FY 2001-FY2007 Key water conservation accomplishments are:

• All once-through cooling has been replaced with re-circulating systems.
• Replaced more than 10,000 academic and student housing bathroom fixtures with water-efficient ones, including low-flow showerheads, sink aerators, toilets, and urinals. Almost 95% of the academic and student housing inefficient toilets have been retrofitted.
• Water mizers have been installed on most campus autoclaves and sterilizers.
• A demonstration program was started in 2006 to test new water-efficeint technology.
• New irrigation technologies, such as computer-operated evapotranspiration monitoring and irrigation control systems, are being installed to increase efficiency.
• An estimated 85% of campus irrigated areas are irrigated with non-potable lake water.
• A treatment system is in design to re-use cooling tower blow-down wastewater from the Central Energy Facility for flushing toilets and other non-potable uses.

Faculty/Staff Housing

Located on the southeastern edge of campus, the faculty/staff neighborhood stretches from the foothills at Junipero Serra Boulevard all the way to Page Mill Rd. Most water usage here is managed by individual homeowners and not the university. Nevertheless, Stanford Utilities has taken part in various water conservation programs for Faculty/Staff Housing.  The latest of which are provided by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Pacific Gas and Electric, which are offering rebates for installing high-efficiency toilets, and clothes washing machines.   For more information, and to see if you qualify for these high-efficiency fixture rebates, click on the fliers located below.

Past water conservation programs have included awareness campaigns, free water audits, rebates for installing water-efficient landscaping and irrigation technology and even built a Water Wise Demonstration Garden (along Raimundo Way across from Wing Place) to encourage the community to adopt low-water-use landscaping around their homes. Sixty percent of the total water used in this area is for landscape irrigation, most of which occurs during the dry summer months. For more information on what you can do around your home and garden to help conserve water check out our water saving tips section.

Most of the toilets, faucets, showers and even urinals in academic buildings across campus have been retrofitted to more efficient, low-flow models.

Most of the landscaping in academic areas make use of evapo-transpiration (ET) irrigation controllers. This state-of-the-art irrigation system incorporates live weather data to water only when and how much is needed, making it possible to irrigate large turf areas like the Oval around 25% more efficiently.

For more information on Stanford’s Maxicom © ET controlled irrigation system, check out Grounds Services weather station web page.

Student Housing and Dining (Residential & Dining Enterprises)

• Over 90% of toilets have been upgraded to 1.6 gallon per flush units, all of the undergraduate residence showerheads are now 2.5 gallon per minute fixtures, and sinks are now flowing at 1.5 gallon per minute.
  
• All meal plan students (3600) are given a reusable thermos for hot and cold beverages to reduce the use of disposables and bottled waters. Bottled waters were also eliminated in the central dining facilities and at catered events. Click on the following poster and Stanta Clara Valley Water District link to see how tap water compares to bottled water.

• Provided discount incentives for customers who bring in their own container for hot and cold beverages in all retail locations.
• Switched to low water use dish washing machines which have cut water usage by 50% at those locations.
• Installed low-flow valves for all spray heads in dish washing areas.

For more information about water conservation efforts in student housing and ways in which you can help save water in your residence visit the Student Housing Services Conservation Web Page.

Athletics

In 2008, improvements to athletic facilities include high-efficiency toilet and urinal retrofits. Some of the latest in low-flow fixture technology is currently being tested within the athletic facilities which consist of urinals that only use 0.125 gallon of water per flush (gpf), and toilets that only use 1.28 gpf.

And in 2005, the football practice field’s irrigation system, which uses 15,800 gallons of water per day, was converted to use non-potable lake water. Although irrigating with lake water only reduces Stanford’s domestic water demand and not its total water demand, such conversions help save domestic water for higher value uses like drinking and research.

Central Energy Facility/Cardinal Cogen

Sixty-three thousand gallons of water are blown down by the Central Energy Facility cooling towers and steam generator every day. The cooling towers already maximize their use of every gallon by recycling the water through the towers 10-15 times before draining it to the sewer.

Although not acceptable for domestic water use, other possible uses for this water are currently being evaluated. The cooling tower blow-down wastewater could soon be channeled and reused to supplement nearby irrigation systems or toilets in surrounding buildings. To learn more about Stanford’s Central Energy Facility click here.

Medical School and Hospital

The Medical School has seen some of the most dramatic decreases in water use thanks to recent water conservation efforts. The Beckman and Fairchild Buildings in particular are now using 30 to 40 percent less water than before, saving almost 15 million gallons of water annually! In 2004, an analysis of the Beckman and Fairchild Building’s water usage prompted several water saving initiatives, including the installation of 1.6 gallon per flush toilets, water-efficient urinals, and low-flow faucet regulators on all regular and deionized water faucets.

Restricting the flow of deionized faucets makes a significant difference because a substantial amount of water is already wasted in the deionization process. Also, the installation of Water mizeron the building’s autoclaves reduced water consumption considerably. Instead of running water 24 hours a day, the Water-Mizers sense when water is needed and shut off the flow when it is not. The chart below shows how water use at Beckman dropped after retrofits were completed in the spring of 2004.