Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	82.88
Liaison	Patrick McKee
Submission Date	Nov. 16, 2023

STARS v2.2

University of Connecticut
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

6.00 / 6.00

Patrick McKee
Senior Sustainability Program Manager
Office of 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	249,899,000 Gallons	542,351,000 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	249,899,000 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 Period	Jan. 1, 2022	Dec. 31, 2022
Baseline Period	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:

---

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	11,921	11,524
Number of employees resident on-site	19	26
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	21,410	18,616
Full-time equivalent of employees	4,340	3,702
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	636	0
Weighted campus users	21,820.50	19,626

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	11,452.49 Gallons	27,634.31 Gallons

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

58.56

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	11,988,536.31 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	20.84 Gallons per square foot	54.35 Gallons per square foot

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

61.65

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	2,887 Acres	2,294.88 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	86,560.10 Gallons per acre	236,330.88 Gallons per acre

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

63.37

Optional Fields

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

• 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. 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 halls 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:

• 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%.

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

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

Additional documentation to support the submission:

Water-Conservation-Plan.pdf

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Note: The UConn Storrs campus draws water from two wellfields adjacent to the Fenton and Willimantic Rivers which are especially vulnerable during periods of drought. A historical drought and consumption by the University in 2005 left a portion of the Fenton river dry. https://www.courant.com/2005/09/16/drought-uconn-leave-stretch-of-river-dry/ Because of this, we have elected to assess the "Physical Risk Quantity" as Medium/High.

Vegetated area includes Planting Beds and Mulched areas, Mown Lawn, Sports Fields, Hydrology, including wetlands, Farmland, Forest
Land cover summary provided by GIS mapping of UConn Storrs and Depot campus.