Our LEED site contains multiple buildings for a nature center, which covers a large acreage of land. Our team decided to collect rainwater for irrigating landscaping adjacent to the orientation center via a permanent irrigation system. After completing initial calculations, we determined we couldn\'t collect enough rainwater to also irrigate the native landscaping buffer strip along the parking lot and entrance road, which is away from the orientation center buildings. Our current plan is to install a temporary irrigation system, fed by potable water, for this strip for an establishment period of 2 years. The remainder of the project\'s LEED site will not have any irrigation system as it is native vegetation. The two listed submittals for this credit (no potable water for irrigation and no permanent irrigation system) appear to be an either/or situation and each seems to apply to the entire "project site." We feel our methodology meets the intent of this credit, which is to "limit or eliminate the use of potable water for landscape irrigation"; however, before we proceeded we wanted to receive feedback on the likely outcome of this strategy. As we have multiple buildings and areas that make up our LEED site, we are inquiring to see if we can use both submittal methods for different parts of our site in order to meet this credit\'s intent. As part of the corresponding committee for the LEED for Multiple Buildings, we consulted the draft LEED Campus Application Guide but found no Supplementary Campus Application Guidance related to this topic. If a ruling is made in favor of this proposal, we would appreciate seeing the Application Guide reflect this change as well as LEED-NC v2.2. Thank you.
The project is proposing to install a rainwater collection system for irrigation use on a majority of the site. Since the amount of rainwater collected will not meet 100% of the site\'s irrigation needs, the project team has proposed to install native plants and a temporary irrigation system to be used only during the two-year establishment period for the area not served by the rainwater collection system. It is acceptable to combine the proposed credit strategies, whether across multi-building or single building sites, to meet the intent of the credit. The project team should submit appropriate documentation supporting the design of the rainwater collection system and demonstrating the extents of the supplemental temporary irrigation system. Update April 15, 2011: Please note that all 2009 projects in multiple building situations must follow the 2010 Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects, located here: https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=7987. 2009 project teams should check this document for up to date guidance on all multiple building issues. Applicable internationally.