Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 55.50
Liaison Ken Foster
Submission Date July 22, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Vassar College
OP-26: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 David Bishop
Manager of Mechanical Trades
Buildings & Grounds
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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Level of water risk for the institution’s main campus:
Medium to High

Total water use (potable and non-potable combined)::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water use 401,023 Gallons 851,680 Gallons

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Potable water use::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 401,023 Gallons 851,680 Gallons

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Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 2,354 2,411
Number of residential employees 200 200
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 2,385 2,434
Full-time equivalent of employees 1,021 1,047
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 0 0

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Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 2,400,000 Square feet 2,400,000 Square feet

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Area of vegetated grounds::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 750 Acres 750 Acres

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Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year July 1, 2012 June 30, 2013
Baseline Year July 1, 2004 June 30, 2005

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A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:
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Water recycled/reused on campus, performance year:
0 Gallons

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Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year:
0 Gallons

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A brief description of any water recovery and reuse systems employed by the institution:
Sprinkler systems that supply water to grounds on campus are monitored and controlled on a need-based system. The campus also employs closed loop cooling and heating systems and has a vaccum recovery system to reuse water condensed from our campus steam heating system.

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A brief description of any water metering and management systems employed by the institution:
The following buildings have service water meters: Alumnae House (offices of Development and Alumni Affairs), Kendrick House, Williams House, 147, 149, and 151 College Avenue, 334 Hooker Avenue, 69 and 77 Raymond Avenue (faculty housing).

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A brief description of any building retrofit practices employed by the institution, e.g. to install high efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings:
A number of buildings have been retrofitted recently with toilets with high efficiency flushing options.

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A brief description of any policies or programs employed by the institution to replace appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives:
College construction standards require appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives to be used in all construction projects.

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A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):
College construction standards require water-efficient landscape design to be used in all construction landscaping projects.

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A brief description of any weather-informed irrigation technologies employed by the institution:
Weather-informed irrigation practices are used in our two largest irrigation systems, which cover most of our athletics fields. The Athletics Fields supervisor monitors weather conditions and adjusts irrigation accordingly. Watering is done early in the morning, infrequently but deeply.

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A brief description of other water conservation and efficiency strategies employed by the institution:
The college annually upgrades our water and steam heating piping systems to eliminate water leaks and losses from these systems. A complete thermographic survey of the entire campus was completed in 2013 and a small steam heating system leak discovered in that survey will be repaired in the spring of 2014.

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The website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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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.