Full Description

This paper describes successes, challenges and practical aspects of implementing water conservationmeasures at a large university campus that is similar in many respects to a city of 25,000 people. The waterconservation program at Stanford University has reduced water usage by about 10 percent over the lastfour years despite adding new buildings during the same period. Stanford is on schedule to meet its goalof expanding the campus but holding water use down to a strict level, required by Santa Clara County.In 2000, the university received a General Use Permit (GUP) from Santa ClaraCounty for development of additional 2,035,000 net square feet of academic and academic supportfacilities (a 20 percent expansion). The approval of the 2000 GUP and the EIR resulted in specificrequirements, one of which was the completion of a Water Conservation, Reuse, and Recycling MasterPlan (Master Plan). The Plan's key requirement is for Stanford not to exceed its domestic waterallocation from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). SFPUC typically supplies100% of the domestic water for Stanford University, with a daily average allocation of 3.033 milliongallons per day (mgd). The Master Plan and water conservation measures were submitted to Santa Clara County in December2001. Implementation of the recommended water conservation measures began in earnest in 2001. Todate Stanford has partially implemented 10 of the 14 measures plus additional measures with variablesuccess. As of June 2005, the total cost for implementation of projects is $1.5 million, while theestimated savings for completed projects are 0.26 mgd. Since most of the buildings on campus are metered, the total metered domestic water consumption is tracked monthly, while annual consumptiontrends for key groups are reviewed in detail. This analysis has shown that conservation works to savewater; 9.6 percent of baseline demand has been saved to-date. Stanford is on track with the Plan'sestimated savings by 2005 and more than halfway to the goal of saving 16% of baseline consumption by2010. The cost of conservation savings to-date is less than the current price of purchasing water from theSFPUC so the conservation has been cost-effective.Although the results of the Master Plan and Stanford's Water Conservation Program are site-specific, themethodology for reviewing water use and metering data, establishing baseline consumption, anddeveloping water conservation measures is applicable to other educational institutions. Flexibility of thefinal program and on-going evaluation of effectiveness of measures are critical to obtain best waterconservation results. The following topics are discussed:history of campus development;overview of Stanford's water system;reviewing historical water use and metering data;development of water conservation measures; and, results of 2001-2005 water conservation efforts. Includes tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/17/2005 Number of Pages: 17File Size: 1 file , 660 KB