Water Efficiency (WE) 161

Water Use Reduction 165

Water-Efficient Landscaping 179
Innovative Wastewater Technologies
Water Use Reduction 203
Process Water Use Reduction

Overview
Americans consumption of the public water supply
continues to increase. The U.S. Geological Survey
estimates that between 1990 and 2000, this
consumption increased 12%, to 43.3 billion gallons
per
day.1 The public water supply is delivered to users for
domestic, commercial, industrial, and other
purposes and is the primary source of water for most
buildings. In 2000, these uses represented
about 11% of total withdrawals and slightly less than
40% of groundwater withdrawals, constituting
the third-largest category of water use in the United
States, behind thermoelectric power (48% of
total withdrawals) and irrigation (34% of total
withdrawals). This high demand for water is straining
supplies, and in some parts of the United States,
water levels in underground aquifers have dropped
more than 150 feet since the 1940s.2
Only about 14% of withdrawn water is lost to
evaporation or transpiration or incorporated into
products or crops; the rest is used, treated, and
discharged to the nations water bodies.3 Discharged
water contaminates rivers, lakes, and potable water
with bacteria, nitrogen, toxic metals, and other
contaminants.4 The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) estimates that 1/3 of the nations
lakes, streams, and rivers are now unsafe for
swimming and fishing.5 Even so, water bodies in the
United States are 50% cleaner6 today than in the mid-
1970s. And although consumption is rising,
total U.S. withdrawals from the public water supply
declined by nearly 9% between 1980 and 1985
and have varied by less than 3% for each 5-year
interval since then.7
Those achievements can be largely attributed to the
Clean Water Act and reductions in industrial,
irrigation, and thermoelectric power withdrawals since
1980. Although the statistics show
improvement, we are still far from sustainably using
water. If total commercial building water
consumption for all uses in the United States fell by
just 10%, we could save more than 2 trillion
gallons of water each year.8
Using large volumes of water increases maintenance
and life-cycle costs for building operations and
also increases consumers costs for additional
municipal supply and treatment facilities. Conversely,
buildings that use water efficiently can reduce costs
through lower fees, less sewage volume,
reductions in energy and chemical use, and lower
capacity charges and limits.
Efficiency measures can easily reduce water use in
average commercial buildings by 30% or more.9 In
a typical 100,000-square-foot office building, low-flow
plumbing fixtures coupled with sensors and
automatic controls will save a minimum of 1 million
gallons of water per year.10 In addition, nonpotable
water can be used for landscape irrigation, toilet and
urinal flushing, custodial purposes, and building
systems. Depending on local water costs, utility
savings can be tens of thousands of dollars per
year. Real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, for
example, implemented a comprehensive water
management strategy at its Adobe headquarters in
San Jose, California, in 2002 and achieved a 22%
reduction in water use.11
The LEED for New Construction, LEED for Core &
Shell, and LEED for Schools Water Efficiency
(WE) prerequisites and credits encourage the use of
strategies and technologies that reduce the
amount of potable water consumed in buildings. Many
water conservation strategies are no-cost;
or provide a rapid payback. Other strategies, such as
biological wastewater treatment systems and
graywater plumbing systems, often require more
substantial investment and are cost-effective only
under certain building and site conditions.

The Water Efficiency (WE) prerequisites and credits
address environmental concerns relating to
building water use and disposal and promote the
following measures:

Monitoring Water Consumption Performance
The first step to improving water efficiency is to
understand current performance. Tracking water
use alongside energy use can help organizations
better understand how these resources relate to
each other, make integrated management decisions
that increase overall efficiency, and verify
savings from improvement projects in both energy
and water systems. Organizations that manage
water and energy performance together can take
advantage of this relationship to create greener,
more sustainable buildings.

Reducing Indoor Potable Water Consumption
Reducing indoor potable water consumption may
require using alternative water sources for
nonpotable applications and installing building
components, such as water-efficient fixtures,
flow restrictors on existing fixtures, electronic controls,
composting toilet systems, and waterless
urinals. Lowering potable water use for toilets,
showerheads, faucets, and other fixtures can reduce
the total amount withdrawn from natural water bodies.
A commercial building in Boston replaced
126 3.5-gallons-per-flush (gpf ) toilets with low-flow,
1.6-gpf toilets and reduced total water use by
15%. With an initial cost of $32,000 and an estimated
annual savings of $22,800, the payback for the
renovation was 1.4 years. Another Boston building
installed 30 faucet aerators and reduced annual
indoor water consumption by 190,000 gallons. The
cost of the materials and labor totaled $300, and
the change is estimated to save $1,250 per year, with
a simple payback of 2 months.12

Reducing Water Consumption to Save Energy and
Improve Environmental Well-Being
In many buildings, the most significant savings
associated with water efficiency result from reduced
energy costs. Water efficiency cuts costs by reducing
the amount of water that must be treated,
heated, cooled, and distributedall of which requires
energy. Significant energy savings come
through efficient use of hot water because water
heating in commercial buildings accounts for nearly
15% of total building energy use.13 For this reason,
water conservation that reduces the use of hot
water also conserves energy and reduces energy-
related pollution. For example, U.S. government
office buildings use an estimated 244 billion to 256
billion gallons of water each year. Approximately
138.3 billion Btus of energy is required to process this
water annually, 98% of which is used to heat
water. By implementing water-efficiency efforts,
federal buildings could conserve approximately
40% of total water consumption and reduce related
energy use by approximately 81.32 billion Btus
per year.14

Practicing water conservation measures can also help
improve both environmental and human
well-being. A recent government survey showed that
at least 36 states are anticipating local, regional
or statewide water shortages by 2013.15 Human health
and environmental welfare are affected when
reservoirs and groundwater aquifers are depleted
because lower water levels can concentrate both
natural contaminants, such as radon and arsenic, and
human pollutants, such as agricultural and
chemical wastes. Increasing water efficiency helps
keep contaminants at safe levels.
Water efficiency also reduces energy consumption in
the water supply and wastewater infrastructure.
American public water supply and treatment facilities
consume about 56 billion kilowatt-hours
(kWh) each year16enough electricity to power more
than 5 million homes for an entire year.17
Better water efficiency in commercial buildings will
reduce the amount of energy consumed by
water treatment facilities.

Practicing Water-Efficient Landscaping
Landscape irrigation practices in the U.S. consume
large quantities of potable water. Outdoor uses,
primarily landscaping, account for 30% of the 26
billion gallons of water consumed daily.18 Improved
landscaping practices can dramatically reduce and
even eliminate irrigation needs. Maintaining

or reestablishing native plants on building sites fosters
a self-sustaining landscape that requires
minimal supplemental water and provides other
environmental benefits.
Native plants require less water for irrigation and
attract native wildlife, thus creating a building site
integrated with its natural surroundings. In addition,
native plants tend to require less fertilizer and
pesticides, avoiding water quality degradation and
other negative environmental impacts.

In Schools, Use Water-Efficient Processes as a
Teaching Tool
Many systems used for water efficiency provide a
wealth of educational opportunities, including
the study of biological systems, nutrient cycles,
habitats, and the impact of human systems on local
watersheds and natural resources. Students can
calculate the effects of water conservation strategies
on their own water use, simultaneously practicing
math skills and environmental stewardship.
Schools that have constructed wetlands or rain
collection and distribution systems can consider
making these technologies highly visible components
of the school design.