Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	67.83
Liaison	Alex Roman Gonzalez
Submission Date	March 10, 2017
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Cincinnati
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.00 / 4.00

Daniel Hart
Sustainability Coordinator
Planning + Design + Construction

"---" 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:

Low to Medium

Part 1

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use	---	584,137,587 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	245,612,074 Gallons	426,644,240 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	July 1, 2015	June 30, 2016
Baseline Year	July 1, 2008	June 30, 2009

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:

For consistency's sake we have adopted a 2009 baseline across the board for all STARS operational credits, as that is the earliest year for which we have strong consistent data sets across categories.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	5,238	5,200
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	28,922	26,055
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	8,552	7,403
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	2,427 Date Revised: Sept. 12, 2017 University of Cincinnati requested that AASHE Staff correct a mistake in this reporting field for the reason specified below. Previous Value: 0 None Explanation: The University of Cincinnati entered the Distance Learning data in section IC-3 but neglected to add the data to OP-22. This update corrects that omission and assures the two sections contain the same data for Distance Learning enrollees.	1,457 Date Revised: Sept. 12, 2017 University of Cincinnati requested that AASHE Staff correct a mistake in this reporting field for the reason specified below. Previous Value: 0 None Explanation: The University of Cincinnati had originally entered Distance Learning data for current year in IC-3 but neglected to enter the data in OP-22. We submitted a correction that omission. This correction adds the baseline year data for Distance Learning enrollees.
Weighted campus users	27,594.75	25,300.75

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	8,900.68 Gallons	16,862.91 Gallons

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

47.22

Part 2

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	14,510,838 Gross square feet	13,705,694 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	16.93 Gallons per square foot	31.13 Gallons per square foot

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

45.63

Part 3

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	165 Acres	145 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	4,028,535.08 Gallons per acre

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

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Optional Fields

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:

The University of Cincinnati (UC) takes the conservation of water seriously throughout the daily operation of its buildings—as evidenced by UC’s commitment to building all its new buildings or large- scale renovations to LEED standards. In existing buildings, facility staff are given comprehensive training on detecting and fixing water leaks as soon as discovered. From a purchasing perspective, it is the policy of UC facilities to install high efficiency water fixtures, where appropriate water saving technologies exist. UC’s water conservation policies also extend to the proper maintenance of the utility plant’s chilled water and steam distribution and return systems. These utility systems utilize a vast amount of water and the proper return and reuse of this water represents an enormous ongoing savings for the campus. These building-centered water management strategies parallels additional efforts on the campus to manage storm water runoff and minimize harmful impacts to the larger Cincinnati sewer system.

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

In order to reduce runoff of storm water from roof surfaces, UC has started installation of green roofs. A green roof is a roof surface covered with vegetation in a growing medium. The Zimmer Roof Garden functions as a green roof. As part of the renovation of Procter Hall, a partial green roof was constructed in Spring 2012. Another green roof is installed on DAA as of 2013. In addition to retaining stormwater, green roofs help insulate buildings, create a habitat for urban wildlife, and help mitigate the heat island effect.

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):

UC also promotes the conservation of water and has installed low-flow toilets and other fixtures wherever possible. The Campus Conservation Nationals competition encourage residence hall students to compete each year to see which hall can conserve the most water.

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

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

https://www.uc.edu/af/pdc/sustainability/campus_initiatives/water_management.html