Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	69.86
Liaison	Nicole Arsenault
Submission Date	April 3, 2024

STARS v2.2

York University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.00 / 4.00

Bogdan Strafalogea
Energy Project Manager
Energy 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 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	561,712 Cubic meters	1,188,669.69 Cubic meters

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	561,712 Cubic meters	1,188,669.69 Cubic meters

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

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	May 1, 2020	April 30, 2021
Baseline Period	May 1, 2015	April 30, 2016

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:

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Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	1,742	3,521
Number of employees resident on-site	6	7
Number of other individuals resident on-site	234	1,042
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	51,528	46,510
Full-time equivalent of employees	4,906	4,419.30
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	0	1,000
Weighted campus users	42,996.50	39,370.98

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	13.06 Cubic meters	30.19 Cubic meters

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

56.73

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	741,355.20 Gross square meters	713,309.28 Gross square meters

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	0.76 Cubic meters per square meter	1.67 Cubic meters per square meter

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

54.53

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

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	136.60 Hectares	136.60 Hectares

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	4,112.10 Cubic meters per hectare	8,701.84 Cubic meters per hectare

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

52.74

Optional Fields

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

1) Free drinking water is available to the York Community. Committed to providing alternatives to the use of disposable plastic water bottles, the University has eliminated the sale of single use plastic water bottles and installed 70 refill stations and 200 water fountains across both the Glendon and Keele campuses.
2) In addition, York University is working to bring back the 'Res Race to Zero' challenge, an annual competition in which residences across campus face off to determine who can minimize their energy consumption the most over the month of March. Res Race to Zero was paused due to operational constraints and the impacts of the pandemic but efforts are being made to resume this initiative. Our Sustainability Innovation fund will allocate approximately $40,000 to this initiative in 2023. https://www.yorku.ca/sustainability/getinvolved/sustainability-innovation-fund/

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

York University has a number of campus-wide initiatives aimed at water conservation, from green building design and retrofit to grounds maintenance to the installation of water refill stations across both the Keele and Glendon campuses. For example, York University’s creative landscaping helps to conserve water while respecting the water supply. York's Xeriscape garden and buildings with green roofs help to reduce water use by up to 50% less than a traditional landscape; it also requires less fertilizer, less pruning, and less mowing. The University has eight full and/or partial green roofs which help to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of stormwater runoff and help advance urban biodiversity.

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

1) As per our Sustainability Strategy, PL8 states: ""All new development, and where possible renovations, on York University campuses are constructed to the highest green building standards, and aspire to net positive contributions with respect to energy and utility consumption and other dimensions of sustainability."
2) York plans to have energy meters installed in all campus buildings by July 2023, allowing for data collection and evaluation. The real-time data about energy use on campus will be available on a public platform. This information will also assist in identifying major energy users, allowing a tactical response to reducing our need for utilities.

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:

1. The total area of vegetated grounds excludes the Glendon campuses because the data is not readily available.

2. The city of Toronto and York University are in dispute over the water utility bill. There continues to be outstanding issues related to calculation of amounts of water used during a 22 month period from 2016 - 2018. York brought in an independent third party expert in 2018 who found at one location that the actual water flow was approximately half of what the City’s invoice stated. The expert also found that at least three meters were installed incorrectly by the City, leading to incorrectly high meter readings and billings. As a result, the water consumption amounts reported for Fiscal 2016 may be higher than the true amounts. York remains committed to working cooperatively with the City to resolve the inaccurate billings.