I am involved in providing hospitals with a Grant for a Smart Cities Initiative, to install 17 Emergency Water Storage Tanks for Disaster Relief according to CDC, EPA and State Guidelines.
This would be a self-sustained water supply, in the event of a natural disaster that causes a power outage for extended periods of time.
This system would provide solar panels as an alternative source of power to provide water that IS NOT from a public utility, and is from a separate source of water. The system would have Water pumps, Digital Metering, with automatic gate valves that change over from public water supply to on-site water supply at the hospital.
Example: A 100 patient bed hospital uses 520 gallons per bed or 52,000 gallons per day (GPD) times a 4.6 day for a natural disaster power outage = 239,000 gallons per event would be available. The other important item we offer, is our ability to provide a shelf-life for the water of 10 to 15 years in an above ground tank of 245,000 gallons. 42' diameter x 24' -7 1/2" high. This is an insulated steel, glass-lined tank.
My questions are: Is their a LEED program that meets my criteria?
Is this something that could receive LEED Certification and if it is, how do I go about it?
Is there other LEED criteria for materials I could use for these tank installations, to enhance the benefits?
Thank you so much, Calie for your kind attention!
Sam Meekins
603.686.4236
Calie Gihl
Design EngineerLEEDuser Expert
19 thumbs up
May 23, 2018 - 12:00 pm
Hi Sam. Sorry I am just seeing this now! Your project sounds really awesome. Let me try to answer your questions....
1. LEED requires 3 minimum criteria to begin a project: it must be in a permanent location, there is a minimum square footage, and you must use reasonable LEED boundaries. I encourage you to check out USGBC's article here: https://www.usgbc.org/articles/good-know-minimum-program-requirements-leed
2. It sounds like the hosptials themselves could be good candidates for LEED certification, but I'm not sure if your system itself could be certified. LEED typically works for spaces where at least some of the space is occupied by people - it sounds like you are working with a system and not a building.
3. The Materials and Resources credits would be a great place to start when looking for guidelines on LEED friendly materials. Check out LEED User's Tip Sheet for the Product Libraries and Materials credit here.
Best of luck and let me know if you have any other questions!