Evidently, installing automatic shut-off controls for showers is deemed as not water saving strategy by the USGBC's LEED Department. It is not clear what "problem" the USGBC is trying to solve in this case.

A recent project review comment stated that duration controls for showers is a not "published exception" in the LEED documentation. Of course, the review found no problems with forcing the reduced duration time being used for the both the baseline and design cases as if the duration was a schedule. Using the same reduced duration time is not a "published requirement" in the LEED documentation.

The USGBC's LEED department fails to see the link between claiming something is nor published, therefore not allowed, and simultaneously enforcing something that is not published.

The review comment received is copied below. The project was not a prison, gym, or school, project types which might use automatic shower controls as standard practice. These are the only cases I can think of where it would be inappropriate to claim a duration reduction.

"The calculations indicate that water savings are claimed via a non standard design case duration for the showers of 45 seconds due to an automatic shut off feature. Please note that the flow duration for showers should be the same in the baseline and design cases as there are currently no published exceptions allowing design case savings for showers with an automatic shut off from the default baseline duration of 300 seconds."