Overall Rating	Silver - expired
Overall Score	49.76
Liaison	Aurora Sharrard
Submission Date	Feb. 28, 2018
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Pittsburgh
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

0.33 / 4.00

Richard Heller
Senior Electrical Engineer
Facilities Management

"---" 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	308,204,000 Gallons	303,692,000 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	308,204,000 Gallons	303,692,000 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	July 1, 2016	June 30, 2017
Baseline Year	July 1, 2010	June 30, 2011

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 2011 was selected as this was the year of the University's second and most recently completed greenhouse gas inventory (an updated inventory is in the works). This year also provided a better data set than the prior inventory that was completed for 2008.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	7,745	7,200
Number of employees resident on-site	15	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	26,935	26,323
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	12,224	11,825
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	156	0
Weighted campus users	31,192.25	30,411

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	9,880.79 Gallons	9,986.25 Gallons

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

1.06

Part 2

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	10,232,691 Gross square feet	9,447,142 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	30.12 Gallons per square foot	32.15 Gallons per square foot

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

6.31

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	10 Acres	11 Acres

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds	30,820,400 Gallons per acre	27,608,363.64 Gallons per acre

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

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:

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

An underground aquifer was discovered during the construction of Sennott Square in 2001, and designers took advantage of this by installing an access point to collect the water for use on campus. The "free" water from the aquifer that runs from Herron Hill to Schenley Park is used by campus grounds personnel to water gardens and hanging baskets around campus. This not only saves the University money and reduces the amount of municipal water consumed, but the untreated water from the aquifer has less of an impact on the environment. Unfortunately, the quantity of water taken from the aquifer is not routinely tracked.

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):

Approximately 1,750 faucet aerators have been replaced within the last several years with low-flow aerators that allow a flow of only 0.5 gallons per minute - a reduction of between 50 and 77 percent from previous flows of 1.0 - 2.2 gallons per minute. All plumbing fixtures installed with new construction and renovation projects are required to be high efficiency, low flow fixtures. The University is evaluating existing buildings to identify opportunities for both large and small-scale retrofits.

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

http://sustainable.pitt.edu/node/1206

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The number of distance education students is unknown for the baseline year. The gross floor area reflects only the buildings for which water consumption data was available. Certain buildings are tenant occupied and thus data was not available. The area of vegetated grounds is a rough estimate. Specific information on this entry was not readily available.