Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	69.72
Liaison	Jim Walker
Submission Date	June 6, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Texas at Austin
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

3.74 / 4.00

Jim Walker
Director of Sustainability, Financial, and Administrative Services
University Operations

"---" 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 to Medium

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	697,924,106,550 Gallons	920,061,443,000 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	540,714,494,000 Gallons	884,925,655,000 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	Sept. 1, 2018	July 31, 2019
Baseline Period	Sept. 1, 2008	July 31, 2009

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:

Submission unchanged from 2020 submission.

The water use baseline year was chosen to represent the last 10 year period of pre-COVID activity.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	7,400	6,900
Number of employees resident on-site	16	16
Number of other individuals resident on-site	211	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	48,479	50,995
Full-time equivalent of employees	14,998	12,142
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	30	0
Weighted campus users	49,650.25	49,081.75

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	10,890,468.71 Gallons	18,029,627.20 Gallons

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

39.60

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	27,581,856 Gross square feet	22,851,399 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	19,603.99 Gallons per square foot	38,725.23 Gallons per square foot

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

49.38

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	140 Acres	140 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	4,985,172,189.64 Gallons per acre	6,571,867,450 Gallons per acre

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

24.14

Optional Fields

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

Irrigation usage is digitally monitored. Moisture sensors are also being utilized to see moisture level before and after irrigation cycles. Rain water harvesting and reclaimed water is being used and signage is placed around those sites letting students/faculty know about the endeavor.

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

The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) has had an active water recovery program since the 1980s. UEM currently saves more than 100 million gallons of potable water each year through innovative uses of alternative water sources, and in the history of the program, the university has recovered more than 1.3 billion gallons. These alternative sources include groundwater and air conditioning condensate water recovered from building cooling systems. Since 2013, UEM has also been using reclaimed water from the City of Austin. This reclaimed water, which is significantly lower in cost than potable water, is highly treated municipal wastewater and is used for making up evaporative losses in some campus cooling towers. UEM is also working with Landscape Services in Facilities Services on a project to use reclaimed water for landscape irrigation. This small site at the northeast corner of Dean Keeton St. and San Jacinto Blvd. will be an ideal area to learn how to use reclaimed water for landscape irrigation.

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

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

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Potable water use by campus power plant is included in calculations (recommend future iterations of STARS address types of potable water use separately), resulting in high normalized consumption results.

https://utilities.utexas.edu/efficiency/water-conservation-efforts