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LEED Pilot Credits
LEED Pilot Credit Library
Water-Related Pilot Credits
Water Restoration Certificates®

LEED CREDIT

Pilot-Credits WEpc110: Water Restoration Certificates® 1 point

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LEEDuser’s viewpoint

Explore this LEED credit

Post your questions on this credit in the forum, and click on the credit language tab to review to the LEED requirements.

Credit language

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

Purchase Water Restoration Certificates® (WRCs) to match the building’s annual water budget based on WE credit calculations (indoor, outdoor, and process (chiller, cooling towers, commercial kitchens, healthcare water systems as applicable) water use annual projections) as follows:

  • WRCs purchased from within project’s watershed* – purchase WRCs for 100% of project’s annual water budget for a 5 year contract.
  • WRCs purchased from outside of the project’s watershed* – purchase WRCs for 200% of project’s annual water budget for a 5 year contract.
Each Water Restoration Certificate® represents 1,000 gallons of water restored to a critically dewatered river or stream at a time when that water is needed most. The water restoration must be new or an addition to an existing project, have permanence, be retired after the certificate is awarded, and have no negative impact downstream. If the building’s water budget was 1,000,000 gallons, they would need to purchase 1,000 WRCs to restore 100% of their estimated usage. Existing buildings – use calculated water use data for indoor + outdoor water use annual projections + process water from chiller, cooling towers, commercial kitchens, and healthcare water systems. In lieu of doing process water calculations, O+M projects may submit meter data for these uses. Project teams using alternative water sources may subtract these from the building’s annual water budget to determine the number of Water Restoration Certificates required. Qualifying alternative water sources include municipally supplied reclaimed water (“purple pipe” water), graywater, on-site reclaimed water, collected rainwater, captured condensate, and rejected water from reverse osmosis systems. To calculate annual irrigation water use in the water budget, project teams should include the annual irrigation water use calculated using the results of the EPA Water Budget Tool.

Documentation

General
Register for the pilot credit Credits 106-115
Credit Specific
  • Certificate or proof of purchase and/or a signed contract with the supplier of the water credits.
  • Detail summary of water calculations (volume of water determined as the buildings baseline yearly use).
* Watershed is defined based on first level (Region) classifications from the USGS for projects in the U.S. (http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/regions.html), and on “Watersheds of the World” from the World Resources Institute for projects outside the U.S. (http://www.wri.org/publication/watersheds-world).
Additional Information
Water Restoration Certificates® are purchased from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). Examples of restoration projects based on WRCs purchased from BEF can be found here: http://www.b-e-f.org/environmental-projects-and-programs/wrc-projects/all/ If there is an international or local equivalent to BEF’s WRC program, it may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
Project Team Survey Questions:
  • Are there equivalent restoration organizations in your region? If so, please list here.
  • What type of feedback or reporting of restoration projects funded by this pilot credit would you like to see?
See all forum discussions about this credit »

What does it cost?

Cost estimates for this credit

On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.

Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.

This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.

Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »

Documentation toolkit

The motherlode of cheat sheets

LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

Purchase Water Restoration Certificates® (WRCs) to match the building’s annual water budget based on WE credit calculations (indoor, outdoor, and process (chiller, cooling towers, commercial kitchens, healthcare water systems as applicable) water use annual projections) as follows:

  • WRCs purchased from within project’s watershed* – purchase WRCs for 100% of project’s annual water budget for a 5 year contract.
  • WRCs purchased from outside of the project’s watershed* – purchase WRCs for 200% of project’s annual water budget for a 5 year contract.
Each Water Restoration Certificate® represents 1,000 gallons of water restored to a critically dewatered river or stream at a time when that water is needed most. The water restoration must be new or an addition to an existing project, have permanence, be retired after the certificate is awarded, and have no negative impact downstream. If the building’s water budget was 1,000,000 gallons, they would need to purchase 1,000 WRCs to restore 100% of their estimated usage. Existing buildings – use calculated water use data for indoor + outdoor water use annual projections + process water from chiller, cooling towers, commercial kitchens, and healthcare water systems. In lieu of doing process water calculations, O+M projects may submit meter data for these uses. Project teams using alternative water sources may subtract these from the building’s annual water budget to determine the number of Water Restoration Certificates required. Qualifying alternative water sources include municipally supplied reclaimed water (“purple pipe” water), graywater, on-site reclaimed water, collected rainwater, captured condensate, and rejected water from reverse osmosis systems. To calculate annual irrigation water use in the water budget, project teams should include the annual irrigation water use calculated using the results of the EPA Water Budget Tool.

Documentation

General
Register for the pilot credit Credits 106-115
Credit Specific
  • Certificate or proof of purchase and/or a signed contract with the supplier of the water credits.
  • Detail summary of water calculations (volume of water determined as the buildings baseline yearly use).
* Watershed is defined based on first level (Region) classifications from the USGS for projects in the U.S. (http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/regions.html), and on “Watersheds of the World” from the World Resources Institute for projects outside the U.S. (http://www.wri.org/publication/watersheds-world).
Additional Information
Water Restoration Certificates® are purchased from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). Examples of restoration projects based on WRCs purchased from BEF can be found here: http://www.b-e-f.org/environmental-projects-and-programs/wrc-projects/all/ If there is an international or local equivalent to BEF’s WRC program, it may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
Project Team Survey Questions:
  • Are there equivalent restoration organizations in your region? If so, please list here.
  • What type of feedback or reporting of restoration projects funded by this pilot credit would you like to see?
See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Subscribe to new discussions about Pilot-Credits WEpc110