You are here

Projects Updates for key objective: 75. True Cost of Water Study

  1. Learn About the Campus' New Rainwater Management Program

    Associated Project(s): 
    Rainwater Management Program
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Rainwater Management Plans
    Rainwater Management

    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Rainwater Management Program showcases a future vision for the campus that emphasizes the importance of rainwater retention and replenishment. The goal is to transition from the traditional viewpoint of stormwater runoff as a maintenance issue to one that envisions rainwater as an asset to preserve, harness and celebrate. Learn more about the program’s release in a virtual forum on from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 2. Preregistration is required to attend the webinar. The RMP was funded by the Student Sustainability Committee.

    Learn About the Campus' New Rainwater Management Program

    April 2, 3–4 pm

    Betsy Richardson • Facilities & Services

  2. All Sports are Water Sports

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Sports Alliance (GSA)
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
       

     

    PLAYTOZERO.GSALOGO.png

     

    Play to Zero Playbook

    TwitterInstagramLinkedInWebsiteYouTube

     

    1ST WATER PLAYBOOK FOR SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

    WaterKickoff-9900000000079e3c.png

    Dear Colleagues,

    We are excited to present the first-ever Playbook on Water for Sports & Entertainment Venues. This playbook will set the stage for why water matters and how venues can become driving forces for water protection and restoration. Through sharing lessons learned and practical approaches to reduction, reclamation, reuse and replenishment; we, together, can help ensure our communities become more resilient to growing impacts from climate and other stressors.

    Access to clean and affordable water is essential to the sports industry and our collective health and well-being.... The impact to our communities and fans is critical to address. 

    It's clear that more investment, more assistance and more leadership from individuals, policymakers, businesses and increasingly from the members of the Green Sports Alliance, is needed to protect our essential water resources. Sports and entertainment venues have an opportunity to be good water stewards and lead by example.

    I hope that this playbook provides you with the inspiration, resources and examples necessary to start your own journey to ensuring water remains safe, reliable and accessible for all of our communities.

    - Roger McClendon, Executive Director of Green Sports Alliance [READ THE FULL LETTER FROM ROGER HERE]

     

     

     

    Photocollageofwatersports-9900000000079e3c.png

    This playbook focuses on four key strategies across drinking water, wastewater and stormwater management:

    Strategy 1: Understand your Water Baseline

    Strategy 2: Water Efficiency

    Strategy 3: Water Reuse

    Strategy 4: Water Replenishment & Ecosystem Stewardship

    Each strategy provides a baseline knowledge and resources for you to further explore the concepts presented and a corresponding Green Sports Alliance member case study designed to share lessons learned, best practices and tips for your future success.

    RhadikaFoxGraphic-9900000000079e3c.png

    YOUR WATER JOURNEY: FIVE STEPS FOR STARTING AND PROGRESSING ON YOUR PATH TO WATER STEWARDSHIP

    #1 Commit ➡️ #2 Learn ➡️ #3 Plan ➡️ #4 Three E's ➡️ #5 Celebrate 🎉

     

    DuneIvesQuote-9900000000079e3c.png

     

     

     

     

    Thank you to our Playbook Contributors!

    Dune Ives, Lead Author | CEO of Movements That Matter and GSA Board Member

    Green Sports Alliance Corporate Members | Stantec and Xylem, Inc.

    A special thanks to our Water Playbook Editorial Board Members, Green Sports Alliance Leadership/Staff and our Graphic Design/Copy Editing Team! 

    TeaserVenuePlaybook-9900000000079e3c.png

  3. Land & Water iCAP Meeting 12/13/2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    Cover Crops on South Farms
    Campus Landscape Master Plan (CLMP)
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Obtain and Publicize Water Data
    Land and Water iCAP Team

    On December 13th, the Land & Water iCAP team met to discuss a new approach to crafting recommendations for next semester; including the creation of a land subcommittee and a water subcommittee.

    Meeting minutes are attached.

  4. Request to Use Learning Materials in Land & Water Theme

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Below is sustainability intern, Alec McKay's permission request to use Jonathan Tomkin's lecture materials for the Land & Water theme. Professor Tomkin gave permission for his materials to be published on the theme page.

    Hi Jonathan!

    My name is Alec McKay, the guy who messed up scheduling the ENSU 310 final last semester, and I’m an intern working for Morgan White, the Associate Director for Sustainability. We’re working on updating the primary projects on the iCAP Portal. Here is an example of what the primary project page for the Land & Water theme looks like: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/responsible-stewardship-campus-land-and-water

    Our target audience is incoming freshmen and current students who are interested in sustainability at UIUC but have little to no knowledge about it. One of the things we want a primary project page to do is provide some motivation and background information for the theme. In the context of Land & Water, we’d like to answer the question, “Why conserve water?”

    I think some of the videos from your Introduction to Sustainability Coursera course would be great for this! May I have your permission to put some of the videos from your course on the iCAP Portal? I don’t know how the copyright and intellectual property laws work, so is there any specific way you would want or need to be credited?

    If you want more information regarding what we’re changing on the iCAP portal, feel free to let me know!

    Thanks!

    Alec

     

  5. Water and Environment: Water Quality, Quantity and Contaminants (Symposium)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]

    Please register for the Water and the Environment: Fundamental Aspects of Water Quality, Quantity, and Contaminants Symposium on December 9, 2021 from 9am-11:30am. There will be speakers as well as breakout rooms to engage our discussion on water and the environment. We look forward to seeing you December 9th!

    This opportunity is available online. Visit the event's Zoom website to register online.

     

  6. Natural Water Balance

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]

    Meredith Moore, Sustainability Programs Manager, reached out to Associate Professor Ashlynn Stillwell to ask a question from the AASHE STARS sustainability report (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, Sustainability Tracking and Reporting System). The question is: "Has the institution calculated a natural water balance for the campus to assess the sustainability of its water withdrawal?". Professor Stillwell replied explaining that UIUC has not calculated its natural water balance, and proposed ideas on how to it can start doing so. Specifically she said, 

    "First, it seems like a question that is motivated by water scarcity, given the phrasing "sustainability of its water withdrawal". Extraction (withdrawal) of water is not the only way I personally would calculate water sustainability. In our part of the world, runoff volume and the contaminants contained in that runoff are important aspects of sustainability too. 

    Next, to actually calculate the natural water balance, I would think one would write a high-level mass balance around the campus. 'Natural' to me implies 'non-engineered', so at first pass, I would only include natural water flows. However, the question then mentions waer withdrawal, which is a non-natural human interaction with water, which makes me think the engineered water system should be included also. 

    For a high-level water mass balance around campus, it would be similar to any mass balance: IN - OUT = CHANGE IN STORAGE 

    What goes IN? potable water, raw water (?), makeup to chilled water loop, makeup to steam loop, rainfall, runoff from upstream areas, inflowing streams, inflowing groundwater. 

    What goes OUT? waste water, evaporation (from steam and chilled water loops), evapotranspiration, runoff (from rainfall and from overwatering from sprinklers), runoff to downstream areas, surface stream discharge, outflowing groundwater.

    How much is CHANGE IN STORAGE? probably zero at steady state on a sufficiently large timescale."

  7. eweek announcement

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community

    Eric T. Freyfogle, "Water, Community, and the Culture of Owning"

    Professor Freyfogle is the author or editor of a dozen books dealing with issues of humans and nature, some focused on legal aspects, others reaching to larger cultural and social issues. In this talk he will explore why American legal and cultural systems of water use and ownership make it so difficult to face climate change and other environmental challenges.

    October 14, 12–1 pm • zoom

    Maria Dorofeeva • Center for Global Studies

  9. 2017 Water Quality Report available

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]

    The 2017 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Water Quality Report is available. The report provides information about the source of campus drinking water, contaminant testing, general health precautions, and how the calendar year 2017 sample results compare to regulatory requirements.

    The university has met all U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA drinking water quality standards.

  11. A Model Program for Reducing Water Waste on Campus

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam [ARCHIVED]

    As collegians head back to campus this fall it means campus water use will spike, so ISTC has released a video on a model program which dramatically cut water waste with a student-directed behavior change campaign. Loyola University Chicago implemented its “Gallons Saved and Shared” project with the help of a grant from ISTC’s Billion Gallon Challenge. Student interns and volunteers planned and executed fixture upgrades across much of the campus and designed a awareness/behavioral campaign with the expertise of psychology majors. In addition, Robyn Mallett, associate professor of psychology and her colleagues, were able to study the responses to produce scientific insights. A college campus is an ideal setting to build a culture of sustainability that can follow graduates throughout their lives. The experience of “Gallons Saved and Shared” is a model that can be considered to produce conservation results on other campuses, said Aaron N. Durnbaugh, Loyola’s director of sustainability.

  13. ISTC Water Audit webinar

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Water and Stormwater SWATeam [ARCHIVED]

    Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Water Audit Webinar – Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. (web only)

    “Water Use and Conservation on Illinois College Campuses: The Ripple Effect”

    The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) are partnering to train college faculty and staff to conduct water audits on their campuses, increasing knowledge about water on college campuses, and furthering ISTC’s goal of reducing water consumption in Illinois by One Billion Gallons. To do so, IGEN and ISTC will implement a three-phase program. In the first phase of the program, IGEN will cohost a webinar with ISTC to educate interested colleges on the basics of water audits. The webinar will cover the following information:

    • Details of what a comprehensive water audit encompasses: the built environment, the campus landscaping, and the local topography/watershed;
    • Where to find specific information on water use on a college campus: what bills, what departments have information, what is metered, etc.;
    • Potential benefits of water audits: how to save money, water, and energy, and the environmental impacts; and
    • Overview of the next phases of the program and how to participate.

    Speakers will be: Megan Chery, Manager of Alliance for Water Efficiency; Aaron Dunbaugh, Director of Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago; and Michelle Maddaus, Founder and Civil Engineer with Maddaus Waste Management.

    Please register to attend the webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/154690976. For additional information visit http://www.igencc.org/node/1115.

    In the second phase of the program, IGEN and ISTC will arrange regional training sessions at several Illinois community colleges to train stakeholders on how to conduct a comprehensive water audit on campus. In the third phase of the program, colleges will conduct water audits on their campuses and make recommendations that will reduce water consumption and apply for grants to implement the projects.

    ISTC is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

  14. ISTC's helpful resources

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]

    Morgan, here’s the direct link to the resource I mentioned to you on the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) web site. The GLRPPR site is pretty extensive, with many “sector resources,” so I’ll save you the trouble of navigating through them.

    P2 Measurement & Calculators Sector Resource: http://www.glrppr.org/contacts/gltopichub.cfm?sectorid=143. 

    I don’t know if you were specifically interested in water-related calculators, or if you were using that as a hypothetical example. In any event, there are a few water-related calculators within the list at the above URL. US EPA’s WaterSense program provides a calculator for residential savings, if you replace existing fixtures with WaterSense labelled items. Seehttp://www.epa.gov/watersense/our_water/start_saving.html#tabs-3. This could be a resource to provide students or staff who ask you about such calculators, but be mindful (as you should with any “canned” calculator) of the assumptions made regarding things like utility costs, average number of gallons of water used per year, etc. (http://www.epa.gov/watersense/our_water/how_works.html#assumptions). This particular tool wouldn’t be useful for campus buildings; the Alliance for Water Efficiency provides some guidelines for calculations on school and university campuses:http://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org/Schools_and_Universities.aspx. 

    Dan Marsch mentioned resources for pre-rinse spray nozzles, which could be of interest in dining halls. Probably the best resource on best practices in this arena is the Food Service Technology Center (http://fishnick.com/). Their site includes a spray valve water cost calculator (http://fishnick.com/savewater/tools/watercalculator/) and a water leak cost calculator (http://fishnick.com/savewater/tools/leakcalculator/).

    Kishore mentioned the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. Their site is at http://www.aceee.org/. He also mentioned EERE, the US DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Their site is athttp://energy.gov/eere/office-energy-efficiency-renewable-energy.

    Hope this helps,

    Joy

    Joy Scrogum

    Emerging Technologies Resource Specialist

    Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC; www.istc.illinois.edu) 

    Co-coordinator, Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI; www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu)

    Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR; www.glrppr.org)

    ISTC is a Division of the Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    217-333-8948; 1 Hazelwood Drive, Champaign, IL 61820; MC-676

     

  16. potential water reuse at NCPD

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]

    From: Lev, James R
    Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2013 8:21 AM
    To: Reeser, Doris Jean
    Cc: Kim, Qu; Bundren, Brian Christopher; Johnston, Morgan B
    Subject: U13038 NCPD - install solar array - conceputualization (U-1937)

    We have an opportunity in this project at the Parking Deck that I want to put on the table right away as it could affect the other projects underway on the ground floor of the building. 

    the parking deck solar array project will provide energy capacity to the ECE project in its goal to achieve net Zero status.  it will also provide power for new LED lighting throughout the parking deck. 

    We will be collecting or harvesting rainwater from the proposed solar array project on the top parking deck.  at this time the plan is to direct the water directly into the drainage system for the building.  this would be the sanitary system since the water on the decks have runoff from vehicles.     

    At little expense this water could be redirected and used for irrigation or flushing toilets on the ground floor.  this would require some storage capacity somewhere in the structure and some alteration to the water supply piping.   splitting the water supply piping between potable water and flushing water would need to be done now for that option to be used on the first floor..   otherwise this potential use of harvested water could be installed later.

    Paul Foote has told me that there are grants available to pay for this type of conservation measure. 

    Is this worth investigating at this late date in your projects?

    It seems to be an opportunity that fits well with everything that is being done at the parking deck.  I felt that I should at least raise the question and not miss an opportunity for a sustainable addition to the facility.

    Jim

    James R. Lev AIA

    Architect, Capital Planning

    Facilities & Services

    University of Illinois

    Champaign, Illinois

  17. ISTC Campus Water Use Study

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation [ARCHIVED]
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    This proposal looks to reduce the usage of water on campus by conducting a study of the “true cost” of water used campus. The project first seeks to determine the quantity of water used and extrapolate the “true cost” of this water. From this point, the project wishes to study the quality of water currently being discharged as “blowdown” with the hope of finding a mechanism of reuse. With this data, pathways of water consumption reduction are expected to be identified. The identification of said pathways will allow for examination of differing methods of water use reduction. Following this, mechanisms of reuse of wastewater in areas such as landscape irrigation will be studied. The project is expected to then result in the ability of water to be reused in whatever locations are most cost-effective. The project itself is not going to result in any tangible change in the short-run, but it is expected to yield data that can be used by campus departments such as F&S for the eventual reduction of campus water-usage. Its goals fall into line with the Climate Action Plan, which outlines a 40% reduction of campus water usage by 2025. Thus, the Student Sustainability Committee is in favor of funding a grant in the amount of $10,000.