Water Conservation

Stanford University has implemented aggressive water conservation measures to sustain its water supply and to stay within its San Francisco Public Utilities Commission water allocation of 3.033 million gallons per average day (mgd). As the population at Stanford and elsewhere in the Bay Area continues to grow, water supply will be among the most critical issues facing the university.

Stanford's Water Conservation, Reuse and Recycling Master Plan is based on new water saving technologies, including plumbing retrofits, replacement of once-through cooling systems in laboratories with re-circulating systems that reuse the cold water to maximize cooling capacity, and water reclamation for irrigation and flushing toilets. The university has been using non-potable lake water for irrigating academic grounds and athletic facilities for decades. Recent above-average rainfall and longer rainy seasons have helped reduce the need for irrigation in student and faculty/staff housing areas that remain on the potable system.

Stanford will be soon be using treated wastewater from the Central Energy Facility plant cooling process for flushing toilets and possibly other non-potable uses at the new Science and Engineering Quad 2.

The success of Stanford's water conservation, reuse and recycling programs is demonstrated by a steady decrease in domestic water use from 2.7 million gallons daily (MGD) in 2000/01 to 2.2 MGD in 2005/06. Learn what you can do to make a difference at http://facilities.stanford.edu/conservation/