Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.87
Liaison Jessica Bast
Submission Date Jan. 5, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

North Carolina State University
OP-26: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.95 / 4.00 Paul McConocha
Energy Program Director
Energy Managament
"---" 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 373,853,922.08 Gallons 483,673,932.47 Gallons

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Potable water use::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 373,853,922.08 Gallons 483,673,932.47 Gallons

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Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 7,357 6,746
Number of residential employees 237 214
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 26,371.25 24,339
Full-time equivalent of employees 8,696.10 6,786.80
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 1,565.75 300

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Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 15,144,558 Square feet 9,796,638 Square feet

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Area of vegetated grounds::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 1,239 Acres 718 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, 2014 June 30, 2015
Baseline Year July 1, 2001 June 30, 2002

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A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:
The State of North Carolina mandated this baseline through Senate Bill 668.

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Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year: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

None
A brief description of any water recovery and reuse systems employed by the institution:
There are multiple systems across campus that collect rain water from roofs and condensate from HVAC systems. All of the captured water is stored in tanks. The tanks are both above and below ground. The collected water is used in one of two ways. Most of the systems are used to fill tanks used to water plant beds. A few of the systems are use to supply water to irrigation systems. Rain water is also captured from utility plant roofing and added to cooling tower makeup. NC State does not track the amounts.

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A brief description of any water metering and management systems employed by the institution:
Standard utility grade metering systems are standard practice, including wi-fi smart metering on major metering systems.

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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:
High efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings are the University best practice.

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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:
Over the last two years, dozens of old autoclave units have been retrofitted with water-mizers.

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A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):
NC State has taken several efforts to create a water-efficient landscape. Using native plants reduces the need for excess watering. NC State has increased the native plants used by another 3% this year. Other practices include using ground cover in place of sod in non irrigated areas, planting native seed on slopes at or greater than 3:1 incline, reducing tree diameter from 4" to 2.5"-3", and top dressing compost underneath mulch for perennials. NC State also purchases compost from a vendor that uses the University's food waste products and installs plants grown by our student horticultural department to minimize outside resource dependency. A landscape committee formed to ensure all sustainable measures are applied during the design phases. Additional dry wells and previous areas created on campus reduce our water loss.

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A brief description of any weather-informed irrigation technologies employed by the institution:
NC State uses the Maxicom irrigation system. The average season is 32 weeks (April thru October). Needed achievement of watering is to irrigate 1 inch per week on turf and ornamentals (this is without rain fall), and all systems have rain sensors set at 1 inch to cancel system operation when adequate 1 inch rain fall is achieved. The Maxicom irrigation system’s manages sites based on a weather station data to run and shut down systems for accuracy. We use Rain Bird IQ , a system that allows us to use weather and systems flow to prevent over watering and any leaks that might happen during a systems run of operation.

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A brief description of other water conservation and efficiency strategies employed by the institution:
Reuse water from the Neuse River publicly owned treatment works is being installed on Centennial Campus for golf course irrigation, Hunt Library toilet rooms, and utility plant cooling tower makeup.

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