| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 51.85 |
| Liaison | Karen Eckert, Ph.D. |
| Submission Date | Nov. 30, 2015 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Principia College
OP-26: Water Use
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.96 / 2.00 |
Karen
Eckert, Ph.D. Professor and Director Center for Sustainability |
Level of water risk for the institution’s main campus:
Total water use (potable and non-potable combined)::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total water use | 31,647,240 Gallons | 36,950,350 Gallons |
Potable water use::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Potable water use | 31,647,240 Gallons | 36,950,350 Gallons |
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users"::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of residential students | 503 | 503 |
| Number of residential employees | 105 | 105 |
| Number of in-patient hospital beds | 13 | 13 |
| Full-time equivalent enrollment | 503 | 503 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 323 | 323 |
| Full-time equivalent of distance education students | 0 | 0 |
Gross floor area of building space::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Gross floor area | 1,000,000 Square feet | 1,000,000 Square feet |
Area of vegetated grounds::
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Vegetated grounds | 77 Acres | 77 Acres |
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Year | Jan. 1, 2014 | Dec. 31, 2014 |
| Baseline Year | Jan. 1, 2011 | Dec. 31, 2011 |
A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:
Water recycled/reused on campus, performance year:
Recycled/reused water withdrawn from off-campus sources, performance year:
A brief description of any water recovery and reuse systems employed by the institution:
Dining Services recycles water squeezed from its post-consumer food waste and re-uses it on the conveyor, but then it's released to the waste water treatment plant.
A brief description of any water metering and management systems employed by the institution:
Principia purchases its water from Illinois American Water Company, where it is filtered and chemically treated to meet “IEPA standards”. Once the water is used by the school, the sewage is piped down to the campus’s very own water treatment facility where the effluent from the Waste Water Treatment Plant is discharged into the Mississippi River. According to our Department of Facilities Chief Engineer, “Our discharge is very high quality and consistently meets the IEPA discharge requirements listed in our discharge permit. We have had only one excursion where an equipment failure caused a release of non-filtered into the water. Our plant has been nominated for Plant of the Year twice in the last five years.”
A brief description of any building retrofit practices employed by the institution, e.g. to install high efficiency plumbing fixtures and fittings:
The flow rating on all on-campus shower heads is 2.0 gallons per minute (gpm). The U.S. Department of Energy identifies a “low flow” shower head as any fixture that is at or less than 2.5 gpm. On aerators for new sinks, the College is installing fixtures that use 2.2 gpm (which is the minimum requirement for a low flow faucet). All new toilets are rated at 1.6 gallons per flush (consistent with the average low flow toilet).
A brief description of any policies or programs employed by the institution to replace appliances, equipment and systems with water-efficient alternatives:
A brief description of any water-efficient landscape design practices employed by the institution (e.g. xeriscaping):
There is minimal irrigation on campus. Irrigation is limited to the Chapel Green and athletic fields. Landscaping is largely native and designed to be water-efficient.
A brief description of any weather-informed irrigation technologies employed by the institution:
A brief description of other water conservation and efficiency strategies employed by the institution:
The website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency initiatives is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.