Water Systems Progress, 2018-22
We will strive for responsible consumption of potable and non-potable water sources and use best-practice stormwater management and reuse on campus.
2018 Pitt Sustainability Plan Goals
- CAMPUS: Strive towards a water-neutral campus, with a 3% reduction in water use by 2020 from 2017 baselines.
- EFFICIENCY: Embrace the Pittsburgh 2030 District goal of 50% reduction in water use intensity (consumption per square foot) by 2030 (below the historic district average).
- STANDARDS: Establish design standards and operational practices to achieve water use reduction goals.
- DRAINAGE: Reduce impervious surfaces 20% by 2030 (from 2017 baseline).
- STORMWATER: Divert 25% of stormwater from remaining impervious surfaces by 2030 (to rain gardens, bioswales, or rainwater harvesting tanks).
- DRINK: Work with the City of Pittsburgh to ensure clean, healthy drinking water for all in our community.
Where We Are: Water Use
Campus Use: The University of Pittsburgh achieved (and surpassed) its goal to reduce water usage on campus 3% between 2017 and 2020. Pitt reduced water consumption 10.1% between FY17 and FY20, reflecting the University’s ongoing investment in several water reducing approaches, including:
Increasing water metering and monitoring to allow for quicker reactions to water and steam use aberrations and possible malfunctions or leaks.
Investing in efficiency projects campus-wide, including at the University’s chilled water plants and at the plumbing fixture scale (which each reduce water use by 30%).
Pursuing LEED building certifications for new buildings and large capital projects —which incorporate water efficiency efforts.
For overall Pittsburgh campus water consumption, the University maintained a 11% reduction in FY22 compared to FY17.
Water Use Intensity: Even with a growth in University-owned building space, campus-wide water use intensity (WUI) for FY22 was down 12.9% compared to FY16 and 14.2% below the regional baseline. These reductions are slightly behind the University’s incremental targets to reach its Pittsburgh 2030 District goal; those targets are a 20% WUI reduction by 2020, 35% by 2035, and 50% by 2030. However, it is a vast improvement from FY18, when campus-wide consumption was 10.4% above baseline (meaning worse than the regional average for similar buildings)
- The University has updated its plumbing design standards and includes our 50% WUI reduction targets in major capital project design requests. Pitt-selected design and construction teams are consistently evaluated regarding their predicted achievement of these goals.
Where We Are: Impervious Surface Reduction
The University’s 2021 Institutional Master Plan (IMP) reported 112 impervious acres in the IMP study area; a 20% reduction of impervious surfaces, the goal set to reach by 2030, would total 22.5 acres (975,744 square feet).
- Since 2017, the University has eliminated or converted at least 30,645 square feet of impervious surfaces to pervious areas, helping bring the Pittsburgh campus total to 3.1% of impervious space converted (only about 40% of the progress required to meet the 2020 incremental target in this category).
Green Roofs: Pitt’s 9 green roofs across the Pittsburgh campus also contribute to on-campus porosity. The only new green roof since 2017 is Schenley Quad (partial green roof, included above). The existing green roof on Forbes Hall is also being reconstructed in the near future. New green roofs are expected across campus over the next several years on, including on the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center and Arena & Sports Performance Center, both of which were envisioned in the 2019 Campus Master Plan. These new green roofs will provide 135,750 square feet of pervious area by 2026.
Where We Are: Green Stormwater Infrastructure
To reach toward the goal of diverting 25% of stormwater from impervious surfaces by 2030, the University is using both green and gray stormwater infrastructure solutions. Green stormwater infrastructure includes nature-based solutions (i.e., rain gardens, green roofs, and bioswales) to capture and store rainwater. Increasing tree canopy and green spaces around campus also helps manage rainwater and reduce flooding. Gray stormwater infrastructure is typically underground and focuses on rainwater retention and/or reuse. Both approaches are required to help lessen the regional combined sewer overflow burden (which includes a City of Pittsburgh consent decree with the U.S. EPA).
Rain Gardens: Pitt’s rain gardens detain and absorb excess rainwater, enabling it to naturally infiltrate into and nourish the soil, while helping mitigate Pittsburgh’s combined sewer overflow challenges. Two of these rain gardens are new since 2017, bringing the total rain gardens on campus to nine:
- Bigelow Bioswales – This series of rain gardens were added in 2020. In addition to handling 5,150 cubic feet of stormwater, the bioswales increase safety by direct pedestrians to the new raised crosswalk.
- Sutherland Hall Rain Gardens – Expanded to include 2 rain gardens in 2020.
Rainwater Reuse: Given the urban nature of our Pittsburgh campus, only so many aboveground rainwater management solutions are possible. As a result, the University has also prioritized a large underground, interconnected cross-campus rainwater capture and reuse system. Currently in various stages of design and construction, the system will allow Pitt to capture and reuse treated rainwater for processes in Pitt’s central utility plants.
The first step of Pitt’s multi-phase rainwater reuse network included piping under Bigelow Boulevard (2020).
The next phase will be linking existing stormwater collection to the University’s new Upper Campus Chilled Water Plant (2022).
Follow-on phases will include distributed underground rainwater collection tanks and piping that will connect Pitt’s rainwater reuse network across campus.
U.S. EPA RainWorks Challenge
In Spring 2021, a Pitt student group dubbed PreciPITTation earned second place in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 9th annual Campus RainWorks Challenge. The project utilized multiple green infrastructure practices to create a master plan design focusing on eliminating combined sewer overflows while creating safe, multi-functional spaces accessible to the Pitt campus and greater Pittsburgh communities.
Where We Are: Drinking Water
When the Pitt Sustainability Plan was drafted in 2017, the governance and state of Pittsburgh’s drinking water was in a very different place. However, in the last five years, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s (PWSA) focus on providing cleaner drinking water has been nationally recognized, including concentration on replacing all lead service lines city-wide by 2026. On-campus, the University of Pittsburgh also regularly tests drinking water to verify water quality.
Equitable access to clean drinking water is the subject of forthcoming research from the Water Collaboratory on drinking water equity. The Collaboratory was awarded a 2021 Pitt Momentum Funds Teaming Grant to establish a transdisciplinary team to advance regional water equity.
Where We Are: Water Research
As Southwestern Pennsylvania continues to evolve from its industrial past, a complex set of water challenges impact the region’s economy, ecology, and public health.
Pittsburgh Collaboratory for Water Research, Education, and Outreach: Founded in 2017, the Water Collaboratory aspires to elevate water resource sustainability and resilience through research collaborations, communicating knowledge, and innovating solutions.
The Collaboratory has received external operational funding since 2018 and has conducted extensive outreach to gauge regional research needs with respect to water quality, green infrastructure, and flooding.
In 2019 and 2020, the Collaboratory published three community consensus reports documenting input from over 200 participants and set the stage for the University of Pittsburgh to become a major force in advancing environmental and economic sustainability in the region.
Since its inception, the Collaboratory has diligently worked to expand its presence in the Upper Ohio River Basin water community, identifying over 125 regional water organizations for potential collaborations.
Across Pitt, the Collaboratory has over 35 faculty affiliates from diverse disciplines, who help elevate water resource sustainability and resilience by fostering research collaborations, communicating knowledge, innovating solutions, and improving the health of the Upper Ohio River basin. The Collaboratory is actively working on uniting faculty, students, and community partners within research initiatives focusing on drinking water equity, ecological modeling, landslides, water quality monitoring, and public health.