Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 70.23
Liaison Daimon Eklund
Submission Date Oct. 17, 2012
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

University of Washington, Seattle
OP-T2-46: Non-Potable Water Usage

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 0.25 Norm Menter
Energy Resource Conservation Manager
Facilities Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution use non-potable water (e.g., harvested rainwater or graywater) for irrigation and/or other applications?:
Yes

A brief description of the source of non-potable water and how it is used:

Currently, the UW has limited rainwater harvesting, although there is strong interest for growth.
Reasons for limited rainwater harvesting follow:
- Several capital projects have called for such features early in design but most are deleted from scope due to budget constraints.
-The regional cost of water is relatively low.
- Dry summer weather patterns require relatively large sized cisterns to store sufficient rainwater for summer irrigation.

UW sites with rainwater harvesting follow:
- Rainwater is harvested from roof run off at the Center for Urban Horticulture Merrill Hall, routed to an underground cistern, and pumped for irrigation when demanded via an irrigation controller.
- A similar system is currently under construction as part of a student sponsored project with funding via the Campus Sustainability Fund and will be used to irrigate a moving green wall including additional challenges such as thermal protection to allow winter operation and a fertilizer injector system to support mostly hydroponically grown plants.
- The UW Farm currently harvests water from their community space at the Center for Urban Horticulture, as well as a demonstration project on their sign at the UW Botany Greenhouse.
- A rainwater harvesting system is under construction to supply water for laundry at the new Mercer Hall.
- An existing roof run off is used to irrigation planted cells at the Molecular Engineering Building and the Community Design Center, a planted cell under construction at the Husky Union Building will use parking lot rainwater runoff for irrigation and to filter impurities, and a planned bio-swale at N1 Parking Lot will use parking lot runoff to irrigate and filter impurities.


The percentage of irrigation water usage from recovered, reclaimed or untreated sources :
0.50

The percentage of building space using water from recovered, reclaimed or untreated sources:
0.50

The percentage of water used in utility plants from recovered, reclaimed or untreated sources:
---

The website URL where information about the program, policy, or practice is available:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Facilities Services, Focus on Environmental Sustainability at
http://www.washington.edu/facilities/conserve/sustainability
 
Facilities Services, Salmon Safe, see Landscape & Athletic Field Irrigation and Green Roofs links at http://www.washington.edu/facilities/conserve/salmon_safe
 
Facilities Services, Campus Engineering, Utilities Master Plan at
https://www.washington.edu/facilities/engr/ump/ump_secured/UW-UMP.pdf
Facilities Services, Grounds Management, at
http://depts.washington.edu/grounds/ (currently under revisions - this will be updated).


Facilities Services, Focus on Environmental Sustainability at
http://www.washington.edu/facilities/conserve/sustainability
 
Facilities Services, Salmon Safe, see Landscape & Athletic Field Irrigation and Green Roofs links at http://www.washington.edu/facilities/conserve/salmon_safe
 
Facilities Services, Campus Engineering, Utilities Master Plan at
https://www.washington.edu/facilities/engr/ump/ump_secured/UW-UMP.pdf
Facilities Services, Grounds Management, at
http://depts.washington.edu/grounds/ (currently under revisions - this will be updated).

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.