Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	69.61
Liaison	Tina Woolston
Submission Date	Nov. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Tufts University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.90 / 6.00

Tina Woolston
Director
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:

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	122,830,828 Gallons	141,549,379 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	120,181,228 Gallons	141,549,379 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2019	June 30, 2020
Baseline Period	July 1, 2004	June 30, 2005

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:

The baseline year is 2005.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	3,098	3,491
Number of employees resident on-site	8	9
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	11,619	9,113
Full-time equivalent of employees	4,497	3,481
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	450	0
Weighted campus users	12,526	10,320.50

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	9,594.54 Gallons	13,715.36 Gallons

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

30.05

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	5,526,370 Gross square feet	4,028,442 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	21.75 Gallons per square foot	35.14 Gallons per square foot

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

38.11

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	696.71 Acres	694 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	176,301.23 Gallons per acre	203,961.64 Gallons per acre

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

13.56

Optional Fields

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

Our education programs and outreach such as Green Office Certification and Eco-Ambassadors include water use reduction. We often give staff prompts to remind people to conserve water at the sink.
We do a lot of education around the negatives of bottled water and encourage students and employees to use reusable water bottles. For people planning events, we assist them with water pitchers rather than bottled water.

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

Tufts uses condensate from purchased steam to replenish a cooling tower water in lieu of using city water. This is for the Tufts Shared Services plant on our Boston campus.

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

Any time any water fixture is replaced at Tufts we use a water efficient appliance (e.g. low-flow showerhead, faucets, and toilets). Often dual-flush toilets are used, but not in the residence halls.

Cage and rack washer at DLAM upgraded to a water-efficient washer.

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:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Much of Tufts' water conservation efforts took place prior to 2005 and therefore are not captured using this metric.

This data is accurate as of Spring 2020. The Lab Assistant went tax parcel by tax parcel and compared it to current imagery and update building structures that have changed. So it is slightly more accurate than methods used by other schools with impervious surface (since that is usually 30m by 30m average).