Forum discussion
NC-2009 WEc3: Water Use Reduction
Informal discussions among LEED project team administrators reveal conflict in whether greywater to flush toilets does/does not have to be generated onsite. Now that non-potable, greywater is being provided by many municipalities globally is purple pipe water now acceptable to meet WEc3 and WEp1?
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Can you explain the 12-second duration for metering faucets?
Can I use a nonpotable water source to contribute to WEp1 compliance?
We are having trouble finding EPAct-compliant fixtures. Is that a problem?
Where can I find a clear meaning of "public" and "private" as relevant to lavatory faucets?
Are shower duration controls an acceptable water-saving strategy?
Can I include process water savings in order to earn an Exemplary Performance point?
Kath Williams
LEED Fellow 2011, PrincipalKath Williams + Associates
147 thumbs up
January 27, 2017 - 12:31 pm
No one has experience with this?
Kristina Bach
VP of InnovationSustainable Investment Group
151 thumbs up
January 27, 2017 - 1:27 pm
Municipally-supplied non-potable systems qualify for WEc3 credit but not for meeting WEp1 (see USGBC's Additional Water Use Reduction Guidance - page 4: http://www.usgbc.org/resources/water-use-reduction-additional-guidance).
So your fixtures need to be efficient enough to meet the prerequisite on their own. But you can then get points based on the actual reduction in potable water use. From my experience, we document just the fixtures without any purple pipe water in the WEp1 Credit Form/calculator. We then select the Special Circumstances option on the WEc3 Credit Form and upload a separate duplicate version of the calculator which includes the purple pipe contributions for the WEc3 compliance/point thresholds.
Kath Williams
LEED Fellow 2011, PrincipalKath Williams + Associates
147 thumbs up
January 27, 2017 - 1:35 pm
Thanks! I'm still getting conflicting responses from project teams who apparently HAVE recently earned the prerequisite with purple pipe especially when a project must contribute in some cities and can't sequester their own onsite. Challenging...