Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	66.43
Liaison	Greg Maginn
Submission Date	June 30, 2023

STARS v2.2

The Ohio State University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.00 / 4.00

Greg Maginn
Sustainability Analyst
FOD

"---" 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

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	983,738,932 Gallons	1,518,723,492 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	983,738,932 Gallons	1,518,723,492 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2020	June 30, 2021
Baseline Period	July 1, 2012	June 30, 2013

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:

N/A

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	14,756	10,970
Number of employees resident on-site	460	282
Number of other individuals resident on-site	1,182	1,237
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	55,967.21	51,849.16
Full-time equivalent of employees	32,772.09	26,058.01
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	18,408	900
Weighted campus users	57,734.47	61,805.38

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	17,039.02 Gallons	24,572.68 Gallons

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

30.66

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	29,031,136 Gross square feet	23,134,879 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	33.89 Gallons per square foot	65.65 Gallons per square foot

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

48.38

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	1,665 Acres	1,531 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	590,834.19 Gallons per acre	991,981.38 Gallons per acre

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

40.44

Optional Fields

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

A water resource engineer within facilities, operations, and development at the University leads a team of student interns to conduct water audits at buildings across the campus. These audits compare the projected water usage to the actual performance of a building and include talking to maintenance staff about best practices for conserving water.

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

Ohio State has several rain gardens on campus. The oldest active rain garden on campus is located behind Jennings Hall. The Jennings Hall rain gardens consist of 22 vegetated boxes. This form of green infrastructure helps filter and slow the runoff from storm events by filtering the rainwater from the roof of Jennings Hall, storing it in a 50,000 gallon cistern, and finally discharging the stormwater through a vegetated bioswale to the area storm sewers. A pumping system allows the stored water within the cistern to be used for supplementary irrigation during dry periods. This system not only filters the storm water, but it provides retention and opportunity for storm water reuse. Other rain gardens include the traffic circle at Cunz Hall and curb inlets around the Spirit of Women park.

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

In 2019 the University performed a leak detection survey utilizing acoustic technology. The survey detected two major leaks and several smaller ones throughout campus. The subsequent repairs have saved over 50 million gallons a year.

The University recently adopted a new set of building design standards (BDS) that focus on a results based approach. The standards set a target WUI that design teams must meet and hold building operators accountable to that target once the project has been completed.

Within the BDS there are also several standards related to low flow fixtures and large appliances that use water.

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

https://fod.osu.edu/tags/goals-reduce-potable-water-consumption

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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