Overall Rating	Platinum
Overall Score	85.89
Liaison	Jennifer Andrews
Submission Date	Oct. 24, 2024

STARS v2.2

University of New Hampshire
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

2.63 / 4.00

Jennifer Andrews
Project Director
Sustainability Institute

"---" 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:

Low

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	113,682,322 Gallons	129,558,284 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	92,674,662 Gallons	116,770,977 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2022	June 30, 2023
Baseline Period	July 1, 2005	June 30, 2006

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:

The baseline year of FY06 was established in our STARS 2011 submission.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	6,356	6,274
Number of employees resident on-site	21	23
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	13,347	13,360
Full-time equivalent of employees	3,085	3,099
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	516	0
Weighted campus users	13,531.25	13,918.50

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	6,848.94 Gallons	8,389.62 Gallons

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

18.36

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	6,433,832 Gross square feet	5,797,034 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	14.40 Gallons per square foot	20.14 Gallons per square foot

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

28.49

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	395 Acres	395 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	287,803.35 Gallons per acre	327,995.66 Gallons per acre

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

12.25

Optional Fields

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

UNH has undertaken a number of behavioral campaigns to reduce water use, including Shorten Your Shower campaigns, smart laundry campaigns, both ongoing. Also, staff, faculty and contractors are instructed and encouraged to follow UNH purchasing policies and protocols, which require use of low-flow and water-efficient equipment and fixtures.

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

The 2009 renovation of James Hall included a gray water system that captures rainwater from the building’s roof and gutters for use in toilets and urinals.

UNH typically does not install irrigation as part of building projects. IPM policies, including limited irrigation only where necessary, are followed.

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

Where economically feasible, high efficiency fixtures and fittings are installed as buildings are renovated or new construction is developed.
In our campus Dining and Residential facilities, our kitchens, laundry rooms and restrooms are all outfitted with high-efficiency fixtures and appliances.

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

https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/water

Additional documentation to support the submission:

---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Note that FY23 is utilized as our performance year, above, as we were able to get the most complete activity data for that year. This means that our FTE, and total Weighted Campus Users, data above necessarily differs from what was reported in PRE-5 (since that reflects FY24). This is the same as was reported in OP18, since we also used FY23 as the performance year for waste data.

For our baseline year:
The number of FTE students enrolled came from IPEDS (12 month Unduplicated).
The number of residential students and employees came from the UNH Housing Office (personal communication), and is from spring opening '06.
The number of faculty and staff FTE's for baseline came from IPEDS (calculated with PT employees considered 1/3 FTE, FT employees considered 1 FTE).

Water data are for baseline year FY06 (through June 30, 2006) and performance year FY23 (through June 30, 2023), provided by the UNH utilities office, based on metered data. Potable water use excludes irrigation meters at the UNH Field House, agriculture and recreation fields, and outdoor pool and plant makeup.

UNH's co-generation heat and power plant uses cooling towers that use water as part of the process for generating heat and electricity. Therefore, not all of this water consumption is used by faculty, staff and students on campus directly.