Overall Rating	Platinum
Overall Score	86.87
Liaison	Carrie Metzgar
Submission Date	Nov. 5, 2024

STARS v2.2

University of California, San Diego
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

5.17 / 6.00

Carly Kupka
Campus Utilities & Energy Analyst
Utilities & 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:

High

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	620,144,756 Gallons	752,358,748 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	494,292,292 Gallons	705,483,333 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2023	June 30, 2024
Baseline Period	July 1, 2005	June 30, 2008

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:

Water use baseline was adopted accordance with UC Sustainable Practices Policy. Fiscal years 2005-2006, 2006-2007, and 2007-2008 were averaged for a baseline year; this was chosen UC-wide for consistency and reliability of data.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	13,716	10,299
Number of employees resident on-site	31	305
Number of other individuals resident on-site	418	1,266
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	38,361	26,843
Full-time equivalent of employees	29,695	9,025
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	54,896.75	30,818

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	9,004.04 Gallons	22,891.92 Gallons

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

60.67

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	17,890,461 Gross square feet	12,763,607 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	27.63 Gallons per square foot	55.27 Gallons per square foot

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

50.01

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	834 Acres	834 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	743,578.84 Gallons per acre	902,108.81 Gallons per acre

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

17.57

Optional Fields

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

UC San Diego uses water conservation and report leak signs across all building bathrooms, laboratory sinks, and kitchen areas. Water conservation education is also incorporated into several campus programs, including the Green Labs Program, Green Office Program, and the EcoNauts program through Housing/Dining/Hospitality.

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

Campus-wide, UC San Diego has replaced 653 million gallons of potable water by using reclaimed water in the cooling towers. Additionally, UC San Diego has replaced approximately 50 percent of campus irrigation feeds with reclaimed water.

UC San Diego has also saved 5.4M gallons of water since the Condensate Recovery Project started in 2019. The Condensate Recovery Project captured air conditioning condensate from York, Mayer, Urey, and Bonner Halls air handling units and pumped the recovered water into the campus reclaim system for non-potable usage including landscape irrigation. The collected water was routed from Bonner Hall to the campus reclaim water distribution system on the East side of Gilman Drive.

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

The Green Labs program installed 745 aerators across the campus, saving more than 3 million gallons/year. Single pass cooling is prohibited in all labs.

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

https://sustainability.ucsd.edu/focus/water.html

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Additional water conservation highlights available on the UC San Diego Sustainability website: https://sustainability.ucsd.edu/focus/water.html

Weighted Campus User (WCU) for water use adjusted to 54,896.75 due to UC San Diego’s water operations only serving undergraduate student housing, and was not pulled from PRE-5. Clarification provided in the WCU calculations spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kTGIyqMqQrfB80Sh6mp9sabd8dDv_iHr/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104925632587510143377&rtpof=true&sd=true

Gross square feet (GSF) for water use adjusted to 17,890,461 due to UC San Diego’s water operations only serving undergraduate student housing, and was not pulled from PRE-4. Clarification provided in the GSF calculations spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sviLo36OHCSiUMdE0FFMUV5vjm_zh0FR/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104925632587510143377&rtpof=true&sd=tru

Points of contact for credit information:

Carly Kupka, Campus Utilities & Energy Analyst, Utilities & Sustainability

Michelle Perez, Energy and Sustainability Manager, Utilities & Sustainability