Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	80.17
Liaison	Mike Wilson
Submission Date	May 5, 2020

STARS v2.2

University of Victoria
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

0.83 / 4.00

David Adams
Energy Manager
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 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	176,065,389 Gallons	175,893,648.32 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	176,065,389 Gallons	175,893,648.32 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	Feb. 1, 2019	Jan. 31, 2020
Baseline Period	Jan. 1, 2010	Dec. 31, 2010

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:

N/A

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	2,472	2,240
Number of employees resident on-site	0	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	19,334	16,975
Full-time equivalent of employees	3,553.84	4,982
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	800	1,800
Weighted campus users	17,183.88	15,677.75

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	10,245.96 Gallons	11,219.32 Gallons

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

8.68

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	4,289,115.70 Gross square feet	3,854,939 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	41.05 Gallons per square foot	45.63 Gallons per square foot

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

10.04

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	124.50 Acres	124.50 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	1,414,179.83 Gallons per acre	1,412,800.39 Gallons per acre

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

-0.10

Optional Fields

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

Recent water use reduction activities include:
- Sensor faucets and low-flow toilets in many buildings
- Computer controlled state-of-the-art irrigation system and reduced use of irrigation in summer months
- Treated waste water systems that recycles water from the Outdoor Aquatic Facility through toilets and urinals in eight campus buildings (saving over 4.5M litres of potable water each year)
- Implementing an Integrated Stormwater Management plan on campus
- Portable electric vacuum pumps replaced old water aspirators in the chemistry labs
- Condensing were installed to run the walk-in freezers and coolers in the Student Union Building replacing the old once-through cooling units (saving the equivalent of 9 Olympic swimming pools of water each year)

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

UVic has a grey water system in place that treats water from the Outdoor Aquatics Research Facility with ozone and chlorine that serves the heat pump condenser in one building (ECS), and also serves the toilet and urinal flushing in eight other campus buildings through a separate plumbing system. The grey water fills a tank that is pressurized and supplies the fixtures. If the grey water is not keeping up with demand, the tank is filled with city water to make up the difference.

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

In 2011 UVic was subject to a comprehensive water audit by the regional district and has been implementing the report's recommendations ever since. These include retrofitting plumbing fixtures in two large buildings, in addition to the water sensing taps and low flow toilets in all of our buildings built since 2007. Grey water from the Outdoor Aquatics Research Facility is recycled into the toilets in six buildings. UVic also has an ongoing program to retrofit once through cooling units on campus with less water intensive models. Finally, UVic has recently replaced all student residence showerheads and sinks with updated low-flow fixtures.

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

http://www.uvic.ca/sustainability/topics/water/index.php

Additional documentation to support the submission:

---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The increase in consumption in 2018 and 2019 was, in part, a result of a significant water leak that was not detected for several months. This has since been repaired; however, water consumption remains higher than anticipated. Reducing water consumption remains a continuing goal for UVic. As a result of unexpected and significant increases in water usage in 2018 and 2019, the university’s goal in the short-term will be to determine the cause of these increases. Committee Actions from the Sustainability Action Plan 2020-21 are:
• Develop and install a campus-wide water monitoring system in order to identify increased water usage and infrastructure failure within a short period of time.
• Repair or replace water infrastructure as required.