The project is a convention center that’s not currently certified as LEED nor has it ever attempted certification. It is considering getting certified LEED O&M Existing Buildings some time in the next two to four years. Meanwhile, we have a renovation project for the restrooms in the convention center and we want to make sure we’re “future proofing” for LEED requirements. The renovation is not pursuing any LEED certification. The flow rates for the proposed fixtures are relatively efficient:

Toilets 1.28 GPF (20% savings)
Urinals 0.5 GPF (50% savings)
Faucets 0.5 GPM (0% savings)
Showers 2.5 GPM (0% savings; there aren’t many)

These are obviously lower than the federal baseline, and less than the 120-150% baseline allowance in LEED O&M. However, although meeting WaterSense flow rates, the specified fixtures don’t carry the WaterSense label, but do carry the CALGREEN label (which I think is more stringent than WaterSense).

Here are the questions:

Do we need to spec WaterSense labeled products for the current renovation? The way I see it, the LEED O&M application is in the future, so the current project should not be affected by it, therefor, and based on the guidelines language, we only need to implement a written policy that replaces future faucets *after* they break with WaterSense ones. Correct?
Would CALGREEN be accepted instead of WaterSense? Seems like CALGREEN requires that toilets be WaterSense to begin with, but faucets (which is the main point of concern) don’t.
What would the baseline be in the future when we actually do apply for LEED O&M? Would it be 120% of the federal baseline or of the preceding year? If it’s the latter, it’ll be pretty tough to beat given the efficiency of products installed in the current renovation project.

Thanks!

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Waleed AlGhamdi

Sustainability Enabler

Eskew+Dumez+Ripple

LEEDuser Basic Member

20 thumbs up

Thu, 01/16/2020 - 16:37

Any takers?

Trista Brown

Project Director

WSP USA

LEEDuser Basic Member

381 thumbs up

Tue, 05/26/2020 - 21:28

Hi Waleed - here's my thoughts: 1. I agree, you don't techincally need to install WaterSense labeled fixtures if you're not pursuing a certification. However, if the project wants to have consistent fixtures, you might consider finding WaterSense options now so that you don't find yourself with mismatched fixtures in a future replacement situation. 2. I don't know of any allowance to use CALGREEN fixtures in place of WaterSense fixtures. 3. It depends on what version you eventually certify under. EBOM v4.1 doesn't have a WaterSense labeling requirement - you're scored based on water consumption. For EBOM v4, the baseline is based on the year the project was occupied: The LEED v4 for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance water use baseline is set depending on the year of building’s occupancy, as follows:

For a building with a certificate of occupancy dated 1995 or later, the baseline is 120% of the water use that would result if all fixtures met the code requirements in Table 1.
For a building with a certificate of occupancy dated before 1995, the baseline is 150% of the water use that would result if all fixtures met the code requirements in Table 1.

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