Polluted well water use

Magda Aghababyan

CEO

Co-Energi (Pvt) Ltd.

LEEDuser Basic Member

11 thumbs up

April 9, 2014

Dear all, We have a project that uses water from a polluted well for toilet flushing. The water is of low quality and is not drinkable. Do you think it is possible for us to consider this in WEp1 compliance?

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Lili Pan

LEED AP BD+C, O+M, Managing Director

L GEES 智利捷达

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Mon, 04/14/2014 - 03:27

Dear Magda, 1) If the treated grey water you use is not on-site, I think you cannot make it for WEp1. As I have similar project, and GBCI deny the compliance and emphasize the project intent is to evaluate fixture efficiency. 2) If the treated grey water you use is on-site, you perhaps have the chance. But still, I suggest you contact GBCI. Regards, Lili

Magda Aghababyan

CEO

Co-Energi (Pvt) Ltd.

LEEDuser Basic Member

11 thumbs up

Wed, 04/16/2014 - 08:10

Thanks Lili. Let me add some clarification in to it. The wells are located on the same site owned by the project owner. These well water is of low quality and therefore not used for drinking. They are used for toilet flushing. I know in most cases well water is considered potable. But in this case since we can provide water test reports to say that they are well below quality, do you think we can claim potable water use reduction?

Dan Ackerstein

Principal

Ackerstein Sustainability, LLC

LEEDuser Expert

545 thumbs up

Wed, 04/16/2014 - 16:49

That's a really interesting question. On the one hand, I agree with Lili that the intent of the prerequisite is to evaluate fixture efficiency, and that using even greywater or non-potable well water efficiently should be the goal. On the other hand, elsewhere in the rating system (Irrigation Water Use) the use of reclaimed (nonpotable) water is considered equivalent to efficiency. I think that a CIR may be the only way to resolve this with confidence.