Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

We are currently working on a project sited on a university campus. This university has a campus-wide wastewater (sanitation sewer, not storm water) collection and reclamation system in place. Our project is connected to this system. Storm water is collected from the roof of the project building and stored in a cistern. This collected storm water will be used solely for flushing toilets and urinals. The use of these two strategies seems to apply to every credit in the "Water Efficiency" section. In WE 1.1 and 1.2, the intent is to "Limit or eliminate the use of potable water for landscape irrigation". This intent is met by the campus-wide system above. Since a campus-wide system is already in place, it would be of little or no benefit to create a separate site system and we feel we should not be penalized for this. Project money has been utilized to connect the project to the university system. Will this system allow us to earn WE credits 1.1 and 1.2? We are currently incorporating a rainwater collection cistern into the project for flushing toilets and urinals (at least 50% of building water needs). Would this strategy alone earn us WE credits 3.1 and 3.2? The intent is to "Maximize water efficiency within buildings to reduce the burden on municipal water supply and wastewater systems." The rainwater cistern eliminates the need for municipal water. It would appear that this also meets the intent of WE credit 2; "Reduce generation of wastewater and potable water demand