Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 50.53
Liaison Taryn Wilkinson
Submission Date Aug. 10, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Niagara College Canada
OP-26: Water Use

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.65 / 3.00 Taryn Wilkinson
Sustainability Coordinator
Facilities Management Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of water risk for the institution’s main campus:
Low to Medium

Total water use (potable and non-potable combined)::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Total water use 86,564 Cubic meters 95,859 Cubic meters

Potable water use::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Potable water use 86,564 Cubic meters 95,859 Cubic meters

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Number of residential students 420 420
Number of residential employees 0 0
Number of in-patient hospital beds 0 0
Full-time equivalent enrollment 10,159 9,160
Full-time equivalent of employees 1,859 1,567
Full-time equivalent of distance education students 646 1,209

Gross floor area of building space::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Gross floor area 103,954 Square meters 95,887 Square meters

Area of vegetated grounds::
Performance Year Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds 88 Hectares 89 Hectares

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
Start Date End Date
Performance Year April 1, 2014 March 31, 2015
Baseline Year April 1, 2010 March 31, 2011

A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:

Consistecy among all utilities; best data available


Water recycled/reused on campus, performance year:
0 Cubic meters

Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year: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

A brief description of any water recovery and reuse systems employed by the institution:

N/A


A brief description of any water metering and management systems employed by the institution:

All buildings at the Welland Campus, Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus and Maid of the Mist Campus at Niagara College are metered and sub-metered for water.


A brief description of any building retrofit practices employed by the institution, e.g. to install high efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings:

All washroom faucets, and toilets have been retrofit to be motion sensor activated, and all the shower heads in the residence buildings have been retrofit to be low flow.


A brief description of any policies or programs employed by the institution to replace appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives:

As appliances, equipment and systems that utilize water come up for renewal, water-efficient alternatives are explored.


A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):

The Green Lung Plan at the Welland Campus and the Living Lab Plan at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus have both integrated many of the principles of xeriscaping. The revitalized campus removed significant amounts of turf requiring significant watering and replaced it with many native plant species intended to replicate the Carolinian forest that was historically on site. Some of the pathways and ground cover have also been mulched to decrease the need for watering.


A brief description of any weather-informed irrigation technologies employed by the institution:

The Niagara-on-the-Lake Campus is on a set watering schedule in which watering of the grounds takes place at 7am each morning between April and September. Each morning the grounds crew is responsible for reviewing weather conditions to determine whether watering through irrigation is necessary. The Welland Campus has no automated irrigation practices and as a result staff members are responsible for reviewing weather conditions to determine wither watering is required.


A brief description of other water conservation and efficiency strategies employed by the institution:

Not Applicable


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

Data has been provided by the Niagara College Facilities Management Services employees.

Please note the gross floor area of building space for IC-2 is for the 2015-2016 year, and the performance year used in this credit is for the 2014-2015 year accounting for the difference in gross floor area of building space between the two credits.


Data has been provided by the Niagara College Facilities Management Services employees.

Please note the gross floor area of building space for IC-2 is for the 2015-2016 year, and the performance year used in this credit is for the 2014-2015 year accounting for the difference in gross floor area of building space between the two credits.

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.