Overall Rating	Platinum
Overall Score	86.17
Liaison	James Gordon
Submission Date	May 31, 2022

STARS v2.2

Thompson Rivers University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

2.46 / 4.00

Aaron Wiebe
Research Assistant
Sustainability

"---" 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	44,688,402 Gallons	46,232,741.72 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	44,688,402 Gallons	46,232,741.72 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	Jan. 1, 2020	Dec. 31, 2020
Baseline Period	Jan. 1, 2013	Dec. 31, 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:

In order to remain consistent, 2013 is used as the baseline year since it is the year used as the baseline year for our 2018 STARS report. It is also the 'performance year' in our 2015 STARS report.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	1,101	880
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	89	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	14,176	11,066
Full-time equivalent of employees	1,512.60	1,254
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	4,622	3,462
Weighted campus users	8,664.20	6,863.50

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	5,157.82 Gallons	6,736.03 Gallons

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

23.43

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	1,379,298 Gross square feet	903,004.24 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	32.40 Gallons per square foot	51.20 Gallons per square foot

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

36.72

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	192 Acres	194.82 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	232,752.09 Gallons per acre	237,310.04 Gallons per acre

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

1.92

Optional Fields

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

TRU has teamed up with Fill It Forward (formerly called Cupanion) to encourage TRU staff and students to use reusable water bottles instead of buying bottled water. Cupanion runs a points-based program that lets users self-scan a barcode on their own water bottle every time they refill it, which allows them to win prizes. Scanning also helps to enable developing countries receive fresh drinking water (Cupanion has a formula to calculate how this happens).

The TRU Sustainability office runs a promotion during school orientation every year called "The Tapwater Challenge" where students are given samples of bottled water and tap water to see if they can tell the difference, and see if they care. It's meant to be a fun way to highlight the very minimal difference between Kamloops' tap water and bottled water that many international students rely on when their own home water source may not be safe for drinking, or taste good.

Across campus TRU has water bottle stations that most students will pass on the way to class. These have been replacing drinking water fountains and each tracks how many equivalent bottles of water they've saved, and some offer chilled water too.

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

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

In 2019 TRU finished an inventory of all faucets, water use fittings and appliances on campus for another rating platform; the data will be used to target upgrades and renovations as work is being done to upgrade the oldest buildings on campus.

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

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

City of Kamloops water consumption utility data used. We are not using New Residence data because the university is not responsible for the management of the building and cannot implement the water use reduction initiatives there as has been done across the rest of campus and other residence buildings.