LEEDuser expert
Karen Poff
Austin Energy
Product Development Coordinator
LEEDuser’s viewpoint
Frank advice from LEED experts
LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To increase the efficiency of wastewater reuse by encouraging water reuse, reduction or recovery.
Pilot Credit Closed
This pilot credit was closed to new pilot credit registrations on 3/1/2015. It is now available to LEED v4 projects only in the LEED Innovation Catalog for ongoing use by project teams as an innovation point rather than a pilot credit. LEED v2009 projects may not use this credit for innovation points.
Requirements
Option 1. Source reduction
Reduce wastewater from toilets and urinals by at least 50% from the baseline calculated in WE Prerequisite Indoor Water Use Reduction for toilets and urinals only.| Percent reduction | Points |
|---|---|
| 50% | 1 |
| 95% | 1 (2nd point not available) |
OR
Option 2. Reuse
Reuse building wastewater on site. Use water from approved non-potable sources including:- recycled wastewater (on-site or municipally supplied),
- swimming pool backwash operations,
- air conditioner condensate,
- rainwater,
- cooling tower blow-down water,
- foundation drain water,
- steam system condensate,
- fluid cooler discharge water,
- food steamer discharge water,
- combination oven discharge water,
- industrial process water,
- fire pump test water
- municipally supplied treated seawater
- ice machine condensate
| Strategy | Points |
|---|---|
| Implement wastewater reuse | 1 |
| Reuse at least 90% of wastewater on site | 1 (2nd point not available) |
OR
Option 3. Resource recovery
Implement resource recovery and reuse of one or both of the following for up to 1 point::| Resource recovery type | Points |
|---|---|
| nutrients (nitrogen and/or phosphorous) | 1 |
| organic carbon loading from building occupants | 1 (2nd point not available) |
General Pilot Documentation Requirements
Register for the pilot credit- Participate in the LEEDuser pilot credit forum
- Complete the feedback survey:
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, however, and additional explanation of the method must be provided.
- whether it meets the local standard wastewater
- source and reuse location (e.g, building graywater reused as toilet flushing water)
- approximately what portion of the water type is being reused
- Provide any applicable specifications or drawings to demonstrate the system design and location.
- 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
- 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.
Changes:
- 1/15/2013: removed NSF 350 standard from requirements
What does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
See all forum discussions about this credit »Documentation toolkit
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LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.
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© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To increase the efficiency of wastewater reuse by encouraging water reuse, reduction or recovery.
Pilot Credit Closed
This pilot credit was closed to new pilot credit registrations on 3/1/2015. It is now available to LEED v4 projects only in the LEED Innovation Catalog for ongoing use by project teams as an innovation point rather than a pilot credit. LEED v2009 projects may not use this credit for innovation points.
Requirements
Option 1. Source reduction
Reduce wastewater from toilets and urinals by at least 50% from the baseline calculated in WE Prerequisite Indoor Water Use Reduction for toilets and urinals only.| Percent reduction | Points |
|---|---|
| 50% | 1 |
| 95% | 1 (2nd point not available) |
OR
Option 2. Reuse
Reuse building wastewater on site. Use water from approved non-potable sources including:- recycled wastewater (on-site or municipally supplied),
- swimming pool backwash operations,
- air conditioner condensate,
- rainwater,
- cooling tower blow-down water,
- foundation drain water,
- steam system condensate,
- fluid cooler discharge water,
- food steamer discharge water,
- combination oven discharge water,
- industrial process water,
- fire pump test water
- municipally supplied treated seawater
- ice machine condensate
| Strategy | Points |
|---|---|
| Implement wastewater reuse | 1 |
| Reuse at least 90% of wastewater on site | 1 (2nd point not available) |
OR
Option 3. Resource recovery
Implement resource recovery and reuse of one or both of the following for up to 1 point::| Resource recovery type | Points |
|---|---|
| nutrients (nitrogen and/or phosphorous) | 1 |
| organic carbon loading from building occupants | 1 (2nd point not available) |
General Pilot Documentation Requirements
Register for the pilot credit- Participate in the LEEDuser pilot credit forum
- Complete the feedback survey:
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, however, and additional explanation of the method must be provided.
- whether it meets the local standard wastewater
- source and reuse location (e.g, building graywater reused as toilet flushing water)
- approximately what portion of the water type is being reused
- Provide any applicable specifications or drawings to demonstrate the system design and location.
- 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
- 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.
Changes:
- 1/15/2013: removed NSF 350 standard from requirements
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:
- Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
- Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
- Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
- Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
- Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
- Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.
LEEDuser expert
Karen Poff
Austin Energy
Product Development Coordinator
