Our project is a large 22,000 acre master plan located in Saudi Arabia. The entire master plan will not be seeking LEED Certification, however, the 4.5 million square foot University located within the master plan will be seeking LEED NC Multi-Building Certification. All condensate, gray water, black water and storm water from the entire Master Plan and the University is being collected and sent to a waste water treatment plant built for the Master Plan. The Waste Water Treatment Plant is designed to handle a daily flow of 9500 M^3/ day. The waste water is treated to tertiary standards. All the waste water from the plant is then used to provide irrigation for the Master Plan. The daily production of waste water is not large enough to handle all the irrigation needs of the master plan, however, through the reuse of this University waste water, the project is eliminating the use of potable water, or other natural surface or subsurface water resources, for specific portions of the master plan. We feel that this meets the intent of the Credit. The waste water plant output will provide all the irrigation needs for a nearby golf course, thereby eliminating the use of potable water for the golf course. This golf course uses the entire output from the waste water treatment plant. Implementing local water reuse treatment for each master plan building was a non-cost effective, non-efficient strategy. Waste Water reuse plants at a larger scale are more efficient for a development of this type. If the University landscaping consists of native plantings that allow for a 50% reduction in potable water use from the baseline, does this strategy allow for the University to achieve WE Credit 1.2: No potable water use?
The CIR is inquiring whether the University project would achieve WE credits 1.1, 1.2 and 2 if wastewater from the site was treated to tertiary standards at an offsite Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF) and is then used to irrigate a golf course within the overall master plan community (but not within the LEED project boundary of the University). The WE credit 2 compliance path that this project is suggesting requires that wastewater be treated onsite to tertiary standards, which the project is not doing. While it is commendable that the project is treating contaminated water sources to tertiary standards offsite, the project cannot achieve WEc1.1 and 1.2 for the University project since the LEED project itself is not utilizing the treated wastewater. While certain campus credit compliance paths have been allowed in previous CIRs, please note that CIRs may not set precedent and are decided upon on an individual project basis. Campus approaches tend to apply to those projects incorporating sustainability practices campus-wide, but which are unable to document those practices on a individual project basis. If the project were to use water from the WWTF on the University campus for all irrigation purposes, and the water from this WWTF was conveyed specifically for non-potable uses, this would meet the requirement for one WEc1 credit. In addition to using only non-potable water for irrigation, if the University project can demonstrate a 50% reduction in total irrigation water consumption from a baseline case, it will be eligible to earn both WEc1.1 and WEc1.2. If the project can eliminate potable water use for all the landscape then project will comply with WEc1.2.