Overall Rating	Silver - expired
Overall Score	51.72
Liaison	Alex Frank
Submission Date	Aug. 1, 2019
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Wisconsin-Madison
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.48 / 6.00

Alex Frank
Sustainability Analyst
Office of Sustainability

"---" 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:

Extremely High

Part 1

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use	821,880,156 Gallons	1,021,240,542 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	615,603,156 Gallons	734,897,142 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	July 1, 2017	June 30, 2018
Baseline Year	July 1, 2006	June 30, 2007

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:

FY07 was adopted as the preferred baseline year for STARS data reporting as it represented consistent data availability across the majority of credits.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	7,524	7,259
Number of employees resident on-site	178	178
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	39,624	37,237
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	17,908.30	16,255.20
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	0
Weighted campus users	45,074.73	41,978.40

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	13,657.39 Gallons	17,506.55 Gallons

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

21.99

Part 2

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	24,271,554 Gross square feet	20,469,197 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	25.36 Gallons per square foot	35.90 Gallons per square foot

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

29.36

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	1,750 Acres	1,831 Acres

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds	469,645.80 Gallons per acre	557,750.16 Gallons per acre

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

15.80

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:

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

See the article here highlighting recent water conservation efforts at the Charter St. heating plant: https://sustainability.wisc.edu/charter-street-heating-cooling-plant/

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):

See the article here highlighting recent efficient water fixture projects: https://sustainability.wisc.edu/uelmen-green-fund-project/

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

https://sustainability.wisc.edu/sustainability-at-uw/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Data represents potable water usage as measured through utility billing data as well as non-potable (lake) water used in the Walnut St. and Charter St. heating plants. A few small water usage sources were not included because metered data was not available (this includes small building rainwater cisterns and the well water used at the Arboretum visitor center). Additionally, water usage data for a few buildings outside the institutional boundary are included in these data as individual building meters do not exist (Dairy Forage, WI Historical Society, Fluno Center, Forest Products Lab, and Cereal Crops). Vegetated acres were based upon estimates of permeable surfaces on campus developed as part of stormwater management activities. Estimates were completed in 2007 and 2015 but only minor changes in permeable surfaces are estimated between 2015 and the performance year (FY18).