Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED O+M: Existing Buildings, LEED BD+C: Core and Shell, LEED BD+C: Schools, LEED ID+C: Retail, LEED BD+C: Healthcare, LEED ND: Built Project

Rating System Version

v3 - LEED 2009

Inquiry

The intent of this credit is to alter planting details to eliminate the use of potable water for landscape irrigation as much as possible. Project teams tend to interpret "landscape" as any vegetated space on the project site. However, some projects also include growing space for food in an urban agriculture or community garden setting. This is not "landscape" in the usual sense, and the normal water use reduction measures aren\'t appropriate when the land is being used productively. In LEED for Homes, an existing LEED Interpretation clarifies that growing space should be exempted entirely from the calculations for the Homes version of this credit (do not include in the numerator or denominator). See LI 2736. I request that this LI be extended to all LEED rating systems, since growing space is potentially a component of many project types.