inspections (performed by either SCVWD or Stanford Utilities) since FY2009.
(2) 66 water misers (devices that monitor the temperature of steam condensate discharging to the sewer and apply cold water for quenching only when needed, as opposed to a continuous flow of water) have been installed on campus autoclaves and steam sterilizers.
(3) All once-through cooling for equipment has been replaced with re-circulating systems.
(4) Single-pass water seal vacuum pumps at the School of Medicine, Herrin, and Mudd Chemistry labs were replaced with new efficient equipment.
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The Faculty/Staff Housing area on Stanford's Campus is excluded from the overarching STARS boundary since Stanford does not have operational control over these residences, and they receive electric and gas utilities separate from Stanford's utility systems. Thus, Stanford does not closely track the number of residents in this area. However, this area of the campus is served by Stanford's water utility, so the number of residents in this area has been estimated for the purposes of this credit using the assumption that an average of 2.5 people live in each of the 707 homes within that area. The number of homes in this area has not changed significantly since 2000, so the same estimate was used for both the performance year and the baseline year and has been included in the "number of employees resident on-site" credit field. This is the only credit in which Stanford includes any employees resident on-site.
The Faculty/Staff Housing area on Stanford's Campus is excluded from the overarching STARS boundary since Stanford does not have operational control over these residences, and they receive electric and gas utilities separate from Stanford's utility systems. Thus, Stanford does not closely track the number of residents in this area. However, this area of the campus is served by Stanford's water utility, so the number of residents in this area has been estimated for the purposes of this credit using the assumption that an average of 2.5 people live in each of the 707 homes within that area. The number of homes in this area has not changed significantly since 2000, so the same estimate was used for both the performance year and the baseline year and has been included in the "number of employees resident on-site" credit field. This is the only credit in which Stanford includes any employees resident on-site.
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.