Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	67.16
Liaison	Mike Versteege
Submission Date	June 24, 2020
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Alberta
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

3.00 / 5.00

Michael Versteege
Manager, Energy Management & Sustainable Operations
Facilities & Operations

"---" 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’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:

Medium to High

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use	1,371,587 Cubic meters	1,482,326 Cubic meters

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	1,371,587 Cubic meters	1,482,326 Cubic meters

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	April 1, 2018	March 31, 2019
Baseline Year	April 1, 2005	March 31, 2006

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

The baseline was adopted because it aligns with our greenhouse gas reduction goal and it also aligned with the Canadian Federal Government's baseline at the time that our goal was set. The University of Alberta recognizes that water, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions are intrinsically linked and that the consumption of water, drives up energy use and greenhouse gas production.

The University of Alberta's GHG inventory follows the Operational Control approach to define its organizational boundary. Operational Control is defined as having full authority to introduce and implement the university’s operating policies. As a result, Enterprise Square, Alberta Health Services run properties, Canadian Blood Services and the Jubilee Auditorium are not included in our inventory because the university does not have operational control of these buildings.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	4,419	3,952
Number of employees resident on-site	8	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	744	746
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	36,713.32	32,326.13
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	9,820.80	8,354.40
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	36,751.34	32,244.40

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	1,371,587 Cubic meters	12,144.41 Cubic meters

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

18.82

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	1,562,706.25 Gross square meters	1,222,130.79 Gross square meters

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	0.88 Cubic meters per square meter	1.21 Cubic meters per square meter

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

27.64

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 3 of this credit? (reductions in total water use per acre/hectare of vegetated grounds):

Yes

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	72.61 Hectares	72.61 Hectares

Total water use (potable + non-potable) per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds	18,889.78 Cubic meters per hectare	20,414.90 Cubic meters per hectare

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

7.47

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:

WATEGO: PROACTIVE WATER PROTECTION
https://uab.ca/emso
https://www.ualberta.ca/vice-president-facilities-operations/media-library/documents/water-management-plan.pdf

Watego is a campus wide water stewardship program that invests in innovative water technologies, behaviour change, and fixture upgrades. Watego is the first program of its kind in Alberta and as it grows it aims to pave the way for other post-secondary institutions who wish to commit to a sustainable water future for Alberta. This involves installing signage in washrooms with newly fitted low-flow fixtures.

GREEN SPACES PROGRAM
https://uab.ca/emso

The Green Spaces program is a way to help the university's campus community integrate sustainable practices into their work and living spaces. Participants can earn a bronze, silver, or gold certification for their office space, lab, event or living space. Green Spaces has many categories that participants are evaluated on, including energy and water consumption, food, waste, transportation, wellness, social sustainability, purchasing, resource use, and communication.

GREEN LABS
https://uab.ca/emso

The Green Labs program includes a number of initiatives designed to help labs operate more sustainably. Current initiatives under this program include Green Spaces Certifications for Labs, a Green Labs Leaders’ Network, an online course to teach lab users about sustainability in labs, and a rebate program for replacing ultra-low temperature freezers with energy efficient models. In the past, the Green Labs program has also funded projects such as swapping out solvent stills to solvent purification systems, which results in water savings.

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

The University of Alberta redirects and recovers water in a number of ways.

IRRIGATION

- In 2013, an underground cistern was installed on the west side of the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS). The cistern is used to store water collected during fire pump testing. The water is then used in watering trucks to meet some of the university's irrigation needs.
- Augustana Campus has one 1500 gallon underground tank that collects water from the campus’ grass swales, two 250 gallon above ground tanks which collect rain water from the roof of the Facilities Building, and an additional 100 gallon tank which collexts rain water from the Auxiliary Building. The water that is collected is used for irrigation on campus.
- The Campus Community Garden on North Campus collects rainwater in barrels to use for irrigation.
- At the University of Alberta Botanic Garden, water is recycled from ornamental fountains and is used for irrigation or directed to constructed wetlands.

STORM WATER MANAGEMENT

- The Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) on Augustana Campus in Camrose was built to redirect run-off to nearby pervious areas.
- A dry pond was installed on the south side of the Agriculture Forestry Building on North Campus to collect rainwater that runs off of the new atrium.
- Buffered groundwater control to wetlands is in place at the University of Alberta Botanic Garden.

TOILET FLUSHING

- In Triffo Hall rainwater is collected in a below-grade storage tank system and used for toilet flushing to reduce potable water use.

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):

All buildings on North Campus have water metering using Rosemount Magflow meters. These meters are read monthly.

Innovative and low-flow fixtures are being installed across campus during our rolling deferred maintenance program, as well as during new construction. Examples of fixtures that fit the required standards for our Water Reduction Plan, Watego, include:
- Sink: Delta 22C151, 0.5 gpm
- Sink: Sloan EAF-275, 0.5 gpm – light powered, sensor activated electric faucet pre-tempered for hot and cold water operation.
- Urinal: Toto EcoPower® Urinal Flushometer Valve TEU1GA22#CP, 1 gpf or less – hydropower self-generating system, sensor activated urinal flush valve.
- Toilet: Toto EcoPower® Toilet Flushometer Valve TET1GA32#CP, 1.6 gpf or less – hydropower self-generating system, sensor activated toilet flush valve.

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:

http://uab.ca/emso

Additional documentation to support the submission:

STARS_UAlbertaUtility_2018-19_OP-22.pdf

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBLE PARTIES:

Michelle Hauer
Program Coordinator
Energy Management and Sustainable Operations
Facilities & Operations

Behn Jang
Program Coordinator
Energy Management and Sustainable Operations
Facilities & Operations

Shannon Leblanc
Program Team Lead
Energy Management and Sustainable Operations
Facilities & Operations

Laurel Roblin
Utility Services Manager
Mechanical Utilities
Utilities
Facilities & Operations

Gunnar Viberg
Mechanical Engineering Technologist
Engineering & Technical Services
Planning and Project Delivery
Facilities & Operations

Murray Brice
Landscape Maintenance & Construction Supervisor
Grounds Services
Facilities & Operations

Chris Blades
Facilities & Operations Manager
Augustana Campus Facilities & Operations

Tam Connelly
Associate Director
Augustana, Grounds & Environmental Services
Operations & Maintenance
Facilities & Operations

Bill Shaughnessy
Mechanical Trades Supervisor
Maintenance Division
Facilities & Operations

Kenneth Willis
Head of Horticulture
University of Alberta Botanic Garden
Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences

Data source(s) and notes about the submission