Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	67.80
Liaison	Jim Walker
Submission Date	Nov. 4, 2024

STARS v2.2

University of Texas at Austin
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

0.00 / 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	990,412,755 Gallons	671,242,906 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	864,788,741 Gallons	514,006,394 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	Sept. 1, 2022	Aug. 31, 2023
Baseline Period	Sept. 1, 2018	Aug. 31, 2019

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 water use baseline year was chosen to represent pre-COVID activity, but moved forward in time from the last sumbission to reflect more current usage.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	7,400	7,400
Number of employees resident on-site	16	16
Number of other individuals resident on-site	211	211
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	47,100	48,479
Full-time equivalent of employees	16,650	14,998
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	36	30
Weighted campus users	49,850.50	49,650.25

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	17,347.64 Gallons	10,352.54 Gallons

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

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	29,009,511 Gross square feet	27,581,856 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	29.81 Gallons per square foot	18.64 Gallons per square foot

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

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	7,074,376.82 Gallons per acre	4,794,592.19 Gallons per acre

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

-47.55

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 levels before and after irrigation cycles. Rainwater harvesting and reclaimed water are 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 avoids potable water each year through innovative uses of alternative water sources, and in the history of the program, the university has recovered more than 1.8 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.

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:

https://facilitiesservices.utexas.edu/programs/irrigation-water-conservation

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Potable water use by the 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