Overall Rating	Silver - expired
Overall Score	54.70
Liaison	Caitlin McLennan
Submission Date	Oct. 31, 2019

STARS v2.2

Utah State University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

5.00 / 5.00

Jamie Pearce
Water Quality Engineer
Facilities

"---" 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:

Medium to High

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	1,045,246.34 Cubic meters	1,585,458.41 Cubic meters

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	573,686.46 Cubic meters	1,113,898.53 Cubic meters

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2017	June 30, 2018
Baseline Period	July 1, 2008	June 30, 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:

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	3,773	2,200
Number of employees resident on-site	93	100
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	16,897	14,211
Full-time equivalent of employees	2,856	2,405
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	1,076	279
Weighted campus users	14,974.25	12,827.75

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	38.31 Cubic meters	86.84 Cubic meters

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

55.88

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	594,719.02 Gross square meters	515,904.29 Gross square meters

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	0.96 Cubic meters per square meter	2.16 Cubic meters per square meter

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

55.32

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	190.20 Hectares	194.25 Hectares

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	5,495.45 Cubic meters per hectare	8,162 Cubic meters per hectare

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

32.67

Optional Fields

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

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

Untreated water is used for irrigation.

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

---

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:

STARS-Water_Usage-FY2009-2018.xlsx

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

We originally adopted 2007 since it is the year USU became a signatory to the ACUPCC. Because of mistakes in previous metering data, we changed the baseline year to FY 2009 rather than FY 2007. Starting with FY 2008, we had over a year’s worth of water meter data recorded in our computer program, the same program that we use today. Additionally, we had full access to housing metering records starting with FY 2009. On top of this, we have included outlying buildings on main campus that are on the city’s water system that have separate water meters. Previously there had been some mistakes in the water usage totals because some meters had been counted twice (water system production meters and individual building meters). This was corrected with the new reported numbers by using production meters on university connected buildings and individual building meters on the city’s water system.

The data still shows a significant reduction in water use between FY 2009 and FY 2018. We attribute the reduction to the university's monitoring, tracking, and comparing water usage each month to previous months and years to determine potential leaks and investigating unusual meter readings/usage. The university also uses other methods of leak detection. Replacement of old water lines is another improvement to the system and in preventing/reducing leaks. The rocky soil under central campus can make leaks difficult to detect without active monitoring. Finally, student housing in a trailer court was removed. It had high water usage (80,180 kgal recorded in FY 2009) and leaks. For comparison, Aggie Village, which was also university-run family housing, used 41,871 kgal in the same time period.

Other large reductions are also visible also. The south water system and CEP meter reductions mean USU is pulling less from the well, reservoir pump house, and from city systems. Some reductions are more difficult to explain, like water lab. It is likely a result of the types of experiments being run there.