Overall Rating	Platinum - expired
Overall Score	86.01
Liaison	Patrick McKee
Submission Date	March 6, 2020
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Connecticut
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

5.00 / 5.00

Richard Miller
Director
Ofice of Environmental Policy

"---" 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

Part 1

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use	274,617,000 Gallons	542,351,000 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	274,617,000 Gallons	542,351,000 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	Jan. 1, 2019	Dec. 31, 2019
Baseline Year	Jan. 1, 2005	Dec. 31, 2005

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:

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Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	12,104	11,524
Number of employees resident on-site	35	26
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	8	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	21,365	18,616
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	4,314.78	3,702
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	239.30	0
Weighted campus users	22,123.11	19,626

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	12,413.13 Gallons	27,634.31 Gallons

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

55.08

Part 2

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	10,873,545.17 Gross square feet	9,978,354.96 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	25.26 Gallons per square foot	54.35 Gallons per square foot

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

53.53

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	2,356.55 Acres	2,294.88 Acres

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds	116,533.49 Gallons per acre	236,330.88 Gallons per acre

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

50.69

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:

• Since 2007, the Office of Sustainability has conducted an annual EcoMadness competition, in which on-campus residence halls compete to reduce their water and electricity consumption over an entire month. This year, a recycling component was added to the competition. Student volunteers conducted audits of the recycling bins in their residence halls and reported recycling compliance scores each week. Individual meters on each residence hall building measure and track the water (in gallons) and energy (in kilowatt-hours) used each day. The winning buildings for each category win a free ice cream party with ice cream made from UConn cows, courtesy of the Office of Sustainability. • “Stop the Drop” signs posted in residence hall and academic building restrooms give contact information for reporting leaking faucets or showerheads to Facilities Operations & Building Services.

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

• UConn’s on-site Water Reclamation Facility provides non-potable water that is used by the on-site Co-Generation Plant, which converts the reclaimed water to steam in order to generate electricity and heat for the campus. The water reclamation facility has allowed UConn to save from 200,000 to 600,000 gallons of potable water a day, with a storage capacity to save up to 1,000,000 gallons per day. • Rainwater collection is a feature of the Oak Building. The water is used for irrigating adjacent quads. There are two 25,000 gallons tanks that are designed to collect ground water and infiltrating rainwater from the LID features near Oak Hall. • An irrigation pond at the research farm has a network of channels meant to increase the amount of rainwater collected during storms, lowering the need for pumping to irrigate the research fields.

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 campus residential halls underwent low-flow retrofits in 2015-16, including the installation of low-flow showerheads and aerators on sink faucets. • The recent LEED-Silver renovation of the Young Classroom, a 100-year old structure and the primary administrative building for the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, is one example of a whole-scale water efficiency retrofit, including faucets and toilets, in order to reduce water use and wastewater output by 30%.

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

https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/water-conservation/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Vegetated area includes wetlands. Land cover summary provided by GIS mapping of UConn Storrs and Depot campus.