Improved Water Efficiency Sought in USGBC Green Building Standards

2008-08-27

The Alliance for Water Efficiency and a number of other organizations have submitted comments to the US Green Building Council (USGBC) requesting a greater role for water efficiency in LEED 2009.  Now USGBC has issued the second draft and is asking for public comment.    To see the second draft and to comment on it, visit the USGBC website.

This new second draft of LEED 2009 requires a mandatory 20 percent water use reduction from the calculated baseline. This revision is a major improvement, and was a specific recommendation from the USGBC Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group (WETAG). The Alliance for Water Efficiency has three voices on the WETAG, and we played a major role in helping push this through.   Please consider submitting comments supporting the mandatory 20% water use reduction. USGBC needs to hear that this is an important and worthwhile change.

Background

Water efficiency within the LEED process is addressed on a technical detail level by the Water Efficiency Technical Advisory Group (WETAG), appointed in 2003 by the USGBC to bring the necessary water expertise into that process. The WETAG currently consists of 16 members, all of whom are specialists in the areas of water‐efficient practices and technologies. The Alliance for Water Efficiency is represented on the WETAG and has been active in seeking changes to the water efficiency chapters in all of the LEED products since January 2004. The primary goals of those changes are (1) to bring LEED current in terms of best‐available technologies and (2) to improve the “coverage” of the water efficiency chapters to embrace more areas of water use within a building or project. Unfortunately, such improvements have been minimal to date in the LEED products, and, as such, most of the indoor water use calculations in LEED have been relying solely upon plumbing fixtures covered in the 1992 EPAct, largely ignoring or minimizing the other elements of potential indoor water use.

The Alliance for Water Efficiency filed detailed comments during the first LEED 2009 comment period.  Although the comments that we filed are not incorporated in the latest LEED 2009 revision, we are hoping that our detailed comments will be seriously considered in the next LEED revision round.  To that end, we are still encouraging all organizations to join us in signing on to this letter.  Send an e-mail to Mary Ann Dickinson  if you would like your organization included in an ongoing list of supporters on our web site.