Overall Rating	Gold - expired
Overall Score	75.41
Liaison	Marianne Martin
Submission Date	March 23, 2018
Executive Letter	Download

STARS v2.1

University of Colorado Boulder
OP-22: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.54 / 6.00

Jonathan Akins
Campus Civil Engineer
Facilities Management

"---" 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’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:

High

Part 1

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

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use	---	413,695,000 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	289,743,660 Gallons	313,695,000 Gallons

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Year	July 1, 2016	June 30, 2017
Baseline Year	July 1, 2007	June 30, 2008

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:

In 2001-2002, CU used approximately 400 Mgal per year of water. Since then, CU has reduced water consumption because of the drought conditions we are experiencing, and because water has a large carbon footprint.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	6,014	6,451
Number of employees resident on-site	15	11
Number of other individuals resident on-site and/or staffed hospital beds	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	26,124	25,978
Full-time equivalent of employees (staff + faculty)	6,212	5,534
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	1,450	5,503
Weighted campus users	24,671.75	21,122.25

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	11,743.94 Gallons	14,851.40 Gallons

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

20.92

Part 2

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	11,048,065 Gross square feet	9,685,160 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	26.23 Gallons per square foot	32.39 Gallons per square foot

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

19.03

Part 3

Does the institution wish to pursue Part 3 of this credit? (reductions in total water use per acre/hectare of vegetated grounds):

Yes

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	260 Acres	260 Acres

Total water use (potable + non-potable) per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water use per unit of vegetated grounds	0 Gallons per acre	1,591,134.62 Gallons per acre

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

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Optional Fields

A brief description of the institution's water-related behavior change initiatives, e.g. initiatives to shift individual attitudes and practices such as signage and competitions:

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

Williams Village Graywater Reuse System: Greywater is an innovative water conservation methodology which was implemented as part of the newest HDS residence hall. The system is designed to collect 'grey' water (shower and sink water) from one wing of the residence hall, to process and filter that water and then redistribute it for use in the hall's toilets. This system is the first fully certified Grey Water system. The implementation required cooperation and collaboration between the project team, CU-Boulder, City of Boulder, and the State of Colorado. This project has introduced the concept of water re-use to the campus at large and has advanced campus sustainability by allowing for the reuse of potable water for a second purpose. This system has been in full operation since 2016 and processes up to 2200 gallons per day for reuse in toilets. This project was approved by the University, City and State. Housing & Dining Services along with their partners at Facilities Management and the City of Boulder were relentless in driving this project to a successful completion. The process of project development and approval was laborious and fraught with pitfalls as this was the initial full size project of this type in the State. All of those involved spent countless hours ensuring that this project would be approved, implemented and operational so as to deliver on the promise of water reuse.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace plumbing fixtures, fittings, appliances, equipment, and systems with water-efficient alternatives (e.g. building retrofits):

CU has standards the govern the efficiencies of plumbing fixtures. These efficiencies are determined based on balancing maintainability and conservation.

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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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.