Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.35
Liaison Christa Rieck
Submission Date Nov. 23, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

University of Houston
OP-26: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.35 / 4.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of water risk for the institution’s main campus:
Medium to High

Total water use (potable and non-potable combined)::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water use 411,151,300 Gallons 402,194,400 Gallons

Potable water use::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 391,634,000 Gallons 391,384,400 Gallons

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 5,783 5,178
Number of residential employees 15 0
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 39,387 39,554
Full-time equivalent of employees 4,944 4,845
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 967 1,047

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 12,730,708.82 Square feet 6,701,000 Square feet

Area of vegetated grounds::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 416.21 Acres 422.10 Acres

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year Jan. 1, 2014 Dec. 31, 2014
Baseline Year Jan. 1, 2011 Dec. 31, 2011

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

That's when the data was first accurately captured.


Water recycled/reused on campus, performance year:
96,578,992 Gallons

Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year:
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A brief description of any water recovery and reuse systems employed by the institution:

Condensate recovery program 1,225,992
Evaporation of water through central plant (goes through several cycles of use before it's evaporated) 95,353,000

These waste water gallons are handled through the university's cooling tower. Cooling towers are used to lower the temperature of the water before it is sent out to the campus. During that process a portion of the water is evaporated and thus never makes it to the back into sewer system. This system is a lot more efficient when compared to individual chillers. We have meters that calculate amount of water going in and out of the cooling tower. This allows us to calculate the amount of water that has been evaporated and not deposited back into the sewer system.


A brief description of any water metering and management systems employed by the institution:
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A brief description of any building retrofit practices employed by the institution, e.g. to install high efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings:
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A brief description of any policies or programs employed by the institution to replace appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives:
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A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):
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A brief description of any weather-informed irrigation technologies employed by the institution:
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A brief description of other water conservation and efficiency strategies employed by the institution:
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The website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.