Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	66.39
Liaison	Michelle Patterson
Submission Date	March 4, 2022

STARS v2.2

Washington University in St. Louis
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

3.81 / 4.00

Phil Valko
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability
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 Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:

Low

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	411,983,001 Gallons	537,893,583 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	411,783,001 Gallons	537,893,583 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2020	June 30, 2021
Baseline Period	July 1, 2013	June 30, 2014

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:

Fiscal Year 2014 is the earliest year that we have been able to compile actual water use data for both the Danforth and School of Medicine Campuses.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	4,902	4,432
Number of employees resident on-site	13	20
Number of other individuals resident on-site	25	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	16,459	14,344
Full-time equivalent of employees	15,821	12,488
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	222	0
Weighted campus users	25,297.25	21,237

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	16,277.78 Gallons	25,328.13 Gallons

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

35.73

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	11,302,973 Gross square feet	10,301,568 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	36.43 Gallons per square foot	52.21 Gallons per square foot

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

30.23

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	167.10 Acres	162 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	2,465,487.74 Gallons per acre	3,320,330.76 Gallons per acre

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

25.75

Optional Fields

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

Washington University's "Less is More" campaign is a focal point of our behavioral education and outreach and includes a number of messaging points and resources like point-of-use stickers to encourage water conservation.

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

The Lofts of Washington University includes a 25,000 gallon cistern that harvests rainwater to use for irrigation. The Living Learning Center is Living Building certified and includes a 3,000 gallon cistern that harvests and filters rainwater for in-building uses. The East End district includes a 30,000 gallon cistern that harvests rainwater for irrigation. The Tyson Research Center is home to a 20,000 gallon cistern that harvests rainwater for irrigation of a research garden.

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

Washington University replaced all residential showerheads in summer 2017 with low-flow shower heads, saving an estimated 9 - 13 million gallons of water each year. All renovation projects include high-efficiency toilets, sinks, and shower heads with flow rates lower than the EPA's WaterSense criteria.

In addition, major energy conservation projects have also resulted in significant water savings, including heat recovery chillers that reduce cooling tower water use and upgrades to the campus steam distribution system.

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

https://sustainability.wustl.edu/vision-progress/water/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

- Gross square footage in OP21 differs from gross square footage because the University’s 2010 – 2020 water use reduction goal focused on the University’s two main campuses in order to strike a balance between impact, effort to track data, and focused implementation. Baseline data and subsequent year data reported here are for the main academic, medical and residential campuses (Danforth, S40, and School of Medicine) and do not include two administrative campuses (West and North) or the university's other holdings. PRE4 includes Danforth, S40, School of Medicine, satellite administrative buildings, and off-campus housing. It’s important to note that while the GHG goal has been focused on the most water intensive subset of our holdings (the two main campuses and on-campus housing), we have made strides reducing water use throughout our holdings. This includes a multi-year set of gut renovations of approximately 100 historic apartment buildings that replaced old high-flow fixtures with low flow fixtures. The data reported here does not account for the water use at the satellite sites or take credit for the reductions at the satellite sites.

Similarly, weighted campus users were only included for the campuses within the scope of the reported emissions data.