Classroom Sinks

WEp1 is limited to savings generated by the following water using fixtures: water closets, urinals, showerheads, public lavatory/restroom faucets, private lavatory/restroom faucets, public metering lavatory/restroom faucets, kitchen and janitor sink faucets, and metering faucets. Classroom and art room sinks do not fall within the scope of WEp1.

I am working on a school project that has both a classroom and administration component. There is a small "First Aid" room (100 SF) that has a sink in it. There is no full-time school nurse; the room will used as needed and not on a regular basis. Do you think that this sink should be included in the water use calculations?

It sounds like a lavatory sink? It would have to be included, but chances are it will have a negligible impact on your credit compliance.

Karen: The LEED BD+C Addendum dated January 8, 2010 removes janitors sink faucets from plumbing fixture water use table 1.

Classroom sinks

I found the language below in the LEED addenda for the applicable Reference Guide for LEED-S 2009. This clarification suggests to me that we can include the classroom sinks in our calculation if they are primarily used for handwashing. I also looked back at the reviewer comments for a previous project and those comments indicate that if classroom sink usage patterns are the same as bathroom sink usage patterns, we can include them in the calc.

"The “Public lavatory faucets” and “Private lavatory faucets” categories encompass all sinks used primarily for hand-washing regardless of location."

Has anyone had a recent project where classroom sinks were specifically rejected from the documentation?

Seems to me that if the classroom sinks are basically being treated as lavatory sinks, they should be included.

Hi Kimberly,

Yes, project teams are permitted to include classroom sinks provided the flow fixtures installed have a similar usage pattern and are similar fixture type as for those in bathrooms.

Classroom sinks are generally stainless steel sinks with two-handle faucets, the same as a kitchen sink but installed in a classroom. Occasionally we see metering faucets, but these are rare in my area for school classrooms. These can be used for handwashing, for cleaning up after projects using glue, or for any number of purposes. The primary use of classroom sinks is handwashing after using glue or paint, etc. These are sinks by definition, not lavatories, and even if they are used primarily for handwashing, that does not change the fact that they are sinks.
The faucets you normally find on classroom sinks are 2.5 gpm flow control faucets. If we count these somehow as lavatories, what is the baseline for these sinks? I do not believe it should be 0.5 gpm since they are not lavatories. Also, how do you quantify the use of classroom sinks vs. bathroom lavatories in order to put some use factor (uses per day) on them. I have seen many instances where classroom sinks are never used, they are full of books or covered up. Other classrooms use the sinks extensively such as art rooms and biology classrooms.
The additional guidance document indicates students washing their hands three times a day at lavatories. I assume this to be lavatories in the restrooms, not classroom sinks. So, how do we quantify the use of classroom sinks?
The fact is that we are replacing the traditional 2.5 gpm faucets with 0.5 gpm faucets in the schools we design. We should be able to get some credit somewhere for this major reduction in water use.

I have not seen how this is reviewed by GBCI, but you've convinced me that these should be considered like kitchen sinks. Sounds a lot like food service—sure, someone might wash their hands but the main purpose is "proces water."