We have a project in which site two independent buildings will apply for LEED certification.
In this case, (when the treatment plant is shared by the two LEED buildings), is there any special consideration we need to take into account for the LEED certification process?
Building 1 + Building 2 will treat 100% of the waste water to tertiary standards.
100% of all treated water effluent will go to building 1 to supply water for cooling towers.
Will we be fulfilling WEc2 for the two LEED buildings?
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11478 thumbs up
March 21, 2013 - 10:20 am
Michael, you haven't mentioned where the treatment plant is located, but I assume onsite. I think both buildings would be in compliance with WEc2. You will have some considerations to figure out with MPR3, but that seems doable.
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
March 21, 2013 - 8:17 pm
Hello Tristan,
For this project a LEED Boundary will be placed accordance to the property line. Whithin this LEED Boundary/property line the treatment plant will be located.
Both LEED Buildings will be located inside the LEED Boundary/property line.
So yes, the treatment plant will be on site. Thank you very much for your comments Tristan.
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
March 22, 2013 - 2:33 am
Just in case someone is facing this situation, this was the GBCI response on this issue:
Dear David,
Thank you for contacting the Green Building Certification Institute about treating wastewater on a site with 2 buildings and using all of the water for the cooling tower in 1 building.
Appendix A to the
2010 LEED Application guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects (AGMBC) October 31, 2011 , indicates, on page 14, that WEc2 can be pursued as a group credit but not as a campus credit.
If these 2 buildings will be built at the same time, under the same contract and using the same rating system, they may be certified as a group.
If that is not the case, then making a formal inquiry about a campus application may be worthwhile. It would require that you register a Master Site as well as the 2 projects. The argument to make is that you are treating 100% of the water from both buildings, and using all of it on the campus. Formal Inquiries may be submitted through LEED Online . Instructions can be found at this link; .
If you do not need the entire amount of water generated, you might consider infiltrating it within the LEED Project Boundary of the building fin which you are not using any of it. Please also remember that 100% treatment entitles you to an exemplary performance credit that you may use as an ID credit.
I hope that helps, but if you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to use the contact form at http://www.gbci.org/contactus and select "Follow up to GBCI Response," inputting your case number from this email's subject line.