Overall Rating	Silver - expired
Overall Score	45.79
Liaison	Larry Cook
Submission Date	Dec. 4, 2020
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of South Carolina
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

0.78 / 5.00

Cindy Wellington
Utility Manager
Facilities

"---" 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	430,686,869 Gallons	433,420,642 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	430,686,869 Gallons	433,420,642 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	Jan. 1, 2016	Dec. 31, 2018
Baseline Year	Jan. 1, 2013	Dec. 31, 2015

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 was selecting due to reliable data availability and to align with previous reporting data.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	18,993	19,090
Number of employees resident on-site	102	103
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	103,694	98,720
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	19,570	19,083
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	97,221.75	93,150.50

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	4,429.94 Gallons	4,652.91 Gallons

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

4.79

Part 2

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	14,114,590 Gross square feet	13,270,645 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	30.51 Gallons per square foot	32.66 Gallons per square foot

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

6.57

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	121.60 Acres	119 Acres

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds	3,541,832.80 Gallons per acre	3,642,190.27 Gallons per acre

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

2.76

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:

There is signage in housing bathrooms to encourage use of installed low flush toilet valves. Students research initiatives are funded by a mini-grant (Sustainable Magellan) to focus on an array of environmental issues, including water use and management.

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

There are several rainwater barrels and cisterns on campus designed to capture rainwater and reuse it for irrigation and garden management. One 1000-gallon capacity barrel is being deployed to bring harvested rainwater to the campus community garden. We have water recovery and reuse systems on some of our buildings. The Darla Moore School of Business has a grey water capture system. We also have installed Calsense Irrigation meters on some of our fields which conserves water as well. We have installed low flow fixtures in restrooms. At our energy plants, which use water for the cooling towers and boilers, we have installed wells to decrease our use of city water.

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):

We have installed foot-pedal valves that prevent the water from running unnecessarily in the kitchens, and low gpm fixtures have been installed in the sinks and showers of many of the dormitories on campus. During an Energy Performance Contract, we installed low flow aerating pluming fixtures in certain buildings. We have installed faucets and toilets with automatic valves and sensors to limit water usage.

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

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The data source are from our submeters and vendor bills.