The Sustainable Wastewater Management credit will continue to be tested in the pilot credit library as a replacement for LEED 2009’s WEc2 Innovative Wastewater Technolo-gies.  The credit has been revised to encourage more project teams to pursue the credit by finding ways to eliminate, reuse, or recover resources from wastewater.  The elimina-tion of water use for sewage conveyance is now focused on alternative technologies.  Project teams are encouraged to consider the overall impact of the system such as ener-gy use and air quality which may negatively offset the environmental benefits.  

For Option 2, the amount of wastewater reused has been reduced but also must meet the NSF 350 or local standard, which provides a better framework for identifying potential strategies.  The NSF 350 standard, Onsite Residential and Commercial Reuse Treat-ment Systems, “establishes minimum materials, design and construction, and perfor-mance requirements for onsite residential and commercial reuse treatment systems” in-cluding wastewater treatment systems.  For more information visit the NSF website:  Register a username at LEEDuser.com, and participate in online forum

• Submit the feedback survey using the link on the USGBC.org credit page; supply PDF of your survey/confirmation of completion with credit documentation

Credit-Specific

Option 1:

Provide a narrative which includes the type of alternative technology and details about how it will be installed and operated for the project building.  Systems that negatively offset the environmental benefits, such as those that have high energy use or high pollution rates will not be accepted.

Provide any applicable specifications, drawings, and calculations to show that the system significantly minimizes or eliminates the annual wastewater produced from sewage conveyance.

Process water reduction (i.e., from food service) may qualify for this credit, how-ever, and additional explanation of the method must be provided.

Option 2:

Provide a narrative about the wastewater treatment/reuse system including:

• whether it meets the NSF 350 or a local standard (whichever is more stringent),
• wastewater source and reuse location (e.g, building graywater reused as toilet flushing water)
• approximately what portion of the water type is being reused
• Highlight the NSF 350 or local standard section to show the minimum requirements for the system installed.

Provide any applicable specifications or drawings to demonstrate the system design and location. 

Option 3:

Provide a narrative explaining the resource recovery strategy used including:

• Type of resource(s) recovered
• Descriptions and specification on system used
• Estimated annual quantity recovered
• Estimated impact on total building resource production (i.e. approximately what percent of the identified resource is recovered).

Additional Questions to Document

• Did the revisions to this credit make it more achievable for your project?  For other projects?
• Are there strategies that have been used on this or other projects that would be applicable to this credit?  Explain.